OpenOffice.org... able to unseat MS Office yet?

Microsoft Office
-Office 2003 Standard Edition: $399.99 (at CompUSA)
-Office 2003 Standard Edition Upgrade: $239.99
-Created by one of the most evil companies ever to smear the Earth (Microsoft)
-Closed source
-An End-User License Agreement that allows Bill Gates to eat your babies.

OpenOffice.org
-OpenOffice 1.1: $0 (www.openoffice.org)
-OpenOffice 1.1 Upgrade: $0
-Created by a less evil company (Sun)
-Open source
-Licensed under the LGPL (allows Richard Stallman to allow other people to eat your babies)

I've been using MSOffice and (occasionally) WordPerfect Office for years. I just tried the new version of OpenOffice 1.1, and so far, it's done everything I need. It opens MSOffice documents without a hitch, with only minor, occsaional quirks in the conversion. It also saves files as MSOffice with only a few minor problems.

So far, it has had every feature I've needed. And it's free. And it's open-source. And it's multi-platform. I'll take it.

Anybody else tried it yet? Problems?

I'll definitely check it out. I got rid of MSOffice a while ago (I'm trying to decrease the amount of unauthorized software I use). Since then I've been using the 602 Suite (also free, but nagware), but its word processor really messes up tables.

I am a staunch WP user since DOS version 3.something-or-other. I *HATE* MS Word completely and in every way conceivalble. It is unintuitive as hell, burying common functions in multiple layers of menu selections.

Yes, I know...it is configurable. So what? I want a word processor to be designed right in the first place. WP all the way.

WordPad!? but that is so limited! At least use AbiWord!


I use vi, Abiword, and OpenOffice.org (and my preferences are in that order).

OO.org just takes /soooo/ long to load, and it has motley irritating problems for me in Linux.

I downloaded OO mostly for their power point knock off. I couldn't print three slides to a page with lines for note taking, so I bagged it.

Originally posted by Torrere
WordPad!? but that is so limited! At least use AbiWord!

No...Word Perfect...not Wordpad.

Abiword for Windows is very nice and polished. I think it's a little better than OO Writer.

The spreadsheet program in OO does everything excel can at this point.

OO Presentation can open most powerpoint slides.

I still have Office installed for those docs that won't open in anything else.

I have Office XP installed because I support it at work, but I have OpenOffice 1.1 installed and Abiword. Abiword's perfect for word processing and fairly lightweight. OpenOffice is a pretty good replacement for MS Office. Most of the training material from work, and the sample files from them work just fine in OO, with out too much of a learning curve.

The big difference I've noted is that in MS Office you can format a paragraph, or frame, or a picture with a certain drop shadow or formatting, what have you, and you can use the formatting paintbrush to copy that formatting to a new object.

In Open Office, the focus is on styles. You have to define a style for your paragraph, frame, picture, and then apply it from the styles list. It depends which method you like best. I can use either one; they both get the job done.

edit: Oh yeah, I like the icons in abiword. The Newest Linux version of OpenOffice has that style as well. It's a little easier to look at and not as bland.

Still needs a farking OSX version.

Used it under windows, not bad, about the same under linux. Slow but does the job. I rarely need a document creator that complex. I have Office V.X installed under OSX but rarely if ever used - just reading crap i get sent

Got it...

I use it...the kids use it....
Still have that other office around...