[Illah]

If so how do you like it? How does it compare to MS Office? I'm especially interested in your answers if you work professionally with the suite and your clients/colleagues are using MS Office - how seamless is it passing docs back and forth?

Thanks!

--Illah

 

[no1likesme]

I use open office pretty much exclusively. When transferring from OO to Ms Office some of the formatting may change slightly but it is not bad. I still use MS power point though as I have trouble getting sideshows made in impress to work in power point.

 

[riceboy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by no1likesme /img/forum/go_quote.gif I use open office pretty much exclusively. When transferring from OO to Ms Office some of the formatting may change slightly but it is not bad. I still use MS power point though as I have trouble getting sideshows made in impress to work in power point.

Like no1likesme said about the formating might change slightly, but it's not that bad. If most people are using MS Office for basic word processing then Openoffice is a good solution.

 

[marvin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Illah /img/forum/go_quote.gif If so how do you like it? How does it compare to MS Office? I'm especially interested in your answers if you work professionally with the suite and your clients/colleagues are using MS Office - how seamless is it passing docs back and forth? Thanks! --Illah

IMHO, the only good thing about OO is that it's free. Uniformly, OO runs slower, is a resource hog, and has a worse UI than Office. Writer always does a little mucking up of formats unless it's plaintext or RTF. Calc is worse and macros aren't interoperable. Impress wasn't really compatible with Powerpoint last time I tried it.

I really don't see using it in a professional environment unless everyone in the office is using it. Especially when a new copy of Office with Word/Excel/Powerpoint is ~$110.

 

[CarbonTi]

The work environment itself is imposed homogeneity so this only becomes an issue working in the home environment, in my case linux OO.

For the most part, it works seamlessly if for reading the documents. Works not so well if edits are performed and the document must saved in OO to a downgraded version file in MSFT native format, sometimes minor document formatting gliches are seen when reopened in the real Word.

MSFT has, in theory, been putting more bells and whistles in Office for the last decade. Most of the docs I see in corporate America today could just as well have used a version from 1994.

 

[Dzjudz]

I've been using OO Writer and Impress for the last two years, since my laptop didn't come with MSO. They work fine for me. I don't have problems with the format change if you send files to an MSO machine because I do my printing from my laptop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by marvin /img/forum/go_quote.gif Impress wasn't really compatible with Powerpoint last time I tried it.

My Impress ppt files have always worked seamlessly with my university's Powerpoint computers/beamers. You have to select the right saving format.

 

[MCC]

I used OO in windows for about 1-2 years before I dumped XP for Linux. I never had any problems, but I did see a significant performance increase w/ OO under Linux compared to XP.

 

[2deadeyes]

I was actually able to repair some corrupt Office files using OO.

 

[trains are bad]

I used it all through college. Gave presentations, did projects, sent emails with my work in. Did have some problems but nothing that couldn't be overcome.

 

[Bizzel]

It does seem faster on Linux when compared to XP. Disabling Java can give you an extra boost.

 

[Redo]

I love OO, mainly because it's free. It has worked through everything I've thrown at it too, so until a major flaw becomes apparent, I'll keep using it.

 

[DJShadow]

I'm only using because the Office 2007 trial ended and I'm going to wait until I get a discount on it. Open Office is alright but slower and not as streamlined. For free however, its pretty decent.

 

[Caribou679]

I use OpenOffice on a USB key. I always have it with me, can access Internet from almost any computer having a connection, can work on any documents through USB key.

Check OpenOffice.org Portable at

http://portableapps.com/apps/office/openoffice_portable

very impressive and comes in lite or full version!!

Even has a mp3 player!!

 

[fabool]

I use it, but mostly just because it's free. It will get you through whatever you're facing, but not that efficiently or easily. However, free is free and I much prefer OO than paying for Office, which isn't that great either.

I like how Apple has progressed with its iWork package though. It only has a fraction of features offered by OO or Office, but it's easier, as well as, faster to use and pretty nice for presentations with its Keynote. The newest incarnation also seems to sport spreadsheet capabilities, although I haven't tried it myself.

 

[wanderman]

I only use oo when their is no alternative.