00940
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2002
- Posts
- 4,493
- Likes
- 47
You make a good case as to why/how Linux and/or open source software does not work in the professional world... but what about the majority of computer users that just need something fast, compatible, and low cost? In this case I can easily see OpenOffice and Linux providing a better experience for the end user. Using OpenOffice, they don't need to worry about what format things are in, as it works with Corel, Word, and many other formats without having to pay for a newer version (to open .docx for example)
Open Office is, as of today, a nightmare for the average user. Maybe they don't need to worry about the format... but Open Office is so erratic (and it's kindly put) in the way he translates a format to another that this compatibility is pretty much worthless.
I currently live in a place housing 30 university teachers and students. I'm in charge of the computers in the house, both private and public. I equipped the public computers with both open office and MS office 2007 or 2010 but in fact noone wants to use open office. As for "private" computers, the 5 or 6 guys who had switched to Open Office all finally ended up asking for a MS Office copy (and I get a lot less phone calls asking me "why is my document looking so weird ? ").
PS: btw, you don't need to buy a new copy to open .docx. There's a free tool for that on MS website.