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Author Topic: Open Office vs. Word/Excel  (Read 6120 times)

BJ

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Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« on: April 07, 2010, 08:17:58 pm »

Has anyone any experience of Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org/) as an alternative to MicroSoft's Word and Excel programs? I am considering replacing my ageing Microsoft packages with Open Office.
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gondolier88

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Re: Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« Reply #1 on: April 07, 2010, 08:36:32 pm »

I would be interested to hear too as the new laptop I have is W7 Home Premium, excluding Office of course so I have downloaded OpenOffice, so to hear of anyone else's experiences would be helpful.

Greg
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Colin Bishop

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Re: Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« Reply #2 on: April 07, 2010, 08:37:20 pm »

Microsoft is better but Open Office costs nothing. You pays your money and takes your choice. I find that the home and student edition of Microsoft office is a reasonable compromise. Less hassle.

Colin
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kinmel

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Re: Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« Reply #3 on: April 07, 2010, 08:57:09 pm »

I have been using Open Office and other freeware business software for some years now.

The menus etc are remarkably similar and it is easy to get used to using Open Office rather than MS Office.

For all but the most specialist business users O.O. provides everything needed by an office, it is regularly updated and of course is free of charge.

I have recommended it to many people over time and none have ever gone back to paying hundreds of pounds for office software.

Try it and you will be surprised how good it is, just be sure to add the appropriate free dictionary for your country.
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Martin (Admin)

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Re: Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« Reply #4 on: April 07, 2010, 09:22:01 pm »


I too can heartily recommend Open Office.  http://www.openoffice.org/

 No, it's not quite as good as MS Office (MSo) but MSo has become hugely bloated and difficult to use as they cram
 in more and more unnecessary features to justify the £6 million quid price tag!

 I've  got a legal copy of MSo 2007 ( something to do with work's Microsoft "Home Use Program" (HUP)
 - £9 download thank-you-very-much! )  but I really don't like it and have resorted  back to
   MSo XP (2001) version - much much simpler & quicker.

 If you do go to Open Office, there will be an awkward transition period but it soon passes and you can sit back, put
 in your monical, smoke fine Havana cigars, quaff single malt whiskey, stroke your white cat on your lap and count the
 money you've saved.....

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The long Build

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Re: Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« Reply #5 on: April 07, 2010, 09:26:20 pm »

Or another option if you or any member of your family are students try this site

http://www.software4students.co.uk/

I used it to get Microsoft office 2007  FULL pack for £41 all in with a  2 pc licence..  and dare I say it Windows 7  for quite a discount.
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Bunkerbarge

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Re: Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« Reply #6 on: April 07, 2010, 09:56:06 pm »

Microsoft have eventually taken a more reasonable approach and produced this package a while ago:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Microsoft-Office-2007-Student-Licence/dp/B000HCZ8EO

I personally think the three licenses of all those programs for less than seventy quid is a pretty good deal so I put it on my desktop , my laptop and my wifes laptop.  It guarrantees compatability plus you have a legal licensed copy with full support.
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malcolmfrary

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Re: Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« Reply #7 on: April 08, 2010, 12:50:18 pm »

I've been using Open Office since version 1, when it was a bit of a clunker, but free.  The up-to-date version has had the rough edges removed, and for my purposes MSo has nothing to add in the way of improved facilities that I need, but does have a heck of a lot of "cool" (Bill Gates' word) extras that I would likely never find a use for.  Memory salesmen like the extra facilities.
OO can save and read MSo format files.  I'm not sure about going the other way.  Microsoft prefers its own standards to industry standards, arguing that as the largest supplier, it is the "standard".
Imported documents appear the same as the original more often reading them with OO than with MS Office readers.  My most commonly used spreadsheet programs started life as Micro Office documents on my PCW, have been ported through Lotus 123 when I got a PC, and have wound up as OO files.  A foray into Excel on the PC at work messed up the cell formatting, but that was a while back and MS might have sorted it.  Or not, as the case may be.  I used Woks for a while, but the versions of Word and Excel had their basic abilities just too cut down for even my limited uses, and I wound up using OO anyway.
My preference is to use the freebie, and spend the savings on something worthwhile.
Of course, if you install Linux, OO is part of the deal. 
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tigertiger

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Re: Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« Reply #8 on: April 08, 2010, 01:38:41 pm »

Personally I did find OpenOffice a bit limiting, and was happy to have the extra features of MS Office back.

The Student/home version of office is less than £70 if you shop around. It has Word, Excell, Onenote, and most importantly for me PowerPoint. The latter of which I can use for a general drawing package. If you write and edit longer documents then Word is better.
The only difference with Office Pro is that Home version does not have Publisher or Access (database).

But if you are only opening and viewing spreadsheets, and writing the odd letter, then OpenOffice should meet your needs.
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HS93 (RIP)

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Re: Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« Reply #9 on: April 08, 2010, 02:08:56 pm »

I recently needed a new Norton for my PC and spotted this bundle at tesco

http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.901-5135.aspx

and it also comes with a update to the new office 2010 free when you take the price of the norton off its very cheap for a 3 user

so I thought it was time I actually gave Mr Gates some money after all the years of using his products

Peter
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Re: Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« Reply #10 on: April 08, 2010, 02:30:16 pm »

If you require Norton, buy the Computer Shopper mag this month.
Cover disc includes Norton 2010 and PC Tools.
Every little helps? :}
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BJ

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Re: Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« Reply #11 on: April 08, 2010, 05:08:22 pm »

So, as I understand it, if I download the software and write a letter (Word equivalent) and attach a spreadsheet (Excel equivalent) in Open Office ANY recipient using Microsoft will have no problem in opening the file.
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dreadnought72

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Re: Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« Reply #12 on: April 08, 2010, 05:30:00 pm »

Open Office lets you save in a number of formats - you use "Save As..." - including .rtf and a bundle of .doc types for Word users, and .xls for spreadsheets.

Plus, every time I use Open Office I rejoice in not giving Micro$oft any money.  :-))

Andy
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Roger in France

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Re: Open Office vs. Word/Excel
« Reply #13 on: April 08, 2010, 05:55:32 pm »

I recently had a major hard disk crash.

The guy who repaired things put on "Open Office" and various other things.

I like it! I never had problems with "Word" but I am glad he changed me over.

Roger in France
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