Don't want to pay $150 or more for MS Office? [Open Office]

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#1 Post by **GomJabbar** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 10:34 pm

Following is an article on Open Office for those of you interested. I personally haven't tried it as I use WordPerfect Office, but I thought some of you might be interested - the price is right.

From The Washington Post.
Office Suite Software Without the Sticker Shock

#2 Post by **K. Eng** » Fri Dec 02, 2005 11:09 pm

It's good to see that development of OpenOffice continues, although I am appalled that the user interface is still as cluttered and difficult as MS Office. I see that OpenOffice is also still really slow to start. Oh well.

#3 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 2:44 pm

I've never used OpenOffice but I have a friend who uses it regularly on the 133mhz 760E that I gave him at the beginning of the school year and he says it actually runs quite nice. He once brought the computer to school to show me and from what I can tell, it's actually good software. It might take a second or two to load on some systems but I can't imagine it being more than marginally slower than Microsoft Office.

The specs of that 760E can be found in my sig.

I am yet to actually try OpenOffice on one of the machines I use because I have yet to find a reason to remove Office XP as it actually runs quite nicely on my computers, even my slow ThinkPads.

pcnoob · #4 Post by **pcnoob** » Sat Dec 03, 2005 11:09 pm

wow, alphakilo, how does xp run on that 380? I have a 667mhz celeron desktop with 96mb of ram and it lagged like hell.

benplaut · #5 Post by **benplaut** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 3:05 am

the linux version of 2.0 is actually quite speedy - about 5 secs to start. Impress (replacement for powerpoint) is a bit hard to use, but once you get used to it, it's definately good enough for the task.

give it a try!

#6 Post by **AlphaKilo470** » Sun Dec 04, 2005 8:43 am

pcnoob wrote:wow, alphakilo, how does xp run on that 380? I have a 667mhz celeron desktop with 96mb of ram and it lagged like hell.

It's not the fastest to boot up and I had to disable the visual themes but other than that, it's actually not that bad. Beleive it or not, my system actually exceeds minimum spec for XP as the minimum spec calls for 64mb of ram.

However, I would not recomend that other people put XP on their computers of similar vintage as there are a couple of features that don't run all too great. However, it does run about the same speed as 2000 on my machine.

wingman · #7 Post by **wingman** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 9:02 am

I love OO as it is it is typically called. Great Program. I have not used office for quite a while. OO runs great in both linux and windows. If you keep the quick start icon running, OO launches on very, very quickly. There are also other ways to tweak the program to open faster. Keep in mind that MS Office also has a quick starter program as well.

Basically the quick starter sits in the system memory keeping a program running in the background (for the most part). When you launch the program, the quickstarter links to the already running program and it then launches much more quickly than just being dormant.

I enjoy OO for a few reasons:

1. It is pretty much compatible with MS Office (or at least provides as much if not more compatibility as MS Office with older/newer versions, ie. Office 97 and Office XP)

2. The overall space on my system is much smaller than Office. I love to tweak (or as my girlfriend calls it "break") my systems and the smaller the better.

3. It makes MS Office better. By having a viable competitor that is available for free, MS has to work harder and pack more value into their program to make it worth the money. I don't benefit, but others might

4. Number 3 should in theory make MS more open about their standards. (please google "Mass. Open Document" for more on this). This benefits the entire community, as MS now must support a format beyond theirs.

5. If the UI seems cluttered or otherwise strange, it is a new program and looks differnent than what people are used too. I strip most of the formatting, drawing features, etc. out of my OO toolbars. Why? I am pretty good with hot keys and I don't need a drawing tool to draft a document which only requires formatting and entering text.

6. I work in an office where MS Office and Wordperfect dominate and they don't get along together. Everyone has to have converters to convert the docs back and forth and this sometimes works. OO opens both documents types quickly and retains the formatting of both. No more having two programs to open both documents types.

Give it a try, the download is pretty small (~90 mb for windows); getting rid of it is as easy as removing the software

wingman

dsvochak · #8 Post by **dsvochak** » Mon Dec 05, 2005 11:38 am

I primarily use SmartSuite, with some WP Office. I used to have a copy of MS Office for the occasions when I have to work with documents sent to me. I don't need it anymore since I installed OO. I've even started touting it to MS Office users.

Let's balance the pros and cons. Loading speed, cluttered interface, anything else you'd like vs free. The "free" outweighs everything else.

All of these suites have advantages and disadvantages, but TCO drops a lot when the purchase price is $0.

Don't want to pay $150 or more for MS Office? [Open Office]

Don't want to pay $150 or more for MS Office? [Open Office]

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