Free Open Office (Merged)

[peterfleet]

At last there is a rival system version called OpenOffice 1.1.2 that is free to download from www.openoffice.org, and that has the features and compatability to the world leader £300 Microsoft Office 2003. The mag PC PRO just out (Dec 2004) reviews 8 office suites for the PC and rates this latest version of OpenOffice best overall. If you buy the mag it supplies a CD that contains the OpenOffice software so you won't have to spend time and money downloading it if you don't have broadband. And the mag says it runs on Windows 95 onwards.

Hope this helps other value for money seekers.

[alexj2002]

I'm not sure why you use "At Last" - i've been using OpenOffice.org for a few years and before that it's pre-decessor StarOffice.

It is very good for the money but takes some time getting used to and doesn't have all the features of Office (there is no Access like program for example)

There is Word,Excel and Powerpoint replacements however and some other apps like Draw.

[Genie]

Fair enough it might be missing a DB program like Access, but since it's free and is comparable to MS Office, this is a great deal for anyone who's doesn't want to spend over inflated prices for MS products.

[peterfleet]

Sorry alexj2002 if I misled about my post when I wrote "At last....."

What I intended to mean was that this new version of OpenOffice has improved features and performance compared with its earlier versions, and better compatability with Microsoft Office 2003, to the point that it now offers at last, according to PC PRO reviewers, a system version to rival Microsoft's.

For those considering this version of OpenOffice it could be worth reading the reviews in that mag before you commit, because it covers other Office suites (including Sun StarOffice 7) in addition to Microsoft's.

[GlennTheBaker]

Another nice touch is that you can create PDF documents directly from within OpenOffice. 8)

[alexj2002]

Yeah sure no problem - just didn't want others confused.

M$ Office does seem a huge rip-off when you look at what your getting there and what's on offer here for free.

If you can't download it there are many distributors willing to send you a CD for a pound or two. The OO.O approved list is here : http://distribution.openoffice.org/cdrom/sellers.html#UK (although I should point out that my site is on that list to avoid any criticism for promotion etc.)

[gorilla]

I downloaded this today and first impressions are that it is very impressive. If like me you don't really have a need for an office application at home then I would recommend this package.
Firstly its free and secondly it is compatible with MS Office.
For those of you on broadband download it and try it out for yourself - it's about 50mb and took about 10 minutes to download today on my 512KB service.
As a money saving forum this is a great tip as it's free and everyone can make use of it at some point.
This proves that owning a PC is no longer as expensive as it once was.

[pin]

I've been using Open office now for about 6 months. Don't use an office suite at home that often, so this suited me. So far no real compliants, does what it says on the tin.

I do like the pdf convert thing, that is very useful.

[bawbagwoman]

Can it handle Macros and VBA ? especially in its spreadsheet, and is it only free for home users ?

[alexj2002]

It's free for anyone including businesses.

[peterfleet]

OpenOffice has its own versions of macros and basic, but I understand that you would not be able to run Microsoft's macros and VBA routines within OpenOffice's equivalents of Word and Excel. You would have to first build the equivalents for OpenOffice using the provided tools. The OpenOffice.org web site and the OOo forums provide a lot of information.

The decision to adopt OpenOffice depends.......

For the larger business which has, say, 50 plus users that currently uses Microsoft Office with a number of macros, the decision to switch to another office suite is not obvious. It would need, I suggest, to be part of a company wide review. But the potential lower cost of usage compared with Microsoft Office, taking into account all other aspects like user and support retraining, rewriting and testing macros and VBA replacement routines, could be the incentive for many businesses to carry out the review. There are now a number of documented case studies.

For the home user or new business, I think that the decision to use the OpenOffice suite is simple once you have trialled the suite to confirm the usability and the training implications.

[crossleydd42]

Don't forget that there's EasyOffice as well, which is freeware. It also has an email client Easymail, whih is integrated with a contact manager, too. Go to:
http://www.e-press.com/downloads_comparison.asp

[richto]

At last there is a rival system version called OpenOffice 1.1.2 that is free to download from www.openoffice.org, and that has the features and compatability to the world leader £300 Microsoft Office 2003. The mag PC PRO just out (Dec 2004) reviews 8 office suites for the PC and rates this latest version of OpenOffice best overall. If you buy the mag it supplies a CD that contains the OpenOffice software so you won't have to spend time and money downloading it if you don't have broadband. And the mag says it runs on Windows 95 onwards.

Hope this helps other value for money seekers.


Beats Microsoft? lol. you have to be kidding. On price maybe but nothing else. You get what you pay for....

[calleyw]

Beats Microsoft? lol. you have to be kidding. On price maybe but nothing else. You get what you pay for....

Care to explain. If I had £1 for every bug in microsoft software I would be rich And people write viruses to exploit the loopholes in the software. Oh and which e-mailer gets hit with the most viruses. ummmmmmmmmmm would that be piece of dog do do called outlook. I use to use a unix based mailer and guess who never got hit with viruses. Umm yes that would be right me.

I stopped using IE as a browser. And guess what when I run adware there are virtually no spyware on my machine. There are few bits but that is because of one webpage I can't use Firefox on. when I used IE it would find hundreds of pieces of spyware.

Also for most home users that write the odd letter and create the odd spreadsheet don't see a problem.

I use open office and I studying with the OU and my tutor has never once complained about not being able to read documents that I have created in open office and saved in word format.

So you either work for mickeysoft or have one of there qualifications or are a Bill Gates lover. Or you just love to pay hundreds of pounds for not a very good product.

Sorry but microsoft and bill gates apart from HP and that woman that wrote it. Are the most overated thing in the world.

People only buy MS products because everyone else uses it. Hardly gives anyone else a choice does it.

You use what you want to and I will use what I want to. Ok. And unless you can come up with something a bit better than
Beats Microsoft? lol. you have to be kidding. On price maybe but nothing else. You get what you pay for....and give a real reason. Well maybe you should not comment.

Have you ever used open office by the way.

I know we are suppose to be nice to other MSE's but when people talk rubbish and have nothing to back it up. It really riles me.

Sorry I shut up now. And yes I do use windows. But I am really thinking about going over to linux.

Your

Calley

[sonltd]

Just been catching up on the Open Office vs MS Office debate, alot has been said and from my own experience Open Office is ideal for all users and is going to get better soon with the release of Open Office 2 which will have a full database program as well all current elements. I have been using Open Office for a long time as myoffice suite and have had no problems or complaints from any client I send files to.
So if you want to pay bill gates an inflated price for an office suite that will be out of date in 6 months and then pay for the upgrades buy MS Office or if you want a very good Office suite with FREE UPGRADES and LOTS OF FREE SUPPORT online you know what to choose.
Open source software will save you a fortune.
:beer:

[KingSquad]

Sorry but I'm with "RichTo" on this. OpenOffice is only good for limited home use. And I aint an employee of Microsoft!!!

As, CalleyW says "Also for most home users that write the odd letter and create the odd spreadsheet don't see a problem.". Spot on. But, the company I worked for recently tried to stop ordering MS office and replace it with OpenOffice to save some money. Oh dear! The success on opening spreadsheets successfully from customers using Excel was 50% in OpenOffice. They weren't exactly complicated spreadsheets either... No macros just boxes and stuff like that.

As for "I know we are suppose to be nice to other MSE's but when people talk rubbish and have nothing to back it up. It really riles me.". I can assure you alot of people reading what "RichTo" wrote understood exactly what he meant. You seem to be wound right up about it though? :p

"I use to use a unix based mailer and guess who never got hit with viruses. Umm yes that would be right me.", what does that mean? I'd hope you didn't get viruses on a unix based mailer unless you were logged in as root and ran every executable sent to you!!! :D

So, to conclude... OpenOffice is very good for a free tool but I would emphasise that it really isn't that amazing compared to MS office. You can create documents and stuff that MS office will open but if you plan to open documents etc. created within MS office then you will experience difficulties sooner or later.

Cheers! :T

[Regmir]

Hi all
Apologies if posted elsewhere already.

Most of us use microsoft office (word, excel, access, presentation etc) and pay around £200 to get a copy. But this openoffice.org software allows you to save your work in .doc .xls .ppt etc format and can be used in any platform - MS Windows, Mac, Unix, Linux distros.

Could be a big money saver if we get use to this piece of software which is not much different to MS Office. Just be careful to do 'save as' and choose a format to save so that it can be accessed from other MS windows machines!

This is free to download, free to distribute and change the software- that is what 'Open Source' is in constrast to windows (windoze!! as put it by millions of linux users)

http://download.openoffice.org/2.0.1/

Select your language, and your system, with or without JRE (Java Runtime Environment - you need to enable java) and enjoy world of free software!!

(edited to incorporate changes as pointed out by darksum)

[Darksun]

We all use microsoft office (word, excel, access, presentation etc) and pay around £200 to get a copy.

We all do?

This is free to download, free to distribute - that is what 'Open Source' is in constrast to windows (windoze!! as put it by millions of linux users)

Well, it's 'Open Source' in contrast to 'Closed Source/Commercial Software'. It's not only free to download and distribute, anyone can get a copy of the source code and edit the software however they like (provided they have the knowhow).

with or without JRE (java resource enabled)

JRE = Java Runtime Environment

OK, nitpicking over, enjoy OO.o everyone :)

If you just want a basic wordprocessor however, look at AbiWord. I find OO.o horribly bloated, whereas AbiWord is highly featured yet doesn't use much resources.

[Regmir]

Darksum, well spotted there :o - I have now edited the post!!! Any more comments :)

I am not sure if Abiword has all the components that are available in OO.o - may be in the latest version.

I find Openoffice quite useful and complete for my basic use so posted here.

[tesuhoha]

My son saw this advertised on the gadget show. Its not quite Microsoft Office but its very similar and its free to download:
http://www.openoffice.org/
There is a word processing document, a spreadsheet like Excel, a database and a powerpoint although I have not tried the latter two.

[handsomeDaddy]

welcome to the open source world... ;-)

[mistresslenore]

Please help, I'm rubbish at things like this what do i choose for operating system and download site!!! I've wanted this for ages but don't know how to do it!!
xx

[frivolous_fay]

And this is the version for you Mac users.

http://www.neooffice.org/

It's nice and sleek and far less of a resource hog than blasted Appleworks!

[map200uk]

mistresslenore, hi i assume you're a pc user? select windows, with jre, probably best to select with jre, as i assume you arent sure if you have the java runtime environment installed and it is needed

regards

map

[mistresslenore]

mistresslenore, hi i assume you're a pc user? select windows, with jre, probably best to select with jre, as i assume you arent sure if you have the java runtime environment installed and it is needed

regards

map


Thanks Map, I'll give that a try
xxxx

[Regmir]

That is right - free Office Suite similar to Microsoft Office. MS office users
remember to do "save as" and select file type as:
Word: .doc
Excel: .xls
Access: .dbs
and all your files can be opened in other machines using MS.

I have also started a thread about Openoffice here:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=162699
Enjoy

[oldrabbit]

OpenOffice.org the product is a multi-platform office productivity suite. It includes the key desktop applications, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program, with a user interface and feature set similar to other office suites. Sophisticated and flexible, OpenOffice.org also works transparently with a variety of file formats, including those of Microsoft Office, and the vendor-neutral OpenDocument standard from OASIS.

I have been using this software for several years with excellent results.

Download free from: http://www.openoffice.org/

[Tombo]

This is a very good office suite.
I have been using it for years and I would highly recommend it to everyone!