Open Office

Greensaver_2

I've used open office instead of microsoft for years now - it is everybit just as good, it is compatible with those who use microsoft and it is completely free.

Why pay microsoft?!

[Deleted User]

Greensaver wrote: »

I've used open office instead of microsoft for years now - it is everybit just as good, it is compatible with those who use microsoft and it is completely free.

Why pay microsoft?!

Because you require the features that Microsoft Office has that aren't in Open Office?

isofa

anewhope wrote: »

Because you require the features that Microsoft Office has that aren't in Open Office?

Exactly. OO for me is useless, has virtually none of the features I need as a professional.

It might be ok for home or light users, but doesn't cut the mustard for power users at all.

The OP to say it's every bit as good, is a comment without foundation.

Psychofly

It's definitely something that needs a serious look before you make the move as a business. We looked at it but had too many people using things like pivot tables which OO doesn't support and there were also some compatibility issues between OO and MS Office which would cause trouble when we were sending data to external agencies.
From a home user point of view it will likely suit the vast majority of people but if you've got more high end requirements then it needs a bit of consideration.

isofa

And don't forget home users can buy the home and student edition of Office pretty cheaply nowadays well under £80, and students can have the whole suite for peanuts. OO does makes sense for home users and people with basic requirements. But makes far less sense for businesses who need the power and reliability of a large office suite, together with everyone know how it works, retraining and support can be significant costs, so a "free" piece of software can end up costing an organisation thousands to run.

Esqui

Psychofly wrote: »

there were also some compatibility issues between OO and MS Office which would cause trouble when we were sending data to external agencies.

Which would likely be down to Microsoft Office not supporting an internationally recognised open-source document format?

I like Office (can't use it on here though), but it has some pretty bad flaws.

[Deleted User]

Esqui wrote: »

Which would likely be down to Microsoft Office not supporting an internationally recognised open-source document format?

Or OpenOffice not handling Microsoft Office documents correctly, which regardless of their 'open status' are still the most commonly used document format worldwide.

PhilCo_2

Trying to translate VBA into OO Basic is a right pain, one line of VBA is equivalent to about 5 in some cases. Conditional formatting takes a while to work out too.

Jaffa.

Greensaver wrote: »

I've used open office instead of microsoft for years now - it is everybit just as good, it is compatible with those who use microsoft and it is completely free.

Why pay microsoft?!

Because it's much much better, hence why it's a de facto program.

Greensaver_2

isofa wrote: »

Exactly. OO for me is useless, has virtually none of the features I need as a professional.

It might be ok for home or light users, but doesn't cut the mustard for power users at all.

The OP to say it's every bit as good, is a comment without foundation.

Oh! I was speaking merely as a home user. All i know it works well for me and does the job I need to do, I am not a 'power user', just a mum of two!

Jaffa.

The icons look much prettier making it even more worthy of money