Apache Open Ofice, anyone use this?

Katy43

Hi,

my aged computer is limping it's last and I know I've got to take the plunge and buy a new one very soon.
A friend of mine suggested that instead of buying microsoft office I could download Apache Open Office for free.
Does anyone have experience of using this system?
Many thanks.

rmg1

What's wrong with you current machine? If it's just slow, have you tried the speed-up sticky at the top of this forum?

macman

Open Office or Libre Office will both do the same job.

Spank

What software are you using now?

Katy43

Thank you for your replies. My computer is 12 years old and even the local repair shop tell me it's comming to its end!

I'm using Windows XP. I don't do much in the way of letter writing but it's useful to have the facility there if I need to.

I do design all my own labels etc and use Publisher. Are there other options to use?

Again many thanks for your help!

AllTheseUserNamesAreTaken

The new versions of Office have completely changed. The menus are gone and a 'ribbon' is in its place which I find unusable.

OpenOffice is much more like older versions of Office with normal menus and are so similar you can hardly tell them apart. I prefer OpenOffice and I don't think I'll be buying Microsoft Office ever again.

Why not try it and see if you like it? It is free to try.

If you don't like it, you can buy Microsoft's offering at a later date.

bcl999

I've used OpenOffice exclusively for years without problems. Not sure what the "Apache" bit is, though.

fermi

bcl999 wrote: »

INot sure what the "Apache" bit is, though.

http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/OpenOffice-org-accepted-into-Apache-Incubator-1259664.html

InsideInsurance

They are perfectly good applications for what you need.

If you were collaborating on files with users of MS Office and creating complex documents then there can be a bit of caution necessary as they are not 100% compatible with each other.

Just doing your own thing or sharing simple documents with others it is perfectly good enough for.