Should I download OpenOffice?

[hbdragon88]

OpenOffice

I already have Office XP, but I've been recently switching off from Microsoft to other alternatives (Winamp for WMP, Opera for IE, etc.). I'm wondering if there are any concerns with reading .doc files or other MS Office formats and whether it would be worth downloading OpenOffice to switch.

 

[Zwelgje]

If you have XP Office then don't.
It's slower than MS Office, the positive things are that I didn't encounter any compatibility issues and that it's free. I would stay with MS Office.

 

[MajorGeneral2]

There are no problems reading .doc files or about anything else. Its default format (sxw) I believe takes up less space than .doc. They're about the same in every other way, though, and if you already have MS Office then there's really no reason to download it.
Of course, if you really want to avoid MS wherever possible, then I suppose you may as well...

 

[hbdragon88]

Originally posted by MajorGeneral2
Of course, if you really want to avoid MS wherever possible, then I suppose you may as well...

The major turnoffs were 1) I have Office already and 2) Whether i wanted to download a 70MB setup file.

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[Jeratain]

If you don't need it don't get it. If you need it, get it.

 

[ainwood]

Does it support VBA? Probably not....but what about files that already have VBA embedded?

 

[Turner]

If you've already got Office XP, I wouldn't mess with Open office. But it's not bad if you don't want to shell out $400 for Office XP.

 

[funxus]

I downloaded it and tried a week ago, despite having Office XP, but I missed several functions, and there's no spellcheck (in Swe), and it was really slow. Also, it can't translate everything to Doc format, like formulas to Math Equation. If you have a slow connection don't bother, if you have a fast one, download and try it.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Yes, do. It can save you a few hundreds $$$

But if you want to use Math functions and more complex document handling, a friend of mine mentioned a program called Lathe

 

[anarchywrksbest]

It's great. I got it on a CD though.

 

[funxus]

Originally posted by anarchywrksbest
It's great. I got it on a CD though.

2 questions:
Is there a way to mark a whole line easily? Like clicking once in the left margin of the page in Office XP.
Is there a way to center the paper without resizing it to fit the screen? It was annoying that it was placed on the left side of the screen.

I thought I should at least try it for a while before rejecting it, and these were two among a few things that annoyed me.

 

[hbdragon88]

Originally posted by anarchywrksbest
It's great. I got it on a CD though.

You paid shipping costs to get it on the CD?

 

[anarchywrksbest]

Heck no, I ripped it off the front of a computer magazine.

And Funxus, I don't do much wordprocessing at home. I use openoffice for spreadsheets mostly.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

No.

 

[Ankka]

Yes, it has almost all that MS Office does, and it's smaller and lighter and you can save the files in many different formats... I use it, and it's a good choice IMHO.

 

[funxus]

Originally posted by anarchywrksbest
And Funxus, I don't do much wordprocessing at home. I use openoffice for spreadsheets mostly.

I guess it can be found in some helpfiles or forum somewhere...

 

[Sodapop]

Originally posted by funxus

2 questions:
Is there a way to mark a whole line easily? Like clicking once in the left margin of the page in Office XP.
Is there a way to center the paper without resizing it to fit the screen? It was annoying that it was placed on the left side of the screen.

I thought I should at least try it for a while before rejecting it, and these were two among a few things that annoyed me.

If you want to select only one line, triple click on the left margin does the trick.

Don't know for your second question though.

 

[funxus]

Thanks.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Originally posted by Wizard
Yes, it has almost all that MS Office does, and it's smaller and lighter and you can save the files in many different formats... I use it, and it's a good choice IMHO.

When MS Office takes up about 1 Gb of your hard, Open Office can make do with just 30-50 Megs ! That's something

 

[Jeratain]

Originally posted by Aphex_Twin


When MS Office takes up about 1 Gb of your hard, Open Office can make do with just 30-50 Megs ! That's something

1 GB? Hah! MS Office only takes about 150-300mb depending on how many of the programs you install.