How good is OpenOffice these days?

FoxEye

FoxEye

FoxEye

Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
Posts
29,263
Location
Cornwall
Last time I tried to use version 2.something and I didn't like it at all.

Slow, ugly, limited and dependent on Java. Think it crashed a couple times too.

Anyway, I have the option of buying MS Office 2010 Pro Plus for £40 via college, which is very tempting.

Would anyone rate OpenOffice over MS Office these days? For actual real work and productivity, as opposed to messing around.

Does version 3 make it suck less (or more?)
 
Why not just try it out?
I personally still prefer MS Office by quite a margin (have 2007 on one machine and OO on another).
 
I don't think any body will argue that Open Office is better than MS Office in anyway, but at the end of the day it is free. So if you're just writing a few pieces in the word processor, or using a spreadsheet to calculate your finances then OpenOffice will be perfectly adequate. Version 3 is also quite a bit faster than 2.

If you're doing something more advanced and require the functionality and familiarity of the Microsoft applications, then go for it. :)
 
Last time I used it it was fine, only minor image problems but nothing too bad though for 40 quid id go with MS Office :D
 
For actual real work and productivity? Well if you open up a word processor, and expect to find a word processor then OO (or AbiWord) would be a better choice. But if you actually care for whatever extra features MSOffice has then get that.
 
It depends on how much you want to save 40 quid really, although it is a steal for Office.

In terms of productivity it really depends on what you're trying to do. If you ever used an office suite before it's pretty straight forward but you might have to hit google for some of the more advanced stuff. People have written entire books with OO and I myself have produced lots of stuff with it so it is more than capable.

Yeah, it's slow to load but big woop really; once it's open it's open. It's never crashed outright on me and lost my work but it can be a little buggy at times.
 
Superewza said:
For actual real work and productivity? Well if you open up a word processor, and expect to find a word processor then OO (or AbiWord) would be a better choice. But if you actually care for whatever extra features MSOffice has then get that.
Click to expand...

I've been using AbiWord for a while, but it has a really annoying "disappearing text" bug under win7 x64. You can be edited a sentence, and suddenly the first three or so words will just vanish, and everything to the right will shift over to take its place. But the words are still there :confused: If you edit some more, sometimes they'll re-appear as if nothing had happened :p

Anyway, after putting up with this odd behaviour for a while, I got fed up with it and decided it was a pretty critical bug for a word processor :p

And yeah, £40 for Office 2010 Pro Plus is a steal. Think I'll go for it.
 
daz said:
I don't think any body will argue that Open Office is better than MS Office in anyway, but at the end of the day it is free.
Click to expand...

You say that, but I had that exact conversation when I worked for the purple shirts, a customer had brought in his tech savvy mate, who point blank refused to concede that OpenOffice was inferior to Office in any way. I wasn't trying to argue OpenOffice was ***p, but simply put, if his friend wanted Office, then it wasn't a bad choice/decision, because Office IS the defacto standard in terms of compatibility, support etc.
I know the purple shirts dont have the best rep, but seriously, I think that guy just had a bee in his bonnet he'd gone into PCW and hadn't gotten an ignorant walkover of a CSA to show off his knowledge against in front of his mate.
 
Last edited:
I use OOO because it's free, and I don't do a lot of word processing on my home PC. I used version 2 years ago and didn't get on with it at all, but the neweston one is pretty good. I'd say that MS Office is slightly better, but OOO is perfectly adequate, and free.
 
MS will hate me I have put OO on about 100 PC's over the past 18months... of those a few (under 10) went out and brought MS office straight away. I have re-visited a fair few of the 100 since and all still use OO.

I use it as a matter of principal... a bit slower on a low spec pc but works fine for me...
 
edscdk said:
make sure you change the default save formats to be the MS ones or you end up sending people documents they cannot read...
Click to expand...

I thought the default format was .odt files? MS Office can indeed read these files fine (in 2007 and 2010 anyway, not sure about previous to that)
 
Smit said:
I thought the default format was .odt files? MS Office can indeed read these files fine (in 2007 and 2010 anyway, not sure about previous to that)
Click to expand...

maybe but most poeple have office 97/xp/2003 so I always change the format, saves on a few support calls
 
edscdk said:
I use it as a matter of principal... a bit slower on a low spec pc but works fine for me...
Click to expand...

You say a matter of principle... what principle is that? I like FOSS as much as the next man, but I do still think products should be judged on merit, not idealism.
 
FoxEye said:
You say a matter of principle... what principle is that? I like FOSS as much as the next man, but I do still think products should be judged on merit, not idealism.
Click to expand...

I have acecss to free ms office so I could use either for nothing, I should like most use what I am used to.. however I choose to use (since v3) open office.

personally I've not had any issues at all, using it since v3 came out.. a few things look odd at first because I am used to office 2003..

I do some word processing, and some slightly more complex than average spreadsheets...

since oo is free jsut install it and see how you get on, if you dont like it buy ms office you can still access all your files..
 
edscdk said:
I have acecss to free ms office so I could use either for nothing, I should like most use what I am used to.. however I choose to use (since v3) open office.
Click to expand...

Do you know if v3 supports MS 2007 files now? last time I used it it didn't however I cant remember the version I used :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom