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OpenOffice.org Resource Kit
With a stable 1.0 release and spectacular cross-platform functionality, it's finally time to seriously consider putting this software to work in your company. Whether you are completely new to OpenOffice.org or just moving from its predecessor StarOffice, you'll want to take a look at OpenOffice.org 1.0 Resource Kit from Prentice Hall PTR.
The "kit" consists of a well written tutorial book and a companion CD-ROM. The book's authors (Solveig Haughland and Floyd Jones) are salty veterans in the technical training field, and it shows in the quality of the text. The CD contains the OpenOffice.org release itself, as one might expect. It provides builds for every supported platform, to include the Mac OS X developer alpha version. At the time this review was written, two minor upgrades have been made available since my book's CD-ROM was pressed. These are, naturally, available for free via the OpenOffice.org web-site. In addition to the releases, the CD includes templates, macros, and examples from the developer community. The authors provide additional templates and resources at http://www.getopenoffice.org
The first five chapters of the book are devoted to basic issues such as installation, migrating existing data, printer issues, and global setup tips. Special guidance is given to users switching over from StarOffice, or even that Redmond company's office suite. Speaking of that company, OpenOffice.org is superb at converting Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files into its own open formats. The book shows how to use the handy "AutoPilot", which can perform batch conversions of your existing data for use with OpenOffice.org's equivalent applications. Originals are kept safely intact-- AutoPilot produces converted copies. This could make a large office transition much easier, if not completely seamless.
The next six chapters cover the creation of written documents in fantastic detail. The organization of this section is quite intuitive; you'll easily learn how to create a simple letter. When you're ready to write your memoirs, you won't need to buy another book--it's all there: complex formatting options, page layout functionality, object manipulation, linking cross-references, and indexing. And don't forget office goodies like mail merges, label printing, and business cards.
Chapters 13-17 focus entirely on web-page development. Serious web designers may find this section bordering on useless, but the casual user will be able to create a home page without learning a single tag of HTML.
The next several chapters deal with Calc (a spreadsheet program), Impress (for creating presentations), and Draw ("the best drawing program you've never used," say the authors). The layout of each section follows the comprehensive example from the earlier chapters detailing OpenOffice.org's word processor, Writer. Basic topics are organized neatly along with the more advanced ones, and neither seem to get in the way of the other. Both the novice and the expert will find very little lacking from this material.
Organizations who deal frequently with databases will not be disappointed with OpenOffice.org, either. The final three chapters of the book explain how to incorporate data from any flavor database you're likely to be using in your network. Throw in an appendix on macros, and you've got one very complete tutorial masquerading as an all-in-one reference. I'm very picky when it comes to my geek shelf space, and this one gets high marks in all the important areas: comprehensive, well organized, and with a great signal-to-noise ratio.
We have learned that superior open source software alone isn't always enough to supplant the existing closed source way of doing things. However, "document it, and they will come!" The OpenOffice.org 1.0 Resource Kit will go a long way toward fulfilling that prophecy.
Reader Marcus Green sent in a review of this book as well. Here are some of his thoughts:
In addition to the document management features the book covers the more "Page Layout" style features of StarOffice such as the ability to manage columns and to place vertical text running up the page. These are features I was not even aware existed in StarOffice before I read this book.The StarOffice companion has over 1030 pages, but it is really bigger than it sounds because it is very dense. Although it has many screen shots, plenty of use is made of text based instructions. Instead of repeating instructions, the text will often point you to the page where a concept was first explained. This does break up the flow of instructions but it also means that the book contains more information than if they had repeated the text every time it was needed.
I found the section on the graphics module useful because I had not realised how StarOffice has some slightly non-standard ways of working with menus and selections. For example I spent quite a bit of time trying to get the 3d shapes menu to pop out and show all the possible shape options. It was only on a closer reading of the text of this book did I appreciate that you need to click and hold down the mouse for a few seconds before the menu pops out.
The tone of the book comes across as being created by people who like the program rather than a creation of a faceless corporation. Thus in the graphics section they have included the amusing Moose with moving fly graphic that is used for the logo of the JavaRanch website. Here is an example of the text style from the section on macros. "Macros can do things like open a file when you do a particular task, process data, or take your grandmothers' credit cards and buy $3000 worth of cat toys." It also features a section titled "Turning Off Annoying Features," which of course is about the autoformatting and word completion.
You can purchase the OpenOffice.org Resource Kit from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
For anyone who doesn't know how to use an Office Suite...
With release 1.1 on the way, wouldn't it make sense to wait until after that release to buy a book about it?
I wouldn't want to miss out on all the yummy 1.1 goodies and it sounds like it will be a pretty significant change.
lysergically yours
I'd be happy with soem simple tips on scripting a setup so that "open file" points by default to a user's network drive and so that the display and toolbars are uniform within our firm. I do not relish setting up a dozen computers to make the settings match.
Basically, scripts or config tools would be cool.
Back in the days, the Amiga had AREXX & OS/2 had REXX. These were for scripting ANY compatable application.
Why don't we have these nowadays?!?!?!?
Then we wouldn't need entire books like this, and could get better functionality from all our programs...
Heres all the possible trolls, rolled up into one mod point.
1) OpenOffice is slow
2) No font config support
3) Ugly paper clip clone (the lightbulb)
4) Uses a non standard printer library
5) Won't work on my 386SX running Slackware 1.0
6) I don't wan't to start a holy war here, but my linux box is taking 20 minutes to.....
7) join the GNAA
8) Mirror
9) Openoffice has no footnote support
10) My Mom says linux dosen't have any decent solitare games
11) ???
12) -12, troll.
A bunch of coders release an entire office package, yet can't get an import routine to work properly. That must be entirely their fault.
Are you kidding?
MS Word doesn't import MS Word documents properly...
What's the problem ?
:-)
Microsoft Word does not import Microsoft Word correctly either
(Especially if you go from one version to another... and, in earlier versions, even if you changed from a Danish version to an English version...)
luugi -
What problems have you had with opening MS Word docs? I've been using OO.o for a while, using myself as a test subject to see if we could replace all/some of our MS Office suites with something comparable. I haven't noticed any problems, but I'd like to hear what other people have issues with.
"Bugger this, I want a better world." - Jenny Sparks
While we're on the subject of StarOffice/OpenOffice, I'm going to post a question about it here because Slashdotters are more likely to be able to anwer than those kids over at the OO forums.
.gtkrc and .gtkrc-2.0 files and relateds are all configured correctly for my color preferences... but OO doesn't seem to see these either (I haven't checked to see if OO is a GTK app at all).
OpenOffice is able to inherit and use the toolkit/widget colors that I select in Linux/KDE. i.e. if my widgets are all brown in other apps, they are also brown in OpenOffice. However, when I am using WindowMaker or another simple managed environment rather than KDE, OpenOffice comes up in Windows NT gray and I can't seem to change that.
I've done an "xrdb -all -edit myrsrcs.txt" from within KDE to grab all the krdb stuff and then an "xrdb myrsrcs.txt" from within WindowMaker, but that didn't help. All of my GTK/GTK2 apps look the way I want them to at this point because my
I even tried "kfmclient file:/opt/OpenOffice.org/progrms/swriter" to see if I could get the KDE colors into OO that way without actually having to be logged in to KDE, but it didn't help.
Does anyone know how to change the widget colors in OpenOffice without having to simply log into KDE or GNOME?
P.S. final hint: using the Tools menu is not the right answer, it contains color options for a great many things, but the menu and toolbar widgets are not among them.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Do they mention a manner in which to upgrade an installation vs. re-install?
Ok, so it's a bit offtopic, but I think you're quote should be properly attributed to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as he used it extensively in his character Sherlock Holmes.
Not that software development is any less a mystery to those outside of coding circles.
So we have two choices to what we can do.
I'm not much of a defeatist, so I'm going with option 2.
Besides, it imports simple word docs fine. And really, Word is a word processor, not a page layout program. If you really want to do some fancy stuff neither word nor OOo are good. Go get pagemaker or quark.
i don't like my old sig.
// you probably won't believe my review, so please
// read this guy's
#include otherreview.c
What problems have you had with opening MS Word docs? I've been using OO.o for a while, using myself as a test subject to see if we could replace all/some of our MS Office suites with something comparable. I haven't noticed any problems, but I'd like to hear what other people have issues
Well I'm using OpenOffice 1.0.2. I understand that it's not the latest one but it is a 1.0 version.
When I'm importing MS Word docs, I'm able to read the documents but the fonts are sometime mess up. Also Printing an imported MS Word document never looks the same way as printing an original MS Word document.
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.
How can you forget that one? It is an alltime classic.
It needs some real work.
You're full of shit.
No, what's sad is that this single, solitary complaint is the only negative thing I ever hear about OO, and still it gets modded up as fucking 'informative'.
It is the only negative thing about it. But's it's negative, an not everyone knows that.
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.
{sarcasm mode on} But, of course, Office docs never corrupted -- they're self-repairing. {sarcasm mode off}
Besides, it imports simple word docs fine. And really, Word is a word processor, not a page layout program. If you really want to do some fancy stuff neither word nor OOo are good. Go get pagemaker or quark.
Thanks for the suggestion. I'll email my girlfriend to learn to use pagemaker if she just wants to send me her CV to print out for her. (She has no printer at home)...
I don't have a problem with the software when I'm writing a doc. It's when I'm importing a doc. i.e. I didn't write it.
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.
I don't think it's sad. After all, I have a secret light socket which I've been developing without the use of standards committees.
If you wish to gain access to this light socket, you need to give me the electrical cord of the appliance of your choice, and I will route it through the 2x2x2 iron safe that protects my newly created intellectual property. If you throw tons of cash at me, I might allow you to look at the plug directly, but only on the condition that I can prevent you from telling anyone else about it (and I'm going to change it completely next year too!)
Of course, my plug's tolerances are incredible, so if you attempt to access it incorrectly, your lamps may flicker or totally self destruct. But hey, that's your problem! You should have paid me to use the "secret" plug which I won't show you.
I imagine that my competitors will have a fully working substitute interface in about 30 years. But I've still got the upper hand, hehehe.... See I've made the plug not work properly, so they'll actually have to include ALL of the BUGS for "full functionality"!
Sounds more like a Linux-vs-Windows font issue to me. If you're running OO.o on a Linux box, are you positive you're using the same true-type fonts that Office is using?
Worst snack food ever.
but the fonts are sometime mess up
How do you mean? Like Times New Roman becomes Helvetica without you changing it, or the fonts just look bad?
Printing an imported MS Word document never looks the same way as printing an original MS Word document.
Are you printing using OO.o in windows? Printing in Linux is pretty crappy over all (IMHO), so it's probably unfair to compare printing in OO.o under Linux to printing under MS Word in Windows.
my pet machine
Don't judge OpenOffice besed on 1.0.
You will see the same issue in a word document if you open it on another Windows machine that is missing the fonts you used, it will make its best guess.
Font is a four letter word, and I don't mean that in just the literal sense.
for our OpenOffice.org training classes and it is quite good. The customers/students have really given posotive feedback about it not only as a classroom textbook, but also as a reference for ongoing use. For what it's worth.
ER
Looks like I'll have to take the rest of the summer off if I really wanna learn how to use this. When's the OO for Dummies coming out?
Thank you. Couldn't have said it better myself.
Truth, not troll.
Informatus Technologicus
However, rather than end on a sour note, I think constructive criticism of OO.o is useful feedback and will probably be oneday be acted upon. This is particularly the case given its not commerical in nature; downloads for free may not equal number of active users, so theres no mechanism by which users can otherwise vote with their feet. Its also the beauty of free software; one can criticise within the limits of not being an arsehole, and it won't nerf the project forever more (as may happen with a commerical package; it will just get withdrawn). The mindset in making criticism and acting upon it needs to be different and be seen to be different. So theres shortcomings but on the whole hope for the future. We don't do anyone any favours (users, developers, even businesses that could use it) by pretending all is rosey in the garden when it isn't. If you say OO.o is ready for your organisation and it turns out its not, then you aren't supporting the project and FS itself, you are causing a great deal of damage to both. The collective aim is surely excellence, and no-one ever said attaining that is easy.
Dude, your a weak Jack Wagner
PHP is the solution of choice for relaying mysql errors to web users.
I'm game... post a link to the source?
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
CV?
also, why not just set up ipp on her PC? it is realy easy to do in windows. then she can print directly to your printer using your computer as a print server.
I do it over my network at home from my windows laptop to my printer connected to my Mac OS X in the basement.
and ipp was invented to go over the internet.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Couldn't have summarised the situation better. So why do people put up with this shit from MS, when anybody suggesting using a non-standard electric plug would be laughed at.
I used to work for Kinko's way back when, and companies would send us documents created in Word 97, We'd open them in Word 97, and I'll be damned if Word couldn't format the stupid thing correctly. Bottom line is that people have been joking about MS Word not opening MS Word documents correctly, and they're not joking.
My experience with OO is that it will open a good 95% of what MS Office docs I throw at it. Haven't tried pivot tables or Docs with TOC's yet, though.
The party's over
http://avi.alkalay.net/software/msfonts/
for a solution. Hint, just get Microsoft fontpack.
One more thing, Microsoft supplies free viewers for Word, Excel and Powerpoint. They even run inside Wine. Google for them. I run OO with Windows 2000 and have these viewers installed, plus the fonts. What can i say? It works.
If you're looking to get OpenOffice.org for the Mac, you should get the GM from the official download site and not use what's on the CD with this book. As the "GM" implies, there were lots of bugs fixed between the "Final Beta" and "GM", and definitely lots of serious issues were fixed since the alpha.
If you're on another platform, you should probably check the version on the CD as well. Even though it's now being called a "legacy build", the latest stable version is 1.0.3.1 which fixes nasty printing errors in 1.0.3 on other platforms (didn't happen on the Mac! woo hoo!). The "RC" in 1.1 RC stands for "Release Candidate", so if you're thinking of going the whole way to 1.1 you may want to wait until the RC is dropped from the name.
I guess, in short, don't buy this book just to get OpenOffice.org on a CD since you'll probably have to download a newer version anyway.
For instance, the version that was realized around the time of Windows 3.11 did not by default install the filters needed to load Word files from many other versions of word, particularly DOS and Macintosh. Even when the filters were installed, corruption of data was common.
More recently certain versions and installations of Word 2000 seemed to chew up my Word 95 files. Headers went missing, text was garbles, all sorts of stuff.
The reality is that MS is so obsessed in keeping monopoly though the closed and convoluted Word format, that they do not seem to care if inter-version file can be moved perfectly. Likewise, they are so obsessed with all user upgrading with every version, they do not seem feel responsible about full support of older formats.
What we need is a really inclusive formatted text file format. If companies like Sun, IBM, Redhat, and Thinkfree would just get together to come up with something, then there could be a competitive force. RTF just does not seem good enough. At this point MS is no longer selling the tool, but the file format. The competition needs to be on that basis.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Well, your girlfriend could write her document in OOo, thus eliminating compatibility problems between you. BTW, if she can't even afford a cheap printer (~$35) how in the heck can she afford MS Office? Have you tried saving Word docs in RTF, then importing this into OOo? RTF is suprisingly capable, able to keep images, tables, etc. quite nicely.
Of course, the real issue with this, at least for me, is who controls your data? If you can't even view it without purchasing the latest and greatest software from a single vendor, or share it with others who may or may not be on the same platform, is it still your data?
When you lose something irreplaceable, you don't mourn for the thing you lost, you mourn for yourself. - Harpo Marx
I would use Open Office but it can't support reading and writing MS Word documents. Until it does that, I will remain an avid Microsoft user and supporter.
It actually DOES do that. Not quite sure why you don't think it does. Perhaps you require some obscure function or something that they don't have perfected yet? But in general, I've had spectacular success importing and exporting with MS Word format in Open Office.
no thanks
In the table of contents, there is a bit of space between the section number and title in MSO, but OO concatenates the number and title, which also looks ugly.
We also spotted an empty chapter 1 before the actual text started, which was not present in the MSO interpretation of the document. This also means all the chapter numbers changed, which we really don't like.
Finally, in the header the document title suddenly popped up twice whereas MSO just displays it once. There could be a hidden field there that gets displayed anyway by OO, I haven't checked yet.
Before you ask, I haven't reported any of these problems yet. Don't shoot, they were only discovered yesterday...
And don't take all this as whining: I am very pleased by the way OO is progressing, and I want to help making it a little better by reporting these errors.
He was modded down because, as another poster put it, he's full of shit.
There's no "secret middle layer API" in Mac OS X. Go get an ADC account, a few books on programming for the Mac, and find out for yourself.
Mikey-San
Karma: +Eleventy billion (mostly affected by watching Celebrity Jeopardy)
...we use OpenOffice to repair hopelessly munged-up Microsoft Word documents - which happens more often than anybody is willing to admit. I used to fix all the formatting fubars with WordPerfect but the two products have diverged so much in the last two years that we've discontinued using WordPerfect for anything. Anyway, everytime I get a user who asks me why she can't get her headers and columns to do such-and-such I snarf a copy off his/her server, import it into OO, undo the hideousness (sp?) and export it back out. And it generally stays fixed, even after subsequent exposures to MS Word, plus it's a lot smaller.
Thanks to Microsoft, OpenOffice looks pretty damned good.
I would echo this endorsement. The 1.1RC release is significantly more polished. Font handling seems to be much cleaner, and the package is much faster overall.
There's a really easy way to deal with the word problem. Refuse to send out or recieve documents in proprietary formats. Just stick with plaintext and PDF, OpenOffice does both just fine. It will piss off customers and co-workers, but if more and more people use OpenOffice and start refusing to mess with Word files, eventually the better file formats will catch on.
Mabye if I throw a few million a year in advertising, say directed at the construction market....
:)
Now that would be evil
I gots something negative! Openoffice takes a half gig of RAM to use. Sup wit dat?
Woot! Troll moderation!
Well, if it's any consolation, I'm pissed that it's gonna look like that, too. If you're gonna use XML, make it human-readable. That's the point.
Mikey-San
Karma: +Eleventy billion (mostly affected by watching Celebrity Jeopardy)
I'm using OpenOffice 1.1 on an optimized gentoo linux installation running on an Athlon XP 1900+ 256MB and 80GB Western Digital special edition harddrive and it still takes about 50 seconds to load for the first time if no quickstarting is used.Even after loading it still feels like a java app with slight delays in menu appearance, although I'm sure whatever parts of OO are written in java have been compiled to native code.In short, performance is STILL a major issue not to mention the UI could use some tweaking ex: icons are flat and not easy to distinguish at a glance, menu items placed in strange places. I have a professor who exports lecture notes to WordXP from Openoffice and images are always placed in the wrong location in his document, sometimes on the wrong page, although he is probably not using 1.1. Don't kid yourself, OO needs some serious work. Hopefully the developers will work to improve on the existing features before adding anything new in the next release.
One choice would be the open OpenOffice format.
Computer Science is all about trying to find the right wrench to bang in the right screw. -T.Cumbo?
What - you must be joking??? You can even configure OOo to read/write in MS Office formats By Default. This is ideal in a situation where the MS Word users outnumber the OOo users.
Oh well, what the hell...
Just because the post he replied to was full of shit, doesn't mean he is.
I remember reading that most of the filter improvements in the 1.1 series are also in 1.0.3.x. My few experiments seem to confirm this. For example, a word document that I opened in 1.0.2 did not look like the MS word original, but when I tried in 1.0.3, it looked identical. Now this may not be true for all documents, but upgrading to 1.0.3 may solve some of your import problems.
As others have pointed out, this can be a problem going from MS word to MS word, same version! I've encounted this personally. I hardly think this is OO's fault. More likely, some user was using some obscure font they found on the web and almost nobody else has. This was the issue I encounted most recently.
<rant>In fact, a lot of the problems I've seen in word and excel files are due to the user, not the program, and this applies to files imported into OO. There are 2 ways to do any task: (1) The easy way, and (2) The right way. Guess which way most people go. Guess how many even know (2) exists.</rant>
This review, in particular, almost seems like it was copied straight off of Amazon or something. Some of the quotes seem to come from a marketing firm rather than an independent critic:
Whether you are completely new to OpenOffice.org or just moving from its predecessor StarOffice, you'll want to take a look at OpenOffice.org 1.0 Resource Kit from Prentice Hall PTR.
If only there were some sort of meta-moderation for book reviews...
OpenOffice.org Resource Kit Review (Score: -1, Uninformative)
The first thing I do when that happens isn't to adjusts my printer configuration or my fonts. It isn't to reconfigure my software. I rush out and buy a brand new copy of Office XP. Because it fixes everything for only $354.99.
At that price you save $121.01, 26% over list price and all the trouble of dealing with open source.
Now wasn't that easy?
50 seconds to load on an Athlon 1900+? Well, there's your problem. I'm using an Athlon 2000+ and it takes me about 4 seconds, again without quickstart. I think you need a faster processor.
WARNING: there is a trojan on your
Ditto of your ditto. This version starts in under two seconds on my Linux box. I no longer hesitate and ponder whether it's worth the start-up time before starting OOo.
pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
CV?
Sorry CV is a Curriculum Vitae.
also, why not just set up ipp on her PC? it is realy easy to do in windows. then she can print directly to your printer using your computer as a print server.
I do it over my network at home from my windows laptop to my printer connected to my Mac OS X in the basement.
and ipp was invented to go over the internet.
I print at work... free paper...
Luugi
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.
And there's a slim chance I won't get fired!
Seriously, something has got to happen in terms of standardization. I got very strange looks when I told my office that I wasn't able to fill out the excel-embedded-in-word timesheet and the'd have to accept tab-delimited text files instead. Come to think of it, maybe that's why they put me on salary, so the HR-queen wouldn't have to transfer all my text timesheets to the company format each week.
I told them it was because I was storing my timesheet on a Palm, which can't do Office. The mere mention of Linux at the company I work for is likely to get my car keyed.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
It also takes me about 6-8 seconds to load, but this is only after it has been placed in Linux's memory cache by the first load. It takes forever and a day to load off disk.
I have a similar (but lower in hardware) setup:
Athlon 1400
512MB RAM
10GB Quantum Fireball IDE HD
Gentoo Linux "-march=athlon-tbird -O3 -pipe"
OOo takes about 5 or 6 seconds to load for me. It's a bit laggy if I leave it for a while, but it picks up to speed as I use it. I think that something is wrong with your configuration/setup since mine _should_ be about 20-30% SLOWER than yours and it's 900% faster.
BTW, my memory usage is about 75MB with OOo loaded, not including cache or buffers.
"Sometimes, I think Trent just needs a cup of hot chocolate and a blankie." -Tori Amos on Nine Inch Nails
Wow, either you have a shitty gentoo setup or Windows 2000 SP4 totally rocks.
I have an Athlon T-bird 1.33GHz, 512MB, and a plain old 60GB ATA100 5400RPM hard drive. It doesn't take longer than 5 seconds to start *any* of the OOo programs (OOo 1.1rc1).
I agree that OOo could use some more work.. but wow! 50 seconds? That's funny.
What we need is a really inclusive formatted text file format. If companies like Sun, IBM, Redhat, and Thinkfree would just get together to come up with something, then there could be a competitive force.
How about this one? IBM already seems to like it.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Well, your girlfriend could write her document in OOo, thus eliminating compatibility problems between you.
My girlfriend was just an example. I'm not going to make everyone install OO.
BTW, if she can't even afford a cheap printer (~$35) how in the heck can she afford MS Office?
whatever...
Have you tried saving Word docs in RTF, then importing this into OOo? RTF is suprisingly capable, able to keep images, tables, etc. quite nicely.
Not on complexe documents.
Sometimes I feel that some of you are not in the real world. Don't get me wrong, I love Linux and Open Source Software but I'm still in the real world.
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.
Nice weather we're having up here in Redmond, aren't we? (No, _I_ don't work at MS, just nearby.)
Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
ah..yes, that would be bad then :-P
but still, she is yout GF, why not just let her use your home printer?
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
When I'm importing MS Word docs, I'm able to read the documents but the fonts are sometime mess up.
Tell the people who are sending you the Word docs to QUIT USING COMIC SANS.
(Arguably, you could also resolve this issue by installing Comic Sans on your machine. I wouldn't recommend this, personally, because I loathe Comic Sans more than you can possibly imagine. But that's just me.)
Even when the filters were installed, corruption of data was common.
Are you trying to suggest that the creators of Microsoft Word somehow got the idea that a word processor does to documents what a food processor does to food?
Those who would give up liberty in exchange for security and DRM should switch to Microsoft Palladium!
So you think it's entirely reasonable to require everyone to purchase ~$300 software for compatibility, yet it is not reasonable to require someone to download free software?
whatever...
Wow, your awesome argumentative capabilities astound me.
Not on complexe documents.
Well, no, obviously RTF won't work on highly complex documents (I have no idea what a CV document is). That being the case, I assume you've tried it in your specific case and can confirm it doesn't work (and aren't just dismissing it out of hand)? If you're going to create highly complex documents in a closely guarded, proprietary format, you have to expect incompatibility. This goes back to my point of who controls your data (which you completely ignored). For your situation, why don't you just have your girlfriend print it out in PDF format and you can print it just fine from work?
Sometimes I feel that some of you are not in the real world. Don't get me wrong, I love Linux and Open Source Software but I'm still in the real world.
Well gee, thanks for the personal attack. If you said "I work in business, all my customers use MS Office and I need it for compatibility" my answer would have been different than for "my girlfriend needs to send me documents so I can print them at work." Your lack of argumentative ability is no excuse for rudeness.
When you lose something irreplaceable, you don't mourn for the thing you lost, you mourn for yourself. - Harpo Marx
Superb? Uh...no. I recently built a new computer and rather than pay for (or try to bootleg) a copy of Office, I downloaded and installed OO 1.0.3.
I've since tried to open several different Word 2000 documents in OO and not one has converted properly. The worst one was a brochure I did for my wife's jewelry business--a standard two-page three-column brochure with some imbedded pictures, nothing too out of the ordinary. When I imported it, the contents of the entire second page of the document were gone. The page was there, the framing for the pictures were there, but the text and pictures themselves weren't. I ended up having to retype it.
I think OO itself isn't a bad application, it's slower than Office but just as useful. And I've got one less piece of Microsoftware on my box. But, jeez, "superb" at converting documents isn't anywhere near the truth unless they drastically improved the import/export filters in 1.1.
"Settle down, Beavis. We've got an experiment to do."
I find the OO draw program nigh unto useless. This doesn't mean that I know of a good replacement, just that it's so bad it's unuseable.
I feel guilty about panning this module so strongly when I'm not offering to help fix it. But my attention is elsewhere. I have, however, bought a separate machine and Deneba Canvas, so I don't have a real need for the OOo drawing module. But if I had to use this, I'd be quite desperate indeed.
I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
So you think it's entirely reasonable to require everyone to purchase ~$300 software for compatibility, yet it is not reasonable to require someone to download free software?
Most people already have Word. Not OO. I'm not requiring them to install a 300$ software. I'm the one that doesn't have Word like everyone else.
Wow, your awesome argumentative capabilities astound me.
Thank you
Well, no, obviously RTF won't work on highly complex documents (I have no idea what a CV document is).
A CV is just a Resume. Simple document with lots of tabs.
That being the case, I assume you've tried it in your specific case and can confirm it doesn't work (and aren't just dismissing it out of hand)? If you're going to create highly complex documents in a closely guarded, proprietary format, you have to expect incompatibility. This goes back to my point of who controls your data (which you completely ignored).
I'll ignore it again.
My point is that I don't want other people do more work because I'm using OO. And yes they shouldn't force me to use Word, but I'm the minority.
Well gee, thanks for the personal attack. If you said "I work in business, all my customers use MS Office and I need it for compatibility" my answer would have been different than for "my girlfriend needs to send me documents so I can print them at work."
Your lack of argumentative ability is no excuse for rudeness.
Who says she can't afford a printer? BTW, 35$ is the price of the ink. I'm simply saying that it messes up documents and you are talking to me about buying a cheap printer so I can still use OO.
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.
Are you certain that DMA mode is enabled on your disk (assuming you're using IDE, which most people are)? Running a system from a hard disk in PIO mode can be agonizing in comparison.
(fdisk is the tool, in case you weren't sure).
Also, make sure there are not any old, slow devices on the same IDE channel, as it will be forced to cater to the worst thing attached.
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
And even if you don't...does anybody EVER read documentation on something as boring as an office suite? If it isn't intuitive, it should be fixed to begin with.
I agree to a point-- that the *basic* functionality of the office suite should be intuitive (font selection, etc). But you have to realize that many businesses rely on the advanced features of office suites. These features need to be focused around productivity (think vim, emacs) rather than intuitiveness.
Also, look at http://www.microsoft.com/mspress for information about office and you will see that there is quite a market for this sort of documentation.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
3. Report errors in issuezilla with example documents so that it is possible for the developers to find the bug and repair it for future versions.
Most people already have Word. Not OO. I'm not requiring them to install a 300$ software. I'm the one that doesn't have Word like everyone else.
You shouldn't make sweeping generalizations without backing them up. Word is the standard for business, but do you have any numbers for home users (which is what we're talking about)? How many home users use MS Office? How many home users actually pay for MS Office? When I was in college (2 years ago) everyone I knew had MS Office, no one I knew actually paid for MS Office.
My point is that I don't want other people do more work because I'm using OO. And yes they shouldn't force me to use Word, but I'm the minority.
Fine, that's your opinion and I respect that.
Who says she can't afford a printer?
That was an assumption on my part. I have no idea why she doesn't have a printer, especially if she is printing documents regularly. It's not a convenience matter, since sending off documents to a friend every time you print certainly isn't convenient, so I assumed it must be price.
BTW, 35$ is the price of the ink.
Check around, you can get (cheap) printers for $35. Yes, you can buy printers for less than the cost of ink in some cases. Crazy world.
I'm simply saying that it messes up documents and you are talking to me about buying a cheap printer so I can still use OO.
Want to point out where I said that? You said your girlfriend didn't have a printer, I said she can get a cheap printer for ~$35. Document conversion doesn't even enter the picture.
When you lose something irreplaceable, you don't mourn for the thing you lost, you mourn for yourself. - Harpo Marx
Well, you didn't really refute any of my points. Those you chose to ignore I will assume you agree with. However, despite your rudeness I'll respond one last time.
I think we both understand each other. I guess you just wanted to give me alternatives and I just wanted to say that I can't import Word documents easily without extra work.
Thank you for you suggestions. I'm sincerly sorry for the rudeness. We are both grown people.
Think like a man of action, act like a man of thought.
Still better than the "Find bug. Report to MS. Wait. Wait. Wait." procedure that I'm more than familiar with. And if you really get a hair up your ass you can fix it yourself.
i don't like my old sig.
A 'CV' is just the snooty name for a résumé, especially if used outside Europe. A lot of people seem to think that using latin somehow gives them a professional highbrow edge.
--
Power to the Peaceful
The only problem I have had with Word (97) documents was opening letters with pre-pended envelopes. OO.o would move the address on the envelope down to overlay the text on the first page of the letter.
I never bothered looking for a solution.
Perhaps you mean hdparm? Fdisk doesn't seem to do DMA/PIO settings.
WARNING: there is a trojan on your
If you wish to wow your LUG new-to-linux users, I recommend an OO presentation. We had several new faces there to learn about the MS Office replacement. They went away interested / happy.
"You're gonna need a bigger boat." - Chief Brody
Regina is a Rexx implementation for a variety of platforms, Linux included. It is very good: faithful to Cowlishaw's language definition yet supporting of all the major extensions, ARexx included. Alas, *nix systems lack the AmigaOS hooks for universal scripting, but Regina does a nice job and can be used in place of all those ugly shell scripts :-)
Well I'm not sure but should this article really give Sun the credit for StarOffice? IIRC OpenOffice forked when Sun bought StarOffice from I believe a German company, but what the hell, Microsloth gets credit for all of the software written by the companies they bought!!
Their is a VB like macro language and uno(unified network object )set of api's for use in OO's VB, C++, and Java. Uno is talked about most. Also com/ole is supported on the windows version and the online version of the book at openoffice.org has great detail into it.
Sun plans to kill everything but java in future releases so who knows. But go to for the free online docs if you want to create macro's with it or get a free peak.
http://saveie6.com/
Can you please spare us "reviews" that are just a list of chapter summaries? Yes, we need to know what the book covers, but a very short list of topics is actually more informative. A technical book review should cover not just what the book explains, but how it explains, and why the reviewer thinks this is good or bad.
I'd like to see OpenOffice succeed, I really would. It's got so much about it that's cool. I'm particularly anxious to try the DocBook support in the latest version. But can we call an end to tilting at this interoperability windmill? It just wastes a lot of effort on complicated filters and macro languages that are never as compatible as they claim. So lots of developers pour their valuable time into something that can't be done, and OpenOffice develops a reputation for BS. Not good!
Really? I was thinking of upgrading my K6/500, which loads it in about 25 seconds, but maybe those new-fangled CPU's aren't really faster after all.
A 'CV' is just the snooty name for a résumé, especially if used outside Europe. A lot of people seem to think that using latin somehow gives them a professional highbrow edge.
or....
What's a résumé? Something to do with resuming a career?
It's the pretentious french name for CV, especially in the US.
In NZ, CV is the common name - hell most people probably don't realise it's short for some latin stuff.
I'm sure there are others that could have made the list:
13) OpenOffice will never take off in the mainstream14) [Choose a non-Microsoft operating system] will never take off in the mainstream without a decent office suite
15) Something about stolen intellectual property
16) "I don't want to sound like a troll, but..."
Attack its weak point for massive damage!
I've overcome this at home by setting up a PostScript printer-to-file, and conditioning everyone that it's the "official" print-preview, for any printer anywhere.
So everyone "prints" the document, previews in Ghostscript, and then emails me the PS version, which I can print at work.
Works a charm for me.
"Go to CNN [for a] spell-checked, fact-checked summary" -- CmdrTaco
Update: I too reinstalled OO RC and the speed issues went away. I was running openoffice-bin 1.1 beta2 and it like the other ebuilds of OO was painfully slow. After getting the official build it is orders of magnitude faster, thank god. No, I was not using PIO mode as suggested by someone above, hdparm reveals that I'm getting 45MB/s off disk.
I've just emerge the latest Abiword 1.99.1, and I am going to switch completely from OO to Abiword. It is lightening fast (takes well under 1 second to open, often is instantaneous), handles Word fine. OO is too slow and too sensitive to changes in JVM every time I upgrade. procman tells me Abiword is taking 13.7MB with empty document, and 20.4MB with a 2.5 page CV open. Perfect for my lightweight WP needs.
Phillip.
Property for sale in Nice, France
Yes, hdparm, not fdisk. Gah. Working from 7:30 - 4pm is very bad for a nightowl.
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
> If you're gonna use XML, make it human-readable. That's the point.
IIRC OOo 1.1 offers save-as-formated-XML as a new option.
Regards, Simon
This behavior was only implimented after focus testing revealed that common users did not understand why they did not 'get a free coffee break' because 'the program decided to leave'.
Many Thanks,
Luke