Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Microsoft FUD Machine Aims at OpenOffice.org

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the head-shot dept.

Roblimo writes "If you're using Microsoft Office and considering a switch to (free) OpenOffice.org, Microsoft would like you to read their Open Office Competitive Guide first, in which they tell you how much better/faster/cheaper MS Office is than OOo. Taran Rampepersad, an IT consultant in Trinidad, believes this "Competitive Guide" is nothing but FUD, so he wrote a detailed rebuttal to it -- and released his article under the FDL so you can feel free to republish his piece or share it with anyone you like, however you like." A followup to this story. Newsforge and Slashdot are both part of OSDN.

6 of 693 comments (clear)

  1. Currently writing my theisis with OO.org by The+Ape+With+No+Name · · Score: 5, Interesting

    and my MS Office-using (on a Mac even) advisor is sixpence none the wiser. Total FUD.

    --
    Comparing it to Windows will be a moot point, since El Dorado is going to have a 40% larger code base than XP.
    1. Re:Currently writing my theisis with OO.org by 13Echo · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Speaking of Macs. Did anyone else notice that the PDF was made with:

      Creator: QuarkXPress(tm) 4.11
      Producer: Acrobat Distiller 4.05 for Macintosh

      Yay for MS Office!

    2. Re:Currently writing my theisis with OO.org by ccoakley · · Score: 5, Interesting

      What features in OOo are you using? I actually gave up on office a while ago (except at work, where my employer paid for the license). At home and at school, I work almost exclusively in OO. That said, I must admit that excel is superior to OO's spreadsheet tool. I frequently generate data to be graphed as line graphs or bar graphs. A line graph with 3 columns of 2000 data points takes slightly less than forever to generate in OO, and it generates very fast in excel. Similarly, When producing bar graphs, it is often convenient to have descriptive (read: longer than 4 characters) labels on the X-axis. This feature is horribly broken in OO. Try it. You have a choice of truncating long names (90 degree rotation doesn't extend the graph properly) or having the text print out in ugly vertical columns with horizontal lettering). It's as if the OO team never use their own graphing tools. (yeah, I know, stop bitching and pitch in and help...)

      I think Open Office is a very good tool. I like the fact that it prints to pdf. Most of the interface is extremely easy to use. However, the product is not as polished as Office in many respects.

      Lacking an access work-alike is also a detriment. Further, I am surprised they don't mention Project. I know many people who (unfortunately) think of their information in project as more important than information coming from the working team. "Project says we are half done! That means we'll be able to move our release up a week!" *shudder*

      I admit that the advertising from microsoft criticizing that OO doesn't come with an email client is a bit off base--I would claim that not including Outlook is a security feature :).

      --
      Network Security: It always comes down to a big guy with a gun.
  2. Macros are a valid point by Jedi_Knyghte · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm no fan of MS (I'm browsing from FireFox within Linux), but he gives short shrift to the problem of macro/VBA conversion. The fact of the matter is that the documentation on the OO API absolutely stinks, and any business with a substantial investment in its current automation would have to think not once, not twice, but long and hard about the costs of conversion.

  3. My mental monologue. by bagel2ooo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Reading some of the more key points with OO it reminded me of some of the reasons that I am such a big fan of OSS and the OS movement. With these open (or at least more open than MS and the like) standards it gives a good feeling that you are in control of your data and the documents, etc. you create. When I would use a tool such as MS Office I would feel that I'm making the document for it or as a kind of expansion of it rather than as a self-created work for me. This sent a tinge of concern through me for quite some time. I know it is probably silly for me to feel a sense of liberation and it's really not anything I can describe properly. I guess I just enjoy the freedom permissible by using a standard that is not owned and controlled by an entity that has little to no desire for openness. With quality suites like OO I feel that once users get this feeling that they are in control of their own works - or at least more-so then they were - they will make the migration which will only bring futher support to the OSS community.

    --
    ( o ) one could say I'm rather baked
  4. Agressive use of OOo file formats by kris · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Where I am working, I have a Suse Linux desktop, and can use a Microsoft Terminal Server should I need it. I could have had a Microsoft Windows desktop, if I chose so. People at work can use Microsoft Office or OOo.

    I am aggressively using OOo file formats in my daily communication. That is, all documents that I am sending are being sent out as sx? files, and if I am receiving MS office documents, I convert them to OOo anyway in order to work with them, and send them back in sx? formats. Usually, I include a customary copy of a PDF export with the document.

    This strategy works nicely. Almost all the people I work with now have OOo included in their installation. In fact, new machines in my workplace will soon include OOo as a standard installation, I hope. Some people are starting to send documents in sx? formats as I do.

    External communication is the next target. I will force our suppliers and partners to learn what OOo is and how to use it as well.

    This is how you establish a standard: Document it (OOo file formats are nicely documented) and then use brute force to publicize it.