Slashdot Mirror
Easy Way for Sharing OpenOffice.org Documents?
rekrutacja asks: "I'm trying to find easy way for reading OpenOffice.org documents in places where you can't (or don't want to) install the full OOo suite. I found an on-line reader, but I would like something for offline viewing. There is a Java-based standalone program that you can download from here, but I can't seem to get it running to my liking. OOo Lite/Reader/Viewer should be easy to install (especially for Windows) and I'd like it to be small enough to fit my 16MB pen-drive. Even a Firefox/IE plugin is better than nothing. Does anyone know of such a beast?"
Why not export to pdf?
Finkployd
Well, why not instead export PS and include WinGhostscript ?
Wow.. Talk about moronic moderation... I reccomend a solution that actually would fit on the 16 MB memstick (my god, get a bigger one doofus).
And for a reccomendation, Im a "troll". This is why K5 is getting better.
I'm also looking for something to be able to view Presentations on another computer with a small viewer program. Any help would be great. Thanks.
You must be new around here. :)
zosxavius photography
Download the source and make your own reader!
Real geeks do stuff like that all the time!
It's not like it would be hard or anything...
Or RTF, (no, that doesn't mean "Read the Fucking Comma") if you need to edit.
Another one bites the dust
How is this a funny comment? It makes sense to me. Most people have pdf-viewing capability already on their computer. If that doesn't work, export to freakin' rtf or something like that.
If you setup a ps2pdf "printer" I believe you can script this from the command line. With make and an hourly cron or some other trigger you can easily keep you pdf files up to date.
I'm sure this counts as heresy or worse, but if it works...?
.doc files. Since Open Office has the goal of creating compatible files, it seems to me that this program should be able to at least partly fit your need.
Microsoft has a stand-alone "Word Viewer" program for at least reading
Been a while, but it is not too hard to open a Open Office doc and do an XSTL on it into a format you want. I was parsing the (compressed) XML to pull out data for a program, but I'm sure there are style sheets out there that do just that... (if not within OO itself for that matter)
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
Dude, buy a bigger pen drive! :)
because it is obvious to the point of humor.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
The submitter didn't really explain his situation well enough, but I'm guessing that the problem is that she is receiving the occasional OO doc and wants to be able to read it without a full install of OO.
If this is the case then exporting to PDF, or converting to DOC, makes no sense at all. If he could do that then she'd just read the frickin' doc. Duh...
My question is: Why the aversion to just installing OO? My answer is that he roams to different computers and uses his USB key as her personal drive and is unable to install OO on all the various computer he might use.
The best solution probably is the larger USB key.
I need an easy way for reading already existing .sxw documents. It's a default format of OOo - and people use it. If you work on-the-move, on other people's computers, you don't want to install full OOo everywhere. Small reader which i can download quick even on modem connection or take on my pen-drive is much better than reformatting every single document i deal with.
This Is Not a Sig
or PDF if you're into that stuff.
save as .txt, .doc or .pdf or any of the other files. Almost everyone would be able to open one of those.
Yep, it's a simple answer. Simple for simpletons, that is.
I know this is a troll, but I'd rather respond as if it were legit, since there are MANY good reasons for NOT using MS products (other than irrational fear of monopolies).
There are a large number of reasons for using OOo. MS Office is WAY overpriced, for one. I started my business by spending less than $100 on software (and later, just before final release of 1.0, a copy of Win2k for testing). If I had used Windows and Office, along with other MS tools, I would have had to spend thousands of dollars when I didn't have it. I found using Linux and OOo saved me a LOT of money when I didn't have any extra.
There's also safety. There are a host of virii for Word, but none for OOo (and OOo will not auto-execute macros, like Word).
And availability and licensing. A lot of my clients are lawyers, and that is one place where Word Perfect is still heavily in use. If I based my software on Office, I'd have to either supply each client with a copy, or force them to buy one. Instead, I based it on OOo, and install OOo on the client's computer with my system. They like getting a free office suite, and it doesn't cost them what they'd have to pay if I based my system on Office. I've even had several lawyers that were using Word tell me they were so impressed with OOo, they're switching. The biggest bankruptcy lawyer in Northern Virginia, for instance, tried OOo when I recommended it, and has decided he'd rather use it for free than pay several hundred for each copy he needs in all of his offices.
And there's the cross platform thing. My system is designed for Linux, Mac, and Windows. (I've had to work with several lawyers who have servers running on Linux, and they like having my system automated on a server as opposed to having to run on an employee's desktop unit.) I wrote it in Java, so it ports easily, with OOo, to all 3 operating systems I mentioned. That's not possible with Office.
So before you go trashing a program and say just do what everyone else does, think. Also think about the old line from your elementary school teacher: "If everyone jumped off the Empire State Building, would you?" Just because everyone does it doesn't mean it's right or a good thing. That would mean that since both Clinton and G.W. Bush won elections, that they both must be the best, and I doubt you'll find anyone who things both were/are excellent presidents.
Why not use AbiWord? The Windows port is about as small as what you're looking for, and it has full compatibility with OOo with the import/output plugins(when the new document standard is implemented in OOo, I don't think even those wil be needed.)
The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say. -Anais Nin
I think it is rated something-other-than insightful because the benefit of such a reader would be considerable.
If I could send someone a OO.o dock and not have to worry about whether they had it because I included a link to an official and small reader I would be happy. I also think that it would make OO.o considerably more successful.
People don't understand technology that well. If some group was given an OO.o document and said "can't open it? download openoffice.org/reader" they would just think it was some new PDF-type format that they should start being aware of.
I think it would help OO.o get into the mainstream's subconscious. And, to me, that's necessary. Or else it will always be "a MS office alternative." If people start feeling more comfortable sending OO.o documents around because there is a small reader available that they could easily point people to then its popularity will grow.
note: sorry for the redundancy. I have an awful headache and staring at the screen is hurting my eyes. i hope you get what i mean.
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
Microsoft makes stand-alone viewers for Powerpoint (97-2003) and Word (97-2000). Microsoft also makes a browser plugin for IE that understands WordML and will correctly display Word 2003 documents that are saved in XML format. The old viewer will show Word XP and non-XML Word 2003 documents, however some features may be unavailable, so the document may not look exactly right. You can fit any, or all, of the viewers on your 16 megabyte flash drive.
If alternate formats are an option, you can also convince a host of programs to read RTF. It's not as versatile as Word native format, but chances are any computer with an OS less than ten years old can read it.
OpenOffice.org is something that you suffer through when forced to use Linux to read or prepare editable documents for distribution. It's definitely not something you should ever force on anyone else.
P.S. When I used Linux exclusively, I distributed KOffice presentations by exporting to HTML format. Unfortunately KOffice does (or at least it did; it may be fixed by now) that by converting the presentations into graphics files, so it is resolution dependent. If you know what display resolution the other computer has, that will work. A better solution is probably to distribute presentations as PDF format, and use Adobe Reader as the small viewer program. I believe OpenOffice.org supports saving to PDF directly, and if not you can get a PDF printer driver.
Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult;
whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse.
--Proverbs 9:7
I can sorta see what the troll hsa to say, though. OOo is... lacking in some areas (primarily MS Office compatibility, but UI and speed (esp. on Linux, where it's the only complete game in town) suck too). I'll admit, I just switched to (a not-so-legal copy of) Office 2003 (yeah, yeah, I know) from OOo 1.1.2.
There are areas where OOo just BLOWS MS Office away - open file format, open code, little to no security risks, smaller size, legally free, etc., etc. However, it's also lacking whole apps that Office has. I use Publisher every day. Where's the Win32 OSS equivalent to that? I use Access, and need a program that can handle it's filetype. Where's that? I use FrontPage (don't laugh). Yes, there's nVu, but that's pretty buggy, in my experience.
I'll admit, I'm impressed with OOo, but I use Office because OOo doesn't satisfy my needs. I'd recommend OOo in a heartbeat if one doesn't need everything Office offers, though.
Yeah, I forgot the open format thing. That's a HUGE reason I used OOo. I was able to get into the files and edit them MY way, not by having to use the interface. It sped my program up (I forgot the exact numbers, but it was at least 1/3 faster, in part for not having to load a program like OOo or Word).
I've never used Office, at least seriously. I've never needed publisher and, when I used Word Perfect, found it could handle all my desktop publishing needs (I used to edit a newsletter and ran my own magazine for a short while). I am looking forward to having time to check out Scribus for dtp work in Linux.
As for Access, there are MANY choices for databases in FOSS. I prefer MySQl.
As for wysiwyg HTML editing, I would NEVER touch Frontpage. One of my earliest experiences with HTML was cleaning up a site done in Frontpage that had all sorts of extra extensions for IE only (before IE took over). It's not a MS thing, but I WON'T use any program that forces others to use only one program to read/view docs or files done in that program. While NVu is buggy, it is getting MUCH better. OOo also does HTML, although there are a few features it still lacks (like tables within tables, although that is in either 1.1.3 or 1.1.4 or 2.0 -- forgot where it was added).
I also won't use Office because of compliance issues. I started as a small, one person, company, and built up from there. I want to stay small. Smaller means less overhead, and, to be blunt, we've found good ways to bring in good profit with a smaller staff. Even with a small company, though, there are problems like how many licenses did we get for a program. That's one big reason we use FOSS. Licensing is NO problem at all. We are in 100% compliance on all our software and I can promise you that there are NO illegal copies of ANY software in our offices (or in my home, for that matter -- but I won't speak for employees, since I honestly don't know). We have 1 licensed copy each of Win2k, WinXp, and Win98. We use them ONLY to test the one program we send out to our clients, which means they're used before shipping, and for a few weeks after if there are any bugs (we ship a VERY small program, so it's not too hard to debug). Other than that, Windows is hardly EVER used (if at all). The legit copies are all on a partitioned hard drive that mounts in a drive rack, so it can be moved to different systems. Most of the time the test system is running Linux and used for other uses.
Since Openoffice files are simply zipped directory trees containing XML files, I'm not sure you need anything more than zip (pkzip, winzip, infozip, whatever) and something that can handle plain text (i.e. notepad).
:)
Heck, I got by for years with nothing but the Unix strings(1) command for access to MSOffice files. Your options are a whole lot more open and flexible than that.
Why should an end user that doesn't need editing capabilities need to view an OO.o document when PDF is the right tool for the job?
Who should care what program generates a document as long as the results are correct?
I understand the desire to make OO.o more ubiquitous, but should that desire take precedence over getting work done?
Anyhow, there is the solution the google link above. "Ask Slashdot" to the rescue, clicking on google for you 24/7!
why? a couple of reasons:
.DOC or PDF for other people to deal with your documents _at all._ I think it would be a benefit generally if you could have an OO.o reader.
1) pdf export doesn't work for many people. OO.o has it but as I understand it worthwhile PDFs require you to purchase some sort of pdf maker.
2) from OO.o's point of view PDFs aren't necessarily the right tool for the job. My last post was something I hadn't thought of before. I now am wondering why OO.o doesn't make an OO.o reader. I think it would be a great idea. Then you don't have to worry about supporting a format (PDF) that a) might look incorrect and b) is controlled by someone else who might decide oneday to change it and thus remove your ability to use it.
I remember Word used to have Word document readers. But it's been many years (7) since I've used Windows frequently so I don't remember just what it was called. Anyway, I suspect it helped them one-up WordPerfect.
Not to mention the frustration in having to export to RTF or
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
You're right about the open format thing being huge. I once wrote a piece of music using sequencing software that (unbeknownst to me, because I was not knowledgeable at the time) used a proprietary protocol. Years later, when I attempted to resurrect the file (the only copy of that particular song I could find was the original file backup) I couldn't find the sequencer program disk, nor could I purchase another (the company was out of business).
Ultimately, I was able to open it by begging random strangers via usenet, one of whom had the program and was kind enough to open it and save it as a MIDI file for me -- but it's not good policy to rely on the kindness of strangers (insert Blanche DuBois joke here).
I know that at Northwestern, students don't have admin privileges to install software. However, we're able to download programs in zip format, so long as they don't have to be installed. Whenever I go to my school's computer labs I download a Firefox zip and run it from there. I assume it's a similar restriction that prevents just installing the full version of OO.o.
Sign up and help me get an LCD monitor!
Moderate this comment
Negative: Offtopic Flamebait Troll Redundant
Positive: Insightful Interesting Informative Funny
Those still aren't terribly compelling reasons to re-invent the portable document format. You can view the spec for the PDF online at Adobe's site. It's terms of use are quite reasonable.
Point 2a makes me think that you should contribute to OO.o in the form making PDF output better. However, point 2b is a little bit too tin-foil hatty for my tastes. There are reasons that PDF has version numbers: feature freeze.
The problem with the java viewer and the PDF export is the final user will not fully enjoy, say, an OOo presentation with effects and stuff... I ran through this exact same problem when tryin' to make an "autoplay" CD for a presentation (MS didn't helped eather, as you have to install ppviewer).
\m/
That's what I did for a presentation in front of class last night...unfortunately, I couldn't find a way to make it fullscreen in Adobe Acrobat. So I used the PowerPoint presentation I'd saved. (From within OOo on my Linux box at home, mind you.)
tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
No there is no OSS equivalent to Access. If all you were using was a database then yes, MySQL would be, but you don't use Access just to store data. With MySQL you have to create the front end, with Access its all there. There is no query builder, table designer or report generator for MySQL, thats all extra. Those are the reasons that you use Access, MySQL wouldn't just be overkill for those applications, but it would be a pain in the ass to set up.
"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Yes, there is. The commercial version is available for Windows.
For ordinary letters and even complex documents up to and including magazine articles, HTML is more than flexible enough to do what I want. OOo is a pretty reasonable HTML editor, and as well as it exporting stuff on demand, many programs will read and even edit or import HTML quite well. And web browsers are of course ubiquitous.
If you're writing a PhD thesis on maths or physics, or trying to lay out a business card (people even do this using spreadsheets, a printing shop I do business with has special epithets reserved for them) forget I ever set hand to keyboard, but for everyday stuff HTML is fine, almost overkill.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
oowriter does the linked frames and text-art, the only mainstream MS-Publisher thing it doesn't do is automatically add and link the frames for a new page.
MS-Publisher has a special place in printing companies' lives - on the dart-board, usually. Getting Publisher documents to look exactly the same on paper as they do on the customer's screen can be more than a bit dodgy.
As to reverse-engineering the file format, I think I should quote Pro Hart's cleaner: "Oh, meester 'Art! What a mess!"
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
...in a sheaf of different choices. Think of those interfaces as being like unto MS-Access and add a real SQL backend to replace MS-SQL-Server.
As to setup: what's so hard about clicking on an installer, saying "Yes" or "Next" to everything, and choosing a password?
I use Mandrake Linux, so installing's even easier than that, I can either click on an icon in RPMdrake or issue a one-liner on the command-line and let URPMI worry about where to get the package and what else it might need to work. MySQL, PostgreSQL, ibFireBird and SQLite are all one-liners like that.
An even bigger advantage from my PoV (I do admin stuff) is that I don't get MS-Access beating the tar out of my fileshares in difficult-to-optimise ways.
Finally, I can pound on my databases in a variety of different ways from different languages, locally and remotely, and I neither have to have the database front end running to do this, nor stick to one insecure set of software on one platform.
Oh, yeah, almost forgot: OOo 2.0 comes pretty close to making your 'plaints completely redundant anyway.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
There should be a note on the submitter page for Slashdot reminding people to first read the question they're responding to and checking the top links google turns up, before claiming google has the answer.
Anyhow, the solution you point out has already been addressed as inadequate. "Ask Slashdot" fails again, responding without reading the question 24/7.
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
What? "Checking the top links google turns up?" That was exactly my whole point, and exactly what I linked to! It was indeed my entire purpose for having posted. The solution I pointed to is exactly the same you point to now, was never previously addressed, and is the correct solution. I'm afraid you're totally inverted somewhere. :)
A PDF makes a bad slideshow. A OOo reader would read all OOo formats, just not re-save them. You could do your slideshow on boxen without OOo.
Is that compelling enough? For me the "it would be cool" thing is reason enough.
I want my Cowboyneal
Well, why not instead export PS and include WinGhostscript ?
What's the benefit of PS? PDF files are usually smaller, and WinGhostscript should still be able to read it.
http://www.oooconv.de/engine/OOOconv.php
There are way too many o's in that URL.
Well, you can print PS'es instantly just by sending the ps file to the printer (assuming standard networked laser). HP printers have ftp enabled by default. Just PUT and PRINT ;-)
1. File -> Print
2. Take printout from printer
3. Hand print out to recipient
*sigh* Techno-geeks these days... :D
The friendliest digital photography forums on the net!
>> responding without reading the question 24/7.
Why would anyone want to read the question ALL DAY?
A few minutes would be enough to get the general idea, wouldn't it?
b3 4phr41d 0f my 4bov3-4v3r4g3 c0mpu73r kn0wI3dg3!
MadDwarf
Seeing as you're educated in making presentations in PDF format, I wonder if you could expand on them making poor slideshows. You can embed all sorts of media, you can have page transitions, links to other pages. Just look at tools like prosper (http://prosper.sourceforge.net/), which make very servicable slideshows with very little effort.
jh
Problem is that HTML doesn't let the author of the document easily set the margins for printing. Which popular web browser supports the paged media extensions to CSS in a meaningful way?
As for Access, there are MANY choices for databases in FOSS. I prefer MySQl.
MySQL or PostgreSQL could probably replace the Jet backend of Microsoft Access, but what would replace the Access frontend? No, a custom PHP solution isn't the answer, because many people who point-and-click in Access can't be anused to learn PHP.
This is why K5 is getting better
... not as often as I used to.
Why, because you're here, not there? Too many trolling articles and diaries on K5. I still read it, but
WRONG!
The "solution" linked to in the discussion you pointed to through google is already linked in the origional question, immediately followed by "but I can't seem to get it running to my liking." Indeed, had you actually read the discussion you pointed to, you might have noticed that it's described as "not a full solution".
So, it HAS already been looked at and declared inadequate.
Under capitalism man exploits man. Under communism it's the other way around.
I have never before had need for such a viewer so, I didn't know that it didn't exist yet. But, I am shocked that it doesn't exist! How hard would it be for a competent programmer to rip out the rendering component from Open Office and create a standalone viewer? I can't imaging that it would be difficult, relatively speaking. Open Office is open source after all, and the rendering code is freely available for copying.
From my viewpoint, there definitely needs to be such a viewer. It should be cross platform, or versions for each platform, and a browser plug-in would be a good idea too. If the viewers are available, you can then start distributing the documents and everyone can read them, not just Open Office users. Acrobat and Word have both been succesful with this scheme and I'm sure that Open Office could achieve greater penetration if it followed suit.
You recommended a solution that is pretty much inferior to the parent in every way. That's why you were modded down. Since there's no "-1, Stupid" mod, the moderator had to settle for the next best thing.
It's hard to be religious when certain people are never incinerated by bolts of lightning.
Dude fucking pony up the $100. What, are you poor? Goodness. The convenience of using a software package the everyone uses is worth a coupla bucks. Fuck. Let's get real.
I work for a law firm myself. We and many other firms use so many other things that depend on or are specifically built for MS Word. Not using those tools is not an option. To name a few.. Softwise numbering suite, Deltaview compare, Avery labels, Metadata cleaners, document management systems like Hummingbird, iManage and PC Docs. You are correct, MS Word in itself is nothing special but many places add so many other things, MS Word actually does become a requirement to get all of this stuff to work together.
Maybe that's why OOo exports slideshows to flash, not to pdf?
All's true that is mistrusted
Judging by the comments, am I the only person who uses OOo's feature of exporting slideshows as flash movies? Everyone else seems to do it as a pdf, which seems perverse to me.
All's true that is mistrusted
That's because the feature is somewhat hidden - as opposed to the PDF export, which is a big 'old button on the toolbar
Sorry, OpenOffice's PDF implementation is still buggy. It may work well for pure english texts but all the native characters of other languages turn out as garbage.
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
There are areas where OOo just BLOWS MS Office away - open file format, open code, little to no security risks, smaller size, legally free, etc., etc.
Which to most the population matters very little...
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating