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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?"
You must be new around here. :)
zosxavius photography
Your recomendation ist not heresy, but it doesn't work right (the Word Viewer never really did)
The document will never look like it did on your own Desktop (regardless of whether OpenOffice or MS-Office was used), since Fonts, Paper-Formats and a thousand others things are never set quite right.
So, IMHO and IME (in my experience) if you can do without the edit, allways go the PDF way. And if was never easier than with the PDF-Export right on the toolbar of OpenOffice.
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.
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.
Interesting. The only answer that the original poster found satisfactory only has a score of 1. Come on, moderators! (Just double-checked to make sure I don't have moderator capabilities at the moment.)
Software sucks. Open Source sucks less.