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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?"
Why not export to pdf?
Finkployd
Dude, buy a bigger pen drive! :)
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
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).