OpenOffice 2.0 vs. MS Office Review

trewornan writes "There's an interesting, if partisan, review of OpenOffice 2.0 in comparison to Microsoft Office over on Real Tech News. Open Office gets a general vote of approval, as you might guess from the title 'Open Office 2.0 Kicks MS Office Around The Block'" From the article: "My primary use for OpenOffice has always been as a word processor and I believe this is an area where it excels (so to speak!). For anyone used to MS Office, the difference in the two interfaces is minimal. In fact, I find it easier to use OpenOffice's interface than MS Office's for various things such as inserting a header and footer. To create or change a header and footer in MS Office XP, you must go to the "view" menu. I'm not sure why something like a header or footer would be placed in the "view" menu before it is actually part of a document."

Comments

Fark getting an OS article before /.?

[SkOink]

In that case, "I'd hit it."

Re:HEY!

[w1cked]

I prefer MS Office (2003, preferably) but your comment just made you seem (or just made it evident) that you are a moron. Way to go, flamer :O

Hmmmm

[einhverfr]

It is not that OOo 1.9.x isnt good. It is and I use it sometimes. But I have largely decided that I prefer other systems instead.

Gnumeric is, hands down, the best spreadsheet I have ever worked with. There is no competition. It is not an Excel clone, either, as excel compatibility has been largely bolted on rather than an origional design requirement (and yet it is nearly 100% compatible with MS Excel). It is also *really* nice to be able to export a selection as a LaTeX file so that I can incorporate it in a larger LaTeX document.

I some time ago, I switched to OOwriter fro Abiword because of some formatting issues. However, more recently I have looked back and have used it more. I am working with LyX to some extent but prefer to hand-write LaTeX in vim because I am more efficient that way.

So for light-weight things, I use Abiword and for heavyweight things I use vim/LaTeX.

Powerpoint is a program that, as far as I am concerned, brings negative value. It is largely designed to try to control audience distractions during presentations. Yet, I am more comfortable with a lower tech approach and only use similar programs when I am told I am required to.

So I recommend OOo to some users, but these are not the programs I prefer to use myself.