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Shortcomings of OpenOffice and Working Around Them?
1mck asks: "Most free office software does the job, and after a hard drive failure, I decided to go MS Office free, so I'm trying out OpenOffice; however, I've noticed that there are a few deficiencies that I'm having a hard time getting around like the 'Shrink to fit' function, and also having PPS files open up directly in 'Presentation' mode rather than in the Edit' mode. Has any one else picked up on other deficiencies in OpenOffice? I realize that it is free, and it won't be as well featured as most purchased software, but when I went on the hunt for the workarounds at the OpenOffice forums, and on the web I've come up with very little to no information at all. Have I chosen the right free software, or would you suggest something else?" What minor irritations and shortcomings have you found in OpenOffice and how have you adjusted to (or worked around) them?
"OOo's mathematical formula support is better than what comes with MS Office."
You failed to site any examples of this. I've used both in a statistical environment and can tell you WITHOUT A DOUBT that OpenOffice lacks several features that make it unusable. One example is arrays with multiple ranges - can't do that in calc! And pivot tables (called Data Pilot in Calc) are a joke.
"The equivalent of PPS in OOo is PDF--it generates stand-alone presentations that pretty much anybody can view--much better than PPS."
What a SHOCKER!! Someone asks for a missing feature in an open source app and some jackass responds by saying it isn't necessary. Your comments are worthless.