Open Office - What's the Downside?

cclangi asks: "I'm a current Microsoft Office user, and I run a small business as a consultant (mining). I've read about Open Office and all the good things about it, but what about the downside? As a small business owner and semi-literate in things computer-ese (as a user, not as a developer or administrator), what support limitations are there for Open Office. I'm particularly interested in/concerned with compatibility of software for reports, spreadsheets and database apps that I might need to send to/receive from clients. As I've said, I've read the good stuff, and 'how easy it is', but what are things I need to be aware of before considering switching completely to Open Office? Comments and experiences would be welcomed." A couple of months ago, OpenOffice advocates had space to sound of on the reasons to switch to OpenOffice. Now, it only seems fair to give the dissenters a place to voice their own reasons. What are the reasons keeping you away from OpenOffice and on your current office suite?

Comments

Simple

[Anonymous Coward]

It's Microsoft Office compatability isn't perfect, and the other companies I work with send documents created with MS Office.

Nothing bad I can think of

[disturbedite]

i made the switch over 2 years ago and i have to say... i have not found a single drawback. the java thing as a dependency is about the only thing i can think. i made the switch to linux permanently on the desktop (kubuntu) from winxp and i noticed that ooo wasn't that slow on windows (on a relatively older pc [2004]) and i've found that it is MEGA fast on linux. it loads up way faster than m$ office on windows or even, as i said before, ooo on windows. i have only once or twice ran into m$ --> ooo incompatibility afa formatting is concerned. i'm not trying to sound like an ooo fanboy, but i can't think of anything negative in regards to ooo.

I don't get why people ask stuff like this

[brunes69]

If you're worried if OpenOffice can fit yoru needs then just DOWNLOAD the thing and try it for awhile.

It's not like it costs anything, or you have to uninstall MS Office to install OpenOffice or some other nonsense.

Download it, keep MS Office around for awhile as a backup, and start using OpenOffice. Try using it exclusively for a week, or month, or however long until you feel comfortable that it can do all you need it to do. Them, and only then, should you give MS the boot.

It would be absolutely retarded from a business perspective to proceed any other way - based on anyones advice, no matter how much of an "expert" they claim to be. Just try for yourself - if it fits your needs, great. If it doesn't, you still have MS Office installed, so there is no risk of it hurting your business.

No one knows your business better than you do. Maybe you have special needs OpenOffice can't meet. Maybe you don't. You won't know until you try it out.

Re:A few items..

[Anonymous Coward]

Like most so-called Linux evangelists, you're not listening. He wants to use clip art and templates. He wants to do exactly what he does with Word. He wants to use Open Office. If Linux wants to convert people to their OS, then FIX IT!

Re:A few items..

[Ash-Fox]

I have never met anyone who didn't know how to use MS Word (or admitted it, at the very least).

I have met many people who claimed they knew how to use MS word, but when I saw their documents...

• No page breaks, just a bunch of CRs to got the next page
• Not setting the headers under the appropriate header style and then just customizing that... Instead they manually change the font, make it bigger, add bold, underline and type it in caps.
• Don't let the application word-wrap, instead they hit enter when they get to the end of the line.
• Just do something with some elements todo something like tables, but when you look at the document, they some how made it a picture...

Do I think they can do the same crap on OpenOffice? Yes.
Will they have a issue at first? Yes, because OOo Writer doesn't look and behave exactly like Microsoft Word.
Will they complain they don't like it? Probably, because it's different and they prefer the behavior they know.

TODAY, Microsoft office is probably the best office suite.

I have to acknowledge the UI and behaviour of Microsoft Office is certainly superior to other office suits.

However, that said -- I am not very impressed with the compatability Microsoft Office has with it's own documents between different computers and different versions of Office.

I also find it a little obscure that people complain so loudly about slight formatting issues and things that occur on OpenOffice with documents from Microsoft Office when Microsoft Office itself can't get it right.