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OpenOffice.org 2.3 Review
Peace Frog writes passed us a link to an in-depth review of the newest version of OpenOffice. Instead of just the normal bug fixes, 2.3 has added several new features. Examples include: "A bunch of new and enhanced features like restoring the user-defined movement path in Impress and applying better default print settings in Calc. Check the release notes for complete information from OpenOffice.org. A significantly different chart tool. New extensions provided by Sun and other vendors. You will need to run 2.3 for the extensions to work. Read more about the new extensions on the OpenOffice.org web site." The general impression from the review is that the OO team is doing an excellent job of responding to feedback from previous releases.
If he already has a $150 copy of Excel that works just fine for the job, in what way is a vastly more time consuming database "the right tool for the job?" It sounds to me like he already has the right tool for the job, he would just prefer to run the right tool in Linux.
I hate these "well it can't do that because it's not the way I would do that" replies. How about making OpenOffice work for EVERYBODY, including people who don't want to spend months learning database administration and SQL? If a database is really that much better, then it'll fall into place. Obviously, the reason the parent's using Excel in the first place is that Excel is good enough for the job and a database wouldn't provide anything better.
(The only databases I know of where you can add data directly to cells, Excel-like, are SQL Server and Access anyway. SQL Server is a lot more expensive, and I doubt anybody would argue that Access is better over Excel for any task.)
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