How good is OpenOffice?

Riaan

Hey guys I know most of you are IT pro's and would know about OpenOffice - how good is it, is it fully compatible with MS Office and importantly for me, does it have something similar to Frontpage that can be used to create and maintain a webpage if you're not an IT expert?

Heath

Open office is a great alternative to M$ office , only big problem is if you use macro's or vb for apps they don't work , other then that it will open all office docs , and works very well .

As for frontpage , yes and no ..... there is something similar but not very great . if you looking for a good wysiwyg frontpage like program , look for netobjects fusion , there is free version avaible of version 8 and 9 , and sometimes comes with magazines . a thousand times more powerful then frontpage and makes much better looking webpages

Bob-Dubery

Riaan wrote Hey guys I know most of you are IT pro's and would know about OpenOffice - how good is it, is it fully compatible with MS Office and importantly for me, does it have something similar to Frontpage that can be used to create and maintain a webpage if you're not an IT expert?

I use open office. It works pretty well. The interface - especially the tool bars and the keyboard shortcuts are not all the same as with M$oft. If you were a power excel user you might have some problems. For what I need - simple word documents, spreadsheets with formulas - it works well.

No equivalent to Frontpage. Is Frontpage part of office anyway?

Frontpage has a very good interface, but it does tend to produce very bloated HTML - though not as bloated as when you use MS Word to do the job. And you generally need the server-side Frontpage modules to keep what's on your PC and what is on the server synchronised, and they are not popular in some circles because they can compromise security on the server.

FatBoy

Not too sure boss, but I have heard good things. Why not try it out yourself, it is free ?

Frontpage is one of the biggest evils in the world in my book, so I refuse to comment on aything that could help you in that regard. I'd rather advise you to learn basic HTML and CSS (I'm willing to help where I can) which would result in you not being tied to any piece of software. It's really not THAT difficult ?

I HATE WYSIWIG HTML EDITORS!! THEY MAKE MY LIFE HELL
</rant>

Riaan

I'd rather advise you to learn basic HTML and CSS (I'm willing to help where I can) which would result in you not being tied to any piece of software. It's really not THAT difficult ?

Wow Fritz have a heart man...I take out gallbladders and stuff for a living...HTML and those things ARE that difficult! ???

Thanks Tailon I'm gonna try netobjects fusion and see what it's like.

hcolyn

As Fritz said, just give it a go - I started using it about 2 years ago just for fun, and have only touched MSOffice for some work spreadsheets with weird formulas and formatting.

Very easy to use and it didn't take a long time to get comfy with it.

Bob-Dubery

Riaan wrote Wow Fritz have a heart man...I take out gallbladders and stuff for a living...HTML and those things ARE that difficult! ???

They're relatively easy. A lot of HTML is no more complicated than the tags for bold, italics etc that are used on this forum. CSS is a bit more difficult, but not a brain buster. Javascript is an actual programming language and so there are elements of logic and object orientation to get around there, but HTML is pretty simple really.

FatBoy

Riaan, PM me some details of the site you are developing / maintaining, let me have a look and see if I could be of assistance or which tool would be useful.

I suppose WYSIWIG editors makes sense in some cases, but those things really are evil! Let me see if I can help ya out ( I will call you if I need my galbladder taken out)

Squonk

@ Riaan I am a bit worried about the stuff part of "gallbladders and stuff..."
You are not one of those "Dexter" fans are you? ?

Riaan-Combrink

Also use Open Office, and VERY happy with it.

Its word-processor even has a direct export to pdf function, which MSW doesn't!

Riaan

@ Riaan I am a bit worried about the stuff part of "gallbladders and stuff..."
You are not one of those "Dexter" fans are you?

I am indeed! As they say "when in doubt, cut it out..." : :roflmao:

@Fritz: Thanks man! I'll contact you sometime. If I could get the funding I will commission you to do a pro job for us! Me creating webpages is a bit like when an IT guy would try to take out his own gallbladder....probably not a good idea! I'll rather spend my time learning to play the guitar than to try and learn programming and things like that.

But the "export to pdf" of OpenOffice sounds cool!

Thanks for the advice!

iLLy

Word can export to PDF aswell ?

As far as HTML/CSS editing goes, its actually very simple. Take a look at This if you wanna learn some basics
If you're using Windows, and you have the $$$, I'd really advise using MS Office, especially as a regular end user, and with 2007 [Soon 2009] being out, with their new file formats

I run Ubuntu as my main operating system, meaning I basically have to use OpenOffice, but to be honest, you can tell its freeware...

But OpenOffice is fine if you wanna mess around a bit with the whole "I'm using free LEGAL software" vibe... Just don't advocate it as a main platform

WantzChas

I used to use Open Office a couple of years back while in my first year. Did an assignment (which counted a third of my semester mark) on Open Office. We finished it the morning at 7 and left for campus to get it printed and submitted. At campus we couldn't open the files (still don't know why, or if it is compatible with MS Office) at the university's computers.

Was probably a mistake due to stupidity from my part, but we lost 20% on the assignment for handing it in late. Got MS Office the very same day.

EDIT: Must add that I've used OpenProj in the past without any problems

Bob-Dubery

WantzChas wrote I used to use Open Office a couple of years back while in my first year. Did an assignment (which counted a third of my semester mark) on Open Office. We finished it the morning at 7 and left for campus to get it printed and submitted. At campus we couldn't open the files (still don't know why, or if it is compatible with MS Office) at the university's computers.

M$ office won't open files saved in Open Office's native format. But you can save in M$ office formats from Open Office.

Riaan-Combrink

WantzChas wrote Was probably a mistake from my part, but we lost 20% on the assignment for handing it in late. Got MS Office the very same day.

It simply gives you the option to save in an Open Office exclusive/only format, or in a Word (doc) format. Must've just checked the wrong one. Happened to me once, as well - trial and error of learning any new app, and not the platform's fault!

iLLy wrote Word can export to PDF aswell ?

I've never seen it (at least in MSO 2003, which I have). On what menu do you find this function, Illy?

Riaan-Combrink

Sorry, Bob - didn't see you had it covered .... ?

hcolyn

iLLy wrote I run Ubuntu as my main operating system, meaning I basically have to use OpenOffice, but to be honest, you can tell its freeware...

But OpenOffice is fine if you wanna mess around a bit with the whole "I'm using free LEGAL software" vibe... Just don't advocate it as a main platform

I think OpenOffice as a main office suite is perfect for everyone except that small percentage of power users - its not as if the functions it lacks are widely used by your average user. It might not be 100% as user friendly as the Ribbon UI of Office 2007, so if you like eye candy, a very user friendly experience and have extra $ laying around, yeah go for it.

OpenOffice is not really freeware ?
But I agree that it is still far from being the "MSOffice Killer" - a phrase that went around about a year or 2 ago.