Microsoft Office vs Open source software

[Nero]

Hey guys and dolls,
What are the pros and cons of Microsoft Office 2007 vs open sources like Open Office and Google apps?
I'm using Microsoft Office 2007. More practical?

[Janet_Girl]

OpenOffice is just like Microsoft Office, except it is free.  I used it for school and save anything that must go to the school as a .docx document.

It works great.

Janet

[finewine]

OpenOffice is good enough and the price is right.  I'm a very heavy OpenOffice user and honestly, it's not as polished as M$ Office and has a few niggling bugs here and there.  That said, it's good enough to deter me from buying the Microsoft suite.

[LivingInGrey]

I'm going to have to agree with OpenOffice.

Everything that can be done with Microsoft Office can be done with Open Office and be saved on to .doc format.

The big trick is learning the differences between the two. Once you learn where everything is on openoffice you'lll never feel the need to pay for anything that Microsoft has to offer.

[sd]

I say go Open Office, but with a warning...

It isn't always compatible with Office. There are occasional hiccups, but they seem pretty rare.

[Syne]

As someone who uses Office 2007 extensively I have to say that OpenOffice is the way to go.

I wanted to move to that system at work but they have a very, very anti-opensource attitude where I am at; they have fully taken in the M$ lies.

[Lyric]

I've used both and can safely say you're still getting a much better product with MS Office. However, if you're not too particular, you can get by with Open Office OK. The Open Office Writer has spell check, but it's the old-fashioned kind. It doesn't underline misspelled words. You have to run the checker after completing the doc. The Open Office Calc is a serviceable spreadsheet for someone, but lacks many bells and whistles of the MS version.

Forget the other programs that come with Open Office. I found them frustrating and quit using them. The database is really simplistic and no replacement for MS Access. The slide program (their PowerPoint) I found essentially useless. The image editor isn't worth opening. The free Paint.NET is a much better image editor and basically like an early version of Photoshop.

However, if you just write a letter now and then and want to crunch some numbers, OO is fine. The save as PDF feature works very well. You can write and ebook in OO Writer. The Writer also has a moderately useful HTML editor.

After testing OO on my new PC for awhile, I went back to Office and I'm glad I did.

Lyric

[Syne]

Hmmmm, last time I used OO it had autospellcheck. Plus all kinds of extensions to add in different dictionaries and other functions.

I have even used Impress for really nice multimedia presentations (and made sure to stress that I did not use Powerpoint but opensource software).

Outside of using MySQL a bit I am so not a database person at all so I never got into using Base.

[myles]

here I use office, while in Cambodia everyone uses open source. In the computer education program I run in Cambodia we teach in open source. Personally I can use either.
Myles

[SarahFaceDoom]

Open Office.  Does everything I could need it to.  And it's free.  Microsoft grossly overprices their office suite IMO.

[Flan]

I'm surprised AbiWord hasn't been mentioned yet so I'll make a shameless plug for it.

>.>
<.<

[Lyric]

I'll correct myself on one thing. Open Office Writer does underline misspelled words, but you cannot right-click to see a corrected version and correct it on the spot. You have to run the whole Spelling and Grammer routine.

[lisagurl]

Not to mention none of them work well with the new 64 bit windows 7.

[Ellieka]

you cannot right-click to see a corrected version and correct it on the spot. You have to run the whole Spelling and Grammer routine.

I can on mine. Open Office V 3.1.0.

It even does auto correct for words that you may commonly misspell.

[Kaitlyn]

As an ex-open-source-evangelist, and someone who's used both, I'm positive that Office 2007 is a much better product.  It's lighter, faster, prettier, more user-friendly, and more widely accepted.  If you can get a discount on Office through an employer or university, I don't see any reason to use OOo.

EDIT:  Of course, if you have moral objections to buying from Microsoft, that's another matter.  Personally, I think they've been somewhat more ethical in recent years, certainly nowhere near as bad as they used to be.

[sd]

I did like both interfaces, but I have to admit, O.O. is sooo much more better.

Also, why is O2007 so damn huge! Talk about bloat.

[Syne]

Not to mention it took MS to go to SP2 before you could print a range of emails from Outlook. I mean odd or even? WTF were they thinking there?