I have been
exploring the use of free Open Source software as an alternative to
Microsoft Software for some months now. I installed Open Office on my
Windows 2000 computer to see if I could use it to perform all the tasks
I used to do with Word 2000. I have been using Open Office for about 3
months now for my word processing and spreadsheet needs. In a nutshell
I am satisfied. I recommend Open Office to anyone who wants a
reasonably powerful word processor and spreadsheet program for their
Windows or Linux system. Compatibility with Word 2000 is not perfect
but good enough to allow the sharing of documents.
My "complicated" MS Word documents contain things like Tables of
Contents, Tables and images that I wrap text around. Open Office can
read and write all these files. In fact you can configure it to keep
the files in the MS Word format by default. However I recommend keeping
your documents in the native Open Office format and saving them in the
word format only when you want to exchange them with other people. For
straight forward documents (no tables, no word wrapping around images)
compatibility with Word 2000 appears to be perfect. For more
complicated documents the compatibility is not perfect. For example
text may not wrap around images in exactly the same way. The
differences are not large and I do not consider them "show stoppers".
However, for complicated documents, expect the MS Word people to have
to "tweak" the document somewhat if they want exactly the same output.
Similarly you may have to "tweak" documents you receive from people
using MS Word. Open Office documents are automatically compressed and
typically take up only a tenth to a half the file space that is used by
the equivalent MS Word formated document.
Open Office does not have the same "look and feel" as MS Word. The
functionality that I need is there but how I invoke it often differs
from MS Word. You won't find Mail Merge under "Tools... Mail Merge...",
it is under "File... Form Letter." and works in quite a different
fashion. For some functions, for example handling Tables of Contents
and Tables, I found Open Office to be more intuitive to use.
Open Office can handle all my MS Excel documents. The compatibility is
much less perfect than it is for Word documents. Just about every
spreadsheet had to be "tweaked" somewhat due to differences in the way
Open Office handles things. But there were no show stoppers.
Conclusion
Open Office is certainly worth a try before spending a lot of money. I
don't consider myself a "power user". It has been years since I have
used Styles – don't worry if you don't know what they are. But I
also know I use Word Processors in ways that many people never
consider. I wrap text around images. I use Tables of Contents and
Tables. I generate mailing labels and business cards. I use mail merge.
All this works, although not necessarily in the same way as MS Word
does.
See
www.openoffice.org to
obtain a copy of Open Office. It is quite large at 50mb. If you don't
have a high speed Internet connection you may want to visit a friend
with a high speed interface and CD writer to obtain a copy, or order a
CD for a small cost.
This document was created using the Open Office HTML Web editor.
About the Author
a retired Computer Professional with a broad range of computer skills
gained providing technical, management, and instructional support at
the Computing Services Department, University of British Columbia. To
see what keeps me busy when I am not busy on my computer check
my personal home page.
