Openoffice.org pros and cons

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sammyman

macrumors 65816

Original poster

• May 5, 2005

• #1

I am a switcher to mac, and just ordered my first mac, and iMac 17"! I am used to using M$ Office on my dell, but want to switch to openoffice.org because it is free. How good is it? Is it compatible with M$ word on Pc's? Any problems?

 

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gto2

macrumors newbie

• May 5, 2005

• #2

I have used Open Office on a PC and it seems to work just fine. Be aware that, by default, it saves files in it's own proprietary format, which can not be opened by the MS apps. Just 'save as' and pick the appropriate format. I would assume it would work the same way on the Mac.

 

Apple

macrumors 6502

• May 5, 2005

• #3

i looks just like an old fashioned ms office for 0% of the cost but it is 75% slower on startup

 

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therevolution

macrumors 6502

• May 5, 2005

• #4

gto2 said:

I have used Open Office on a PC and it seems to work just fine. Be aware that, by default, it saves files in it's own proprietary format, which can not be opened by the MS apps. Just 'save as' and pick the appropriate format. I would assume it would work the same way on the Mac.

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There's nothing proprietary about OpenOffice formats. Microsoft just chooses not to support them.

 

grapes911

Moderator emeritu

• May 5, 2005

• #5

Sometimes it doesn't play too nicely with Office. But its no different then when a Office 98 Doc gets miss-read by Office 2000.

 

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sammyman

macrumors 65816

Original poster

• May 5, 2005

• #6

I just realized that neo office if for the mac and openoffice is for the pc. I meant to ask about neo office then. I assume it is pretty much the same thing? Can you use tables to format documents?

 

grapes911

Moderator emeritu

• May 5, 2005

• #7

sammyman said:

I just realized that neo office if for the mac and openoffice is for the pc. I meant to ask about neo office then. I assume it is pretty much the same thing? Can you use tables to format documents?

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OO works on Macs too.

 

stcanard

macrumors 65816

• May 5, 2005

• #8

sammyman said:

I just realized that neo office if for the mac and openoffice is for the pc. I meant to ask about neo office then. I assume it is pretty much the same thing? Can you use tables to format documents?

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NeoOffice/j is based off the OOo code, so you will see no difference functionally. I'd go for Neo because it's better integrated into the OSX environment.

 

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ldburroughs

macrumors 6502

• May 5, 2005

• #9

I tried using it for a little while. It was slow to start (only a month ago, things may be different now) and the interface is not a nice looking as Office v.X or v. 2004. It is good for the price but even an older copy of Office v.X for $50 is worth the money. You can pick one up on eBay and it comes with the required key and works wonderfully. If you like free, the stick with NeoOffice. It is nice, but is no Word/Excel/PowerPoint. Unfortunately, Microsoft has the market covered too well and there is no legitimate substitute at this point in time.