Link: http://www.openoffice.org/
Does anyone here use it? How do you like it in comparison to Microsoft Office? How compatible is it? I was thinking of getting it simply because it says it can make pdfs which I don’t believe my version of office does.
I use it. The standard file format (.sxw) is odd, but I have heard no problems from Word users when I send them files that have been saved in .rtf or .doc formats.
I use and totally recommend it. It has problems, but so does the far more expensive softare.
I use it. I’ve recently made a conscious decision to use open source software whenever possible, mainly because I like free stuff. Thus, I’m now using Open Office, Firefox, Thunderbird and Sunbird.
Firefox I can unhesitatingly recommend as being head and shoulders better than IE. Thunderbird I’ve just started with in the past few days, but it seems like it will serve my needs well. Sunbird is straightforward and function, if a little no-frillsy.
I’ve mainly used Open Office Write and Open Office Calc. Both seem to have all the features that the name brands offer. The interface is familiar and easy to pick up. My only criticism is that Open Office Write seems to crash fairly regularly on my system – say once every couple of weeks. However, it does have a nifty file recovery tool for when this happens.
I’ve used OO for a number of years on linux, and for the last year or so (since my MS Office 2003 trial expired) on Windows.
I like it. In general, it does most things MS Office does well enough, and in some cases better, for most home and small business users. The pdf export feature is very useful.
The biggest challenge comes if you have to regularly share documents with MS Office users, but with the OO 2 beta this is improved. I would get the beta over OO 1.1.2.
Most simple documents files can be read/written to by OO.o. At work, we give it to people who don’t want to buy MS Office. Great for its price 
But if all you want to do is make PDFs, download something like the free PDF Writer, which will let you “print” to .PDF files from any application.
One problem I have with Open Office is I cannot get the envelope printing feature to work properly. It always prints in the wrong place on the envelope . Because of this I have downloaded a stand-alone envelope program (Star Printer Envelope Pro) for $15. The easy envelope printing facility was one of the best features of MS Office.
Apart from this one problem with OO I am quite satisfied with the whole package, especially with the spreadsheet. Instead of downloading it I bought the CD for a nominal amount. Much more convenient, especially when I changed computers.
I use Easy Office, which includes Open Office but with some extras that I like. The only time I open the pirate copy of MS '97 my brother got me is when I need to embed pics. For some reason that doesn’t quite work (I can’t get the pic to get in the position I want it).
I also find the spreadsheet’s obsession with totalling everything a bit silly; most of my worksheets are just ordered lists, not numbers.
Been using OO for over 5 years, EO for 1. They work dandy except for that thing with the pics - and they don’t charge you a kidney and a half when all you really need is a writer and a spreadsheet.
I’ve got it at home. It’s not bad. It will open most word files with no problem but the formatting will be a little weird. It doesn’t work with WordPerfect files.
If you are using it as a stand alone product just to print your own documents, it works pretty well.
If you just want a stand-alone word processor then try AbiWord Homepage . It is very easy to use and is compatible with MS Word.
It’s not better than MS Office in the same way as Firefox is better than Internet Explorer, but it does the job perfectly well.
There are a few things that will take you a while to figure out (setting the page layout to landscape for one) but once you’re used to it you won’t see much difference between MS and Open Office.
I find that the spreadsheet program is a memory hog on my computer at work. Very slow to open documents.
I use OO because I don’t want to buy MSOffice. It works well except for some formatting issues. I use it to open docs that others send me that are beyong the Office 97 that I legitimately own.
Thanks for everyone’s opinions.
With v2 the files are now in .odt (Open Document Text) format, which I believe is a new industry standard based on XML.
Open Office is pretty good. I couldn’t figure out how to put a table in a presentation though–when I did the obvious it put a whole spreadsheet on the slide instead of jsut a simple table!