MS Works, MS Office, Open Office, what gives???

[NicePete]

I have used OpenOffice for several years. The word processor has worked fine for me, both my personal and professional needs – I ran my law office with it. I’ve installed in on all my family’s computers and on my parents. No complaints from any quarter.

I’m not a spreadsheet or PowerPoint user, but database program (Access clone) also worked well for me.

[Risha]

I installed Open Office early last summer so that I could edit a friend’s story, and I haven’t had any problems with it. I sent a Word and Excel file back and forth between my work computer and home computer, making minor changes and checking out the results with each swap. Other than small formatting changes, everything worked the same way.

I do recall that Word comments were a little strange at first when translated into Open Office, but they worked fine once I played with the settings. She had no problem reading and following my notes in her version of Word.

[Baldwin]

I used OpenOffice for a while. It worked as advertised, but was lacking one feature of MS Word that I finally decided I couldn’t live without – the Draft View. People have been asking for that for years, but for whatever reason, it’s not available. So I ponied up $80 for an OEM version of MS Office.

But, I didn’t have any file compatibility problems.

[BrandonR]

I will add that Open Office pales in comparison to Office 2007, especially with the interface redesign and the “ribbon.” Many frustrations of Office versions past are gone. When I tried Open Office in the past, it was bland and slow (is it still using Java?). Of course, I get Office 2007 Enterprise free from my school so cost wasn’t one of my deciding factors.

[Balthisar]

@BrandonR

I will add that Open Office pales in comparison to Office 2007, especially with the interface redesign and the “ribbon.” Many frustrations of Office versions past are gone.

You’re the first person anywhere that I’ve ever heard of, that likes the new Office interface!

[ultrafilter]

@Balthisar

You’re the first person anywhere that I’ve ever heard of, that likes the new Office interface!

Does that make me the second? I’d like it a lot better if they’d been using it all along and I didn’t have to relearn everything, but it’s a good UI.

[Mark_Ryle]

@ultrafilter

Does that make me the second? I’d like it a lot better if they’d been using it all along and I didn’t have to relearn everything, but it’s a good UI.

I’m the third. I liked Microsoft Office 2007 from the first time I saw it. Everything’s been moved though, and that’s a reason some might prefer Open Office. Open Office’s word processor, Writer, has the look and feel of the pre-2007 Word, with traditional text-based drop-down menus for File, Edit, Tools, etc., instead of Word 2007’s icon-based “ribbons.” I did not quickly find “Save As” or even “Undo” the first time I used Word 2007.

[Balthisar]

@Mark_Ryle

I’m the third. I liked Microsoft Office 2007 from the first time I saw it. Everything’s been moved though, and that’s a reason some might prefer Open Office. Open Office’s word processor, Writer, has the look and feel of the pre-2007 Word, with traditional text-based drop-down menus for File, Edit, Tools, etc., instead of Word 2007’s icon-based “ribbons.” I did not quickly find “Save As” or even “Undo” the first time I used Word 2007.

That may be the problem. Virtually everyone I know has been using Word and others for ages and ages (old coots), and most of the functions we use all the time involve muscle memory and keyboard shortcuts.

God, I get frustrated when I see unsophisticated users remove their hands from the keyboard to look for a stupid icon with their mouse, or go to the edit menu to copy and paste, rather than use keyboard shortcuts. When it comes to less frequently used items, we tend to favor text descriptions rather than illegible icons ('cos if they were frequent items, we’d’ve remembered the keystrokes instead of the icon).

Not picking on you, just indicating why no one I know has ever liked the interface before!

[Tabby_Cat]

@Panurge

The only small issue I’ve found is that an OO file made on my linux box will have odd formatting (sometimes) when I open it on my Windows machine. Suddenly losing random lines can be a bit frustrating two days before deadline.

… Mwa? Losing a few lines is a “small issue”??

[Skald_the_Rhymer]

@Polycarp

MS Works is a retarded little program invented by the humanitarians of Microsoft as a marketing tool. It gives you a barebones word processor, spreadsheet, and database capability that comes with your computer!. The only thing is, its products are absolutely incompatibhle with anything else on the planet, up to and including Tibetan prayer wheels, Cray-2 supercomputers, and the mind of Cthulhu. But if your only need for a spreadsheet is to balance the checkbook once a month and perhaps do your own taxes once a year, and to write a letter to Great Aunt Ida or the short personal essay that is supposed to accompany your job appliction, it’s cool.

:: blinks ::

Izzat you, Polycarp? I thought you were the calm one.

[Kevbo]

@Polycarp

MS Works is a retarded little program invented by the humanitarians of Microsoft as a marketing tool. It gives you a barebones word processor, spreadsheet, and database capability that comes with your computer!. The only thing is, its products are absolutely incompatibhle with anything else on the planet, up to and including Tibetan prayer wheels, Cray-2 supercomputers, and the mind of Cthulhu.

I clicked on this thread to say something similar but less poetic. (doesn’t) Works was the bane of my existence as a club newsletter editor. A couple of people kept submitting articles using that shit. Microsoft offers a converter to allow works files to be read by word…but it doesn’t work IME.

[Voyager]

@Panurge

Suddenly losing random lines can be a bit frustrating two days before deadline. I strongly suspect that this is due to transfering the file from one OS to another, so if you stick to Windows you should have no problems.

The same thing happens on a Solaris to Windows transfer. I think the fonts are the root cause. I don’t use quite identical versions (out of laziness) so that might have something to do with it.

[Panurge]

@Tabby_Cat

… Mwa? Losing a few lines is a “small issue”??

No, it’s a big issue, of course. If they were really gone, it would have been bad. But they weren’t gone - any change of font or font size brought everything back, and if I took the seemingly corrupted file and opened it my Linux machine it would be back to normal. I suspect that the Windows and Linux editions of OO parse the formatting code in slightly different ways, causing (seemingly random) lines of text to be “invisible” in the Windows edition.