OpenOffice 2.3 > Microsoft Office 07?

Hi all!

Just want to know what you all think of the topic.

i know it is hard to compare a free software to a not-free software, but i have heard many people say openoffice is good, just want to know how the 2 compare.

A reason of me using Microsoft office is that it has Microsoft publisher, if i switch to OpenOffice, is there another program to replace Publisher?

 

Here's a nice review of open office and MS office 07
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=186108

As for MS publisher, their documents can not be used in open office. However, you can create similar documents using Writer. Writer has capabilities most of what MS publisher can create. ie brochures, postcards etc.

 

why not just try openoffice? it's free afterall

 

I prefer Office now. I used to prefer O rg

 

Hoe could you prefer OpenOffice? I use it but, MS office is still better in every way & worth the price.

 

I have used both but find office 2007's interface to be much better.

 

Same here... I found office 2007 to be much, much superior in every way. Well, you get what you pay for.

 

I actually prefer office 03 out of all of them.

 

Me too^^ I don't need flashiness.

 

Same here, uninstalled '07 last night and put '03 back on it.

 

I've used OO quite a bit and it is a nice program. However, I recently acquired Office 07 and I gotta say they did a real nice job. It is very responsive if you hardware is properly equipped for Vista and the interface is IMHO a vast improvement on the older version. I just wish that one of these programs came with a decent equation editor. They both are totally clunky and the first one that gets this right will probably win by long-term devotion.

 

I think MS Excel is perhaps the greatest program there is--most people barely scratch a small percentage of what it can do, and those people who do more typically focus in a small area (statistics, of finance, etc).

That said, MOST people don't need Office and OO does everything they will ever need (and read MS Office files too).

Writer is not a great DTP program (though neither is MS Publisher). If you want a mroe full featured DTP program to go along with OpenOffice, try Scribus

http://www.scribus.net/

 

.doc files are sometimes poorly formatted in OO :S

 

Office 2007 is really better. Now only if the slight quirks between both office systems are ironed out we can theoritically get office for free.

 

the bottom line is that MS Office is far and away the best Office Suite on the market and it has been that way for years. this includes 2007, 2003, 2000, etc. Until you've used another Suite (like OO) for a long time and had a chance to truly compare (instead of using it for a week and saying it's the best/worst thing ever), it's more than obvious that Office outshines all the competition.

OO is a great idea/concept, but the execution is only what you can expect from the open source community (have you even tried to run OO on Linux? it's god-awful and both OO and Linux are open source so ?!?).

Anyways, if you just need a word processor for basic stuff like grocery lists, etc., OO is good for you. If you are a student handing in .docs to your professor or if you need a productivity suite for an office/work setting, then your choice should be Office.

 

You might want to give 2007 more time. I hated not knowing where to click at the beginning, but now that I've found my bearings it is actually more more practical and pleasant to use than 2003. Since apparently you paid for '07 already...

 

OK, im keeping my office 07 =D

 

I used to use OO but when i installed Ofice 2007 i just can't go back. Not only is it pretty but it also does a better job and is easier to navigate through.

 

If Oo was better than MS Office most of us here wouldn't be paying a couple hundred dollars to get it. The bottom line is .doc compatibility. Oo does a decent job, but sometimes it loses formatting. It's especially frustrating when sharing documents with other users. Also I have found that Oo Impress which is basically powerpoint does not do as good a job as Powerpoint. It is harder to configure and lacks ready-made presentation designs. (well Microsoft still retains 90s designs... lol)

 

I use OO and if i want to keep the formatting for office I just save it as .pdf.

 

Ive been an avid user of MS Office since 1997. OMG I just realised that was 10 years ago.

I LOVE the refreshing new look of 2007, as the previous versions have been very similar.

I love it and wont ever over look it with something else. Its probably the most highest rating package ever made.

 

I've had OpenOffice 2.3 for awhile now, and I concur that Microsoft Office (2003, in my case) pretty much owns in terms of interface and compatibility; I'm defintely upgrading to Office 2007 when I can.

The only thing I like about OpenOffice was the ease with which it does outlines, whereas Office 20003 gave me all kinds of trouble with outlines.

 

i wish there was a free way to have old menus in office 07. sometimes i'm in a hurry and doesn't have time to go through all the options looking for something i haven't found yet in 07, and knew were it was in 03

 

I love 07' every setting or option is easy to find and apply. The interface puts almost all commonly needed controls within tabs at the top. I love Office 07.

 

The ribbons take getting used to at first... I know it took me maybe a week or so to "like" them... but now I would not go back to the old menus.

Plus, I can't wait to see this in the form of an online offering... ribbons work better in an online environment than drop-down menus.

 

Yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes. Rep+

 

don't get me wrong, i liked them from day one, and is perfect for the new user too

it's just when you have been using for years since '95 the same thing, you get automated at it. and since i don't use it every day, but from time to time and (but heavy use), i haven't fully learned it in one go

 

I use OOo on all platforms, it allows me the greatest interoperability. I can share my documents easily through different OSes. Though, I have started using Google Docs a bit more.

 

Open Office is comparable to Office 2003, but 2007 is just way better and is easier to use as well.

 

Office 2007 is more memory efficient, and loads faster

 

Yes, i click it and about 5 seconds later it's open. faster than Opera, firefox, ie7. Hell it's faster than windows.