OpenOffice vs Micro$oft Office 2007 Ultimate (worth $75?)

In the past I've always used Microsoft Office 2000 for school work on the family computer. Recently however, I purchased a notebook for university, I didn't want to shell out hundreds on the latest edition of Office, so I downloaded OpenOffice. I haven't used it that much since I haven't started at university yet, but it seems almost identical to Office 2003.

Now I see theres an offer for students where I can purchase Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate for just $75.

Is Office 2007 better then OpenOffice, and if so, is it worth $75?

Also, what do you currently use for word processing, etc?

 

Using Office 2007 over here. I believe it's worth it for basic use. My only complaint is its use of the newer file format like .docx instead of the old .doc format for backwards compatibility. Then again, that's a very easy thing to change in settings.

 

If you have the cash buy Office. If not, get OO. I have Office 2007 and i like it a lot better than OO because it is a lot faster and has better spell checking, gui, more tools.

 

I have Office 2007 and I'm really not too keen on it. Its almost too cartoonish for my tastes. I have always been a firm believer in the KISS method (keep it simple stupid) and I am constantly getting called to show people at the office how to use the new office 2007. If you are good with computers then I'm sure it will be fine for you but at this point I almost prefer open office because it is easier for users to understand what button does what. I should also add I work with some very computer illiterate users so its not all Office 2007's fault (lol - they drive me crazy asking me the same questions every week...the freaks! take notes!!).

Go check an office depot type store and fire up office 2007 and see what you think of it. You may like it, or you may find it annoying like I do. In the end its a matter of personal preference.

Good luck,

-Reby

 

Yup, pretty much.

 

I say yes, there is 30 (or 60?) day trial at microsoft's website so you can try it out before.

I'm using it since Beta 2 and totally like it.

 

open office isn't nearly as annoying as MS office, and oo spreadsheets(calc) and math are way easier to use... you could also look at IBM Lotus Symphony.. also free

 

Here is a download site for the trial version:

http://us20.trymicrosoftoffice.com/default.aspx

-Reby

 

Okay, I've downloaded the trial, good suggestion JCMS and thanks for the link Reby. As Calvin said, it does seem a little faster. The interface is radically different though, it seems like its been dumbed down, possibly because like you said Reby its cartoonish in appearance. I'd have to spend some time familiarizing myself with it to do what I could already do in other programs, something I didn't have to do with OpenOffice. Outlook is nice, I could use that to read my mail from yahoo and windows live (with outlook connector). I could use Thunderbird to do that though. Oh well, I think I'll "trial" it for a while, I have until the 18th of May to buy it, if I have any spare cash that is.

 

I got Office 2007 Ultimate for my wife thru the Ultimate Steal promotion. I like it, she likes it, and the price was right. $75 for Ultimate is a great deal - I say jump on it

 

live preview on ms office 07 is awesome, i dont have to keep pressing undo just to preview an option, i like the big icons and its certainly simple, best surprise ever.

 

Actually, they created the ribbon to be more streamlined and functional than the previous Office interface.

 

Yeah, it's much better for me than office 2003, or Open office. I love the ribbon.

 

It took me some time to get used to it, but like Vista, once you get it right, going back is difficult. Although I got no use for it, I like how there is a japanese expression/grammar dictionnary integrated in it.

$75 is a good deal, I would have bought it (I still use it by other means ) but unfortunately I'm not in "Cégep" (college + general eduction grade 12&13th, Quebec province) yet and the deal is ending around mid-april.

 

Guys...Alot of you are are offering good points, but you are missing ONE IMPORTANT reason:

The reason you should conform and use the "standard" Microsoft Office 2007 is simple- Knowing how to use it efficiently will hlep you at your FUTURE job when you come out of school. All my friends who've graduated, including me...agree that all desk jobs require the use of Microsoft Office. My company still uses Office XP, but we are switching to Office 2007 in a few months. Knowing how to use Office can greatly help you in the FUTURE.

It's becoming a SKILL to know how to use Office. When you have to do 1 hr presentations, work 10000 cell spreadsheets, create attractive documents for your work, or program vba...it pays to know how to use Office well.

That said, I've never tried Open Office. But unless it becomes adopted in businesses, there's no way I'll switch over. Shell out the $70, it's worth it. Note: you should be able to find it cheaper at your university. My school offered it to students at like $10 per license.

 

I think the ribbon is great as well. Much more effective interface than Office '03 or OpenOffice.

 

Yup openOffice looks like Office XP from what I see on Ubuntu now.

What I think though, is that high school computers lab that aren't renewed should make the switch to openOffice rather than stay on 97/2000. It's like that at my school, although we have Office 2003 installed on the "projectors" (laptop + projector kit we can get at the secretariat for PP-based presentation in classes), the Win98-based computer labs have Office 97 and the XP-based ones have 2000 or XP, can't remember but it's not 2003.

 

At my school the Office 2007 Ultimate is only 24 dollars so it really isn't bad if you are going to a university.

 

That low? How nice. I'm gonna check how it is at my next year's college


EDIT: $100 for Standard & $150 for Enterprise

 

I just installed Office 2007 Beta, it's the same thing as Office 2007, but from last year. It said it expired, but that's an easy problem to solve lol. I burnt the Office 2007 Beta before they stoped it, so basically I have Office 2007 for free. I do like it better than OpenOffice, it's a lot nicer interface, and it makes me wanna type because of the very friendly environment, unlike OpenOffice's ugly brown background. I say go for it.

 

Faster? You are the first person to say its faster. I fine 2007 slower than 2003 and open office.

2007 does look better, maybe its just a fresh look. It has really cool 3D shapes for Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, which make documents and presentations look that much better.

That said if you had to pay the normal price for it.....NO WAY. OO is probably as good as Office 2003 and its FREE. 90% of people probably dont even touch 50% of office 2003 features let alone 2007.

If everyone including MS used Open doc file formats MS Office would have about 20% of the market. I have office on my PC and Mac, so I can trade documents with the business world. If I could use OO and get away with it 100% of the time....I could use that money somewhere else.

 

Which is why MS created the ribbon: so users can more easily access more features than previously.

BTW I find the Office 2007 runs faster for me also, but that's probably because my laptop is much more powerful than my old desktop that I ran Office '03 on

 

My answer to this thread's question would be yes. Microsoft Office is a far much more superior product, for any kind of use and this price fully justifies getting it. Paying more than 300 - 400$ for it it's a totally different story.

 

u better act fast before the offer expires...
i assume thats the australian version of "theultimatesteal" $59 usd
u must be CRAZY to pass that offer especially since u are a college student

i say
GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET GET
it
NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW

so if we say Open Office was created by 'man'
then OFFICE 2007 was created by the 'GOD' of GODs

do not be fooled

i am hoping microsoft will offer similar educational discount for Vista Ultimate

 

I have till the 18th of May to buy it so perhaps I should wait until I hit university, if I find that OpenOffice isn't sufficient I can always buy it then.

Whats with this new .docx format? Only Office 2007 uses this format? Is it compatible with OpenOffice?

 

Not every university has discounts (mine doesn't), so make damn sure that yours does before passing up this offer.

.docx is a new format in Word 2007 and it is NOT compatible with OpenOffice.

 

Overall, I'd say if you can at all get it.

Openoffice is good (I use it at home since I don't have any offers that let me buy office and can't afford it) but there are some things it does differently (like macros) that if you rely on working the same make it very hard to accommodate.

 

That also depends on your school. Vista Ultimate was provided for $25.

 

It's the new compression for 2007 files, you can still save them in 95, or 97-2003. The new format has a better compression. For exmeple, a 2.5MB 2003 powerpoint will be about 450kB in .ppsx

 

Nice. I guess they are thinking about the people who have 128mb flash drives.

 

Honestly, I think they were thinking about the number of people/companies complaining about the completely STUPID file sizes that came out of excel and word (and I assume powerpoint) in some prior versions.

I can create essentially a single cell spreadsheet (with one regular value, not a formula or anything silly) and have it take over a MB to store as XLS, that's just plain wrong.

 

Lulz. I wouldn't call it wrong, but just not acceptable.

 

I'd say more towards diskettes but lol

 

if you don't know enough about MS office (i mean M$ ) and what features you're going to use then i doubt it'll make much of a difference for you.

 

Forget $75 here's the $59.95 copy! and it's legal to use on one desktop and one laptop...