The new Office -- worth it?

Life Technology
#1

I’m about to get a new computer, on which I will do a fair bit of word processing and some simple spreadsheet stuff.

I have heard that the new Office is simpler to use than previous versions. This sounds good. Simplicity and ease of use is the most important thing for me.

I have also thought about Open Office although my stepmother who is a translator found that there were compatibility problems between that and Microsoft Office, particularly with formatting and layout of documents.

So what do people think? Old Office, new Office, or Open Office?

Thanks for any ideas.

#2

OPEN OFFICE!!!

The very fact that those fuckwits at micropenis will DELIBERATELY make formats incompatibile with previous versions of THEIR OWN SOFTWARE (So that you will have to pay to buy the new version), put me off a LONGGGGGGGG time ago.

#3

I try exclusively use OpenOffice on Linux and Windows (except PowerPoint). I do run into some formating problems when sending documents to M$ Office users. But I cannot tell you which types are especially problematic. I would guess since figures has always been a problem for M$ Word, I would say it is figure related.

Since OpenOffice is free and also easy to use, I wish that more people would install it. Actually, a test by a well know computer magazine has shown, that OpenOffice Writer outperforms M$ Word, in the way that it was impossible to create a certain test document with Word. Anyhow, if you need compatibility with Word, you will run into problems now and then when using OpenOffice. But that also depends on your document structure. This is of course not OpenOffice’s fault, the .doc file format is just not very open, and the developers have to reverse engineer their import/export filters, and I think it is already amazing what they can do. Also, the import and export filter for M$ Office documents format are improving with every release.

I have not imported/exported M$ Excel documents. But I really like OpenOffice Calc.

Maybe a suggestion would be to install OpenOffice now onto your current computer, test it out, and then buy a new computer with or without a new M$ Office.

#4

[quote=“irishstu”]OPEN OFFICE!!!

The very fact that those fuckwits at micropenis will DELIBERATELY make formats incompatibile with previous versions of THEIR OWN SOFTWARE (So that you will have to pay to buy the new version), put me off a LONGGGGGGGG time ago.[/quote]Well you can always “Save as Office XP” so people who haven’t upgraded can read your document OK.

You prefer Open Office, but is it the best choice in terms of simplicity and compatibility? That’s what I really need to know.

#5

[quote=“irishstu”]OPEN OFFICE!!!

The very fact that those fuckwits at micropenis will DELIBERATELY make formats incompatibile with previous versions of THEIR OWN SOFTWARE (So that you will have to pay to buy the new version), put me off a LONGGGGGGGG time ago.[/quote]

I of course agree with irishstu, and share similar feelings about M$ market strategy, although he always seems to beat me in answering questions.

#6

Well I do have Open Office somewhere on my computer, so I’ll take another look at it.

I was just hoping that the new MS Office would make it easier for me to manage document formatting and layouts.

#7

thats coz you work harder ratlung and have less time to ponce about on forums… :slight_smile:

#8

[quote=“joesax”][quote=“irishstu”]OPEN OFFICE!!!

The very fact that those fuckwits at micropenis will DELIBETATELY make formats incompatibile with previous versions of THEIR OWN SOFTWARE (So that you will have to pay to buy the new version), put me off a LONGGGGGGGG time ago.[/quote]Well you can always “Save as Office XP” so people who haven’t upgraded can read your document OK.

You prefer Open Office, but is it the best choice in terms of simplicity and compatibility? That’s what I really need to know.[/quote]

The honest answer is that if you want simplicity and compatibility, Microsoft Office will be better, as most docs will be sent to you (or you’ll send to other people) in that particular format. Even if Open Office is actually BETTER, since most people use Microsoft, it is not currently the best option as far as compatibility is concerned.

If money doesn’t worry you, then I’d (reluctantly) say go with the Microsoft option.

BUT… in the meantime, please install Open Office and give it a good go for a few months. Half the simplicity problem is because people are used to the Microsoft interface, NOT because Microsoft is actually easier to use.

#9

[quote=“joesax”]Well I do have Open Office somewhere on my computer, so I’ll take another look at it.

I was just hoping that the new MS Office would make it easier for me to manage document formatting and layouts.[/quote]

Make sure you have the new and improved Open Office 2.0 installed. It has many improvements, new features, and just looks nicer than the older 1.x versions.

#10

[quote=“ratlung”][quote=“joesax”]Well I do have Open Office somewhere on my computer, so I’ll take another look at it.

I was just hoping that the new MS Office would make it easier for me to manage document formatting and layouts.[/quote]

Make sure you have the new and improved Open Office 2.0 installed. It has many improvements, new features, and just looks nicer than the older 1.x versions.[/quote]

I was just about to say the same thing. You beat me to it, ratlung (now get back to work :stuck_out_tongue: )

#11

Thanks Ratlung and Irishstu for the very prompt, thoughtful, and helpful posts.

Usually a Forumosa thread only gets to its second page in such a short time if it’s about some kind of scandal or something!

#12

[quote=“irishstu”][quote=“ratlung”][quote=“joesax”]Well I do have Open Office somewhere on my computer, so I’ll take another look at it.

I was just hoping that the new MS Office would make it easier for me to manage document formatting and layouts.[/quote]

Make sure you have the new and improved Open Office 2.0 installed. It has many improvements, new features, and just looks nicer than the older 1.x versions.[/quote]

I was just about to say the same thing. You beat me to it, ratlung (now get back to work :stuck_out_tongue: )[/quote]

Thanks, you are right, I need to get going with my reading. Wasting too much time on this. But I need to add this one thing. I am not sure about M$ Office, but OpenOffice in conjunction with an external application, has a wonderful mechanism of handeling references in a Bibliography. Just wonderful. I was amazed how nice it works. This will hopefully be integrated into a future release. I can provide details.

YEAAAHHH!!! I beat irishstu in answering a question, and the best thing, he admits it. YUUPPIIIEEE!!! :yay: :yay:

That made my day.

#13

Openoffice is really good. now, that formatting problem is sometimes a bit irritating and weird but i never noticed anything too problematic.
Oo all the way!

#14

That’s why, as a translator, I translate the text and leave the formatting to the client.

I like OpenOffice with the exception of three points:

  1. In MS Office, you collapse the pages together in Print Layout View (which I use as defalt becuse of the rulers) by clicking between the pages. You can’t do that in OpenOffice yet. It’s a feature I use often.

  2. I create macros frequently in VBA in MS Office to automate some tasks I use a lot. The macro languages of OpenOffice (especially the code generated by the macro recorder) are much harder to use than VBA is, and documentation with good, useful examples is hard to come by.

  3. Over the years I’ve accumulated substantial autocorrect (MSO1033.acl) and dictionary (cutom.dic) files, and haven’t found ways to import them into OpenOffice.

#15

I use OpenOffice and save everything as .pdf.

#16

Mmm. There’s only one reason I can’t recommend Open Office over M$…

M$ table tool is just so easy to use, but Open Office is just perennially dumb. Other than, I like Oo very much, esp. the portable version. I think it’s easier to configure, and it’s come a long way in such a short time.

Kenneth

#17

oh, and Oo has pdf features that I like too.

Very neat. No need to open another application. So overall yes, I like it.

But I’ve had a lot of problems with different versions of MS Office being incompatible with earlier versions, or losing formatting. I had to edit a journal, and boy the tables got screwed up seriously in one article. I don’t know why.

So I have decided to standardize on Oo in future for the journal.

Best Wishes
Kenneth

#18

I’m trying Open Office and I like it. There’s something specific I need to do with importing some information from the spreadsheet into the word processor. Can anyone help with this? I’ve posted about it in my “card index” thread over here:
[forumosa.com/taiwan/viewtopic.ph … 851#520851](Computerizamicatifying a card index -- please help a dummy

[Edit: Problem solved thanks to Taffy. And while trying his suggestion I noticed that at least in some cases OO’s menu selections are less cluttered and easier to use than those of MS Office.]