OpenOffice

[AUTO-FX]

I am replacing my Microsoft office and and associated products with OpenOffice. I have heard nothing but good about it.
I dont have the latest OS (still using XP) and I dont have the latest Office suite (still using 2000) , but i'm tired of all the bugs that I have been having recently.
Anyone have any file compatability issues using OpenOffice???

TIA

 

[Locals Find!]

a lot of times the "Word" files produced in open office won't have the right formatting when you open them in regular MS Office. I have run into this many times with letters, memos, flyers, etc.. that get sent to me to open.

"Excel" spreadsheets seemed to work ok though. Just be aware that you may face this as an issue.

 

[oldgoatroper]

Same situation here. Using (or rather still have) MSOffice2000, but have been using OpenOffice for the last several years.

Compatibility? No issues that have been a problem.

Here is an update on what has happened recently with OpenOffice...

 

[njshorts]

Never had a problem, outside of formatting years ago... it's REALLY come a long way since staroffice. We replaced MS office on all of our machines with it a few years ago.

 

[The Vector Doctor]

you might want to ask for a pdf or printout if they have one so you can compare in case you are dealing with layouts/fonts. This software (office included) won't warn you about missing fonts for instance

 

[oldgoatroper]

a lot of times the "Word" files produced in open office won't have the right formatting when you open them in regular MS Office. I have run into this many times with letters, memos, flyers, etc.. that get sent to me to open.

"Excel" spreadsheets seemed to work ok though. Just be aware that you may face this as an issue.

You should be requesting PDF files. That's the whole point of them.

OpenOffice has a built-in PDF generator.

 

[Hicalibersigns]

I have used a mix of Microsoft Office through the latest and greatest along with Open Office for several years. The only real compatibility issues I have experienced have been with Power Point. Not even kind of compatible with Open Offices version. Probably not an issue for most sign making folks.

 

[AUTO-FX]

Good stuff to know guys, thanks!

Oldgoatroper - ways back I bought PDF Factory, and use it all the time ! Any application can "print" to it, and it then in turn produces a PDF. But still good that OpenO does it too.

 

[J Hill Designs]

cutepdf for a pdf printer

 

[AUTO-FX]

I have used a mix of Microsoft Office through the latest and greatest along with Open Office for several years. The only real compatibility issues I have experienced have been with Power Point. Not even kind of compatible with Open Offices version. Probably not an issue for most sign making folks.

I use the "viewer" I downloaded from MS for looking at powerpoints.

 

[signcrafters]

The way I understand it, OO and JAVA were purchased by Oracle when they bought SUN.
Libre Office is a spin-off that some of the founding members of OO went to work on after Oracle was doing some questionable things to OO.
Keep an eye on both projects.

 

[oldgoatroper]

The way I understand it, OO and JAVA were purchased by Oracle when they bought SUN.
Libre Office is a spin-off that some of the founding members of OO went to work on after Oracle was doing some questionable things to OO.
Keep an eye on both projects.

As I said in a previous post, here is an update on what has recently happened with OpenOffice.

Oracle no longer "owns" OpenOffice.

 

[Techman]

I started using Open Office much more after M$ changed their Word files system to a DOCX system. There was no need to do that other than to sell software.

What a pain that was until M$ was forced to give out a free converter.

I also use Gimp much more as well. That is a very powerful program that should be a tool in all our computers.

 

[AUTO-FX]

Thanks Tech, Gimp looks interesting...