Opinion: It's free and it works. Next question?There are many fancy reasons that OpenOffice.org is a great choice for your office work. For example, it's open source and it supports an open format document standard, OpenDocument.
But let's put "openness" to the side. Let me get down to the nitty-gritty: It's free (as in free beer) and it works. What's not to like?
I've been running a late beta of OpenOffice.org 2.0 on both my SuSE 9.3 and 10 Linux boxes and on Windows XP. And, you know what? It works great.
I've started writing with vi on Unix and WordStar on CP/M. Over the years, I've used Lotus Word, WordPerfect and, yes, every version of Microsoft Word for Windows from 2.0 to 2003. Along the way, I've also used spreadsheets starting with VisiCalc, with many years spent on Lotus 1-2-3 and Quattro Pro and for the last five years, Microsoft Excel.
I could go on, but suffice it to say, "Steven knows office software."
OpenOffice.org is every bit as good as the best of all those proprietary programs—Lotus Word Pro 9.8 and Excel 2000 for my money—and in some ways it's even better.
Click here to read more about OpenOffice.org Version 2.0.
For example, OpenOffice.org supports XForms—a newish Web standard for building forms using XML—and it has excellent HTML support. If you're like a lot of people who use Microsoft FrontPage because you want a Web authoring tool that acts like a word processor, you should stop mucking about with the perpetually annoying FrontPage and move to OpenOffice.org.
No, it's not an out-and-out Web authoring tool suite. For that, beginners should look to the open-source Nvu, while advanced users should head over to Macromedia's newly updated Dreamweaver. But OpenOffice.org is more than good enough for most folks, and it's free.
Got a ton of stuff already in Microsoft formats? Don't sweat it.
While extremely fancy documents—think legal paperwork—may not make it over from Microsoft to OpenDocument in perfect shape, the vast majority of your papers and spreadsheets will translate perfectly from one to the other.
Let me put it this way: Over the last four months, I've flipped hundreds of documents and spreadsheets from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org and back again, and I haven't lost a font or a formula yet.
The new OpenOffice.org also boasts an interface that's much more like the Microsoft Office interface. Unlike Microsoft Office, though, you can run it on Windows, Linux or Solaris and, regardless of platform, it looks and works the same.
The program will keep the look of its native environment. So, if you're running it on XP, it will look like an XP application; on Linux with KDE, it will look like a KDE application, and so on.
I haven't been a big fan of personal database programs for a long time now. The only one out there these days that I care for at all is Microsoft's Visual FoxPro. Yes, I can say good things about Microsoft products—when they really are good.
That said, OpenOffice.org's Base Java-based HSQLDB database engine is a solid database. Its real selling point to me is that it has both good SQL and JDBC (Java Database Connect) support. In short, while I still look to FoxPro for PC-based databases, I can see using OpenOffice.org 2.0 to model a serious, server-based DBMS. The idea of even attempting that same job with Microsoft Access makes me ill.
Read the full story on eWEEK.com: Why OpenOffice.org 2.0 Is Your Best Choice
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