Open Office

October 8th, 2005, 11:53 AM

If any of you are looking for an office suite to replace that aging bootleg version you copied from your last employer, you might want to check out Open Office.

It's free; open source so your money won't go to make Evil Bill even richer; and you can save things in MS format (.doc etc.) as well as being able to write PDF files within the program.

It works pretty much like MS Office, so the commands are familiar. I've been having a good time with it.

October 8th, 2005, 12:01 PM

Not to mention you can import and export to MS-Office .xls, PowerPoint, and WordPerfect file formats; you also get a terrific drawing application with it (something MS-Office doesn't offer) and, as you said, the ability to create PDFs of your documents with one simple click of a toolbar icon is a very useful feature.

I've been using OpenOffice on both my Linux PC at home and my Windows PC at the office for about two years now. It's great!

October 8th, 2005, 12:20 PM

I just wish I would have heard about it earlier. I downloaded v 2.0 the other night and I'm finding it to be really good. It's even a little more intuitive than Word is.

October 8th, 2005, 05:12 PM

I'd also suggest to you to check out Koffice, but you'd need Linux OS.

That is, unless you buy/download a version of Linux that runs from a single CD, self contained, which would allow you to try it without having to install anything on to your PC.

Koffice also comes with word processor, spreadsheet, presentation maker, vector graphics application, AND a flowsheet creator (like Visio), photo editor (like Photoshop), database client (like Access), all for free.

October 14th, 2005, 12:24 PM

actually, despite popular belief, Bill gates isn't evil, he just makes crapy products. But he's actually a good and responsible corporate citizen.

And, open office is good, it's been arround for a while. But recently it's been picking up steam. The otehr day they were talking about it on the radio.

And open office isn't the only alternative, there is also star office, which I actually prefer, but i think now that it's out of beta, you have to pay for it.

October 14th, 2005, 02:19 PM

Actually, he runs a company that has been convicted of criminal activity. What does that say about him and his corporate managers?

October 14th, 2005, 03:54 PM

I use open office. I like it a lot. Works well with PDF files as well. I only wish i discovered it way back, when I was running windows. That microsoft office I remember, cost an arm and a leg.