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If you think OpenOffice is a competitor to MS Office 2010, think again

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CWuestefeld:
Is there a downside to choosing it over MS Office?
-cyberdiva (June 16, 2010, 03:05 PM)
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Off the top of my head:

* If you're a MS Office user, the interface is different. It's consistent, so not difficult for a tech-savvy user, but it may be a problem for the less-experienced that only know MS.
* No Outlook, no OneNote, no Publisher, no Access (yet -- they're working on that one).
* No grammar checking in the word processor.
* People will look at you a little funny. But that's par for the course for me: somehow it seems I always pick the oddball. I used to use OS/2  :o
* Compatibility with DOC/DOCX and XLS/XLSX files is excellent, but not perfect. In an environment where compatibility is essential you might have problems.
* Not compatible with VBA macros (although it has its own scripting language), nor does it present a scripting model for use by your own software.
But there are any number of advantages as well.

* Price
* Stability
* Performance
* Portability
* Immunity to malware (due to obscurity)
* Tabbed document switching

JavaJones:
What's frustrating is that OpenOffice *should* be better, particularly in regards to compatibility. If SoftMaker can do a good deal better than OOo (as seems to be the case from the above descriptions), then there's something wrong. Granted SoftMaker is a commercial app, but I'd wager a lot more development hours and effort have gone into OOo considering the size of its dev community. Yet it's still slow, a bit clunky, and has lots of problems with file formatting.

- Oshyan

Curt:
Is there a downside to choosing it over MS Office?
-cyberdiva (June 16, 2010, 03:05 PM)
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..., no Access (yet -- they're working on that one).
-CWuestefeld (June 16, 2010, 03:20 PM)
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When ("if"?) it comes, I am expecting SoftMaker's version to be absolutely fantastic, considering how many years they have been "working on that one"...  8)

zridling:
Wow, thanks for the response guys, especially Josh, Darwin, CWuestefeld, et al.

Maybe someone can take some time later this year and write a new Word Processor mega-review, or, an extended review of Office 2010.

Darwin:
When ("if"?) it comes, I am expecting SoftMaker's version to be absolutely fantastic, considering how many years they have been "working on that one"...  8)
-Curt (June 16, 2010, 04:59 PM)
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The thing is, I've been waiting, now for well over three years (if memory serves) and it's STILL not even in public beta! I bought the 2006 suite in anticipation of DataMaker being released soon thereafter (and on the understanding that it would be a paid add-on) and then, about a year and a half later upgraded to 2008 before 2008 was even released because it looked like DataMaker would actually be part of it when it went gold. Now 2010 is out and no sign of DataMaker...

PS to be honest, a big factor in both my Office purchases was the fantastic apps that DO comprise it in its current form, TextMaker in particular.

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