OpenOffice vs. MS Office and Works

[Halo]

OpenOffice.org.  Anybody using this?  Do you prefer it to Microsoft Office and/or Microsoft Works?  Can you work seamlessly between all three applications or will some not function with the competitor? 

I used to use MS Office and now use MS Works.  Both okay, maybe not always as intuitive as I might prefer.  Some other guys have praised OpenOffice, so I downloaded and installed it yesterday.  Haven't started exercising it yet.  Thought I had better seek reactions from this illustrious forum before experimenting with another system when the one I use ain't broke, so to speak. 

[Stixx]

Personally I like MS better than open office. In 95 I moved from a typewriter to a computer for writing and was
using Word Perfect which I became quite familiar with. Recently I've had to transition to MS word. I tried both
open office and MS word and for me found Word to be more intuitive. So if it ain't broke, why fix it?

[DREDIOCK]

I like Open Office.
Works fine for what I use it for.
And its a hell of alot cheaper then the overpriced MS version.

My son uses Open Office for college as do most of his friends.

[JB88]

i prefer word. but mostly because i like the page centered on the screen while i am typing.

so far as i have found, open office always left justifies.  which makes me nuts.

other than that, it's a great program and you can create pdfs with it.  which is a plus.

 

[Halo46]

I have open office, but only because I can't afford a new copy of MS Office. It is not bad, but...

[Lusche]

When I set up my new computer a few months ago, I didn't even bother installing MS Office again. Only using OO right now.

[Rolex]

I've used it for years. I had more problems with MS Office when it came to opening a file or converting for different versions of MS Office, than I had between OO and MS Office. One nice feature is that you can convert directly to .pdf from within OO. Maybe you can do that now in MS Word, but I'm not sure. Try it.

[JB88]

I've used it for years. I had more problems with MS Office when it came to opening a file or converting for different versions of MS Office, than I had between OO and MS Office. One nice feature is that you can convert directly to .pdf from within OO. Maybe you can do that now in MS Word, but I'm not sure. Try it.

you can save as pdf in word 2007...but i'm not sure if it was available in earlier versions.  don't think it was.

[ZetaNine]

Can you work seamlessly between all three applications or will some not function with the competitor? 

this is what I always wanted to know. 

[JB88]

you can open and save .doc files in OO, if i'm not mistaken.  not sure about works files.  hate works so i've never checked.

(shrug)

[DREDIOCK]

Ok I just had to use both MS Word and Open Office

Open ofice will open all documents from word, Works, and office
Whereas I had problems opening a Word document from one computer on another computer using a different version of word.
I ended up having to use open office  to view the file I created on another computer using word.

I personally find OO easier to deal with. But its probably a matter of what your used to.

why dont you just DL Open Office and give it a spin.
The price is certainly right (Free)

http://www.openoffice.org/

[DREDIOCK]

"OpenOffice.org 2 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages"

[Charon]

I like MS Office better, but not $300 better.

Charon

[Reschke]

I use MS Office at work and Open Office at home...They both work equally well for me and the only reason I use OO at home is because it is FREE!

[gunnss]

One thing about open office, it works with Ubuntu.  It also swallows my Dragon speak voice to type program with great facility.  Which is really nice, it takes my typing from the two finger 20 words a minute level up to the 150 word a minute level.  This helps a bunch when I'm trying to get a story or article down.  It also is nice for answering e-mail, especially since bifocals irritate me.
regards,
Kevin