Post by trog @ 12:53am 14/10/08 | 33 Comments
Start using it! Make the switch to an open document format and do your part do reduce the world's dependency on fossil software.
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Posted 06:19am 14/10/08
Posted 06:49am 14/10/08
Posted 08:57am 14/10/08
Posted 09:11am 14/10/08
I do. Anything I need to share with other people, I send as PDF.
Posted 09:15am 14/10/08
Posted 09:18am 14/10/08
Posted 09:46am 14/10/08
Posted 09:50am 14/10/08
I'm not commenting on the quality of the software, but as we prepare to roll out Office 2007 (which I really like, I might add), OpenSource just doesn't even get a mention...
last edited by mongie at 08:50:05 14/Oct/08
Posted 09:58am 14/10/08
It's in the 'Too Hard' basket.
Which is fair enough, even visual changes seem to stump alot of the older generations, so the cost involved in getting everyone to be able to use OpenOffice (and the lost revenue in time spent learning instead of working) seems to be a significant factor.
Just like trying to get my mum to use Firefox. Although it might not seem all that diferent to you or I, she had a lot of trouble simply navigating around. (I had even setup her bookmarks to be exactally the same etc) so She's back to using IE now.
I use OpenOffice on my home machine.
Posted 10:37am 14/10/08
i get enough issues receiving data/layouts with ms products, let alone adding to the problem by introducing new (and exciting) issues using OO:
Posted 10:42am 14/10/08
I don't know, I'd argue that Office 2007 would be harder to train people in than OpenOffice - for basic features I mean. I had trouble finding s*** in the Office 2007 ribbon layout. If I did, then other people in less technically-oriented positions will be going through hell.
But I guess one of the main issues is file format compatibility, everyone is used to working with and distributing genuine Word documents - you don't want to end up sending a .doc file to a client with broken formatting - which rules OpenOffice out in the workplace, regardless of features or merit.
Anyway I use Office for uni/work, OpenOffice at home. I really like OO Calc!
last edited by parabol at 09:42:04 14/Oct/08
Posted 10:39am 14/10/08
Posted 10:57am 14/10/08
Posted 11:04am 14/10/08
Being tech savvy or not, if you are very familiar with an interface then a major change will always be jarring. No amount of being an advanced computer user will soften you from "where the f*** is the tables menu" problems.
We implemented a ribbon interface in an application we wrote this year for a financial company. The users found it very easy to work with - without having used Office 2007.
The ribbon UI paradigm seemed to work quite well to introduce new users to the software's functionality, the ribbon bar appeared to make the common operations obvious. We spent a lot less time training people than expected - the only time we had to answer "how do I do this" questions was when the command was sitting inside a menu off the app button.
last edited by Hogfather at 10:04:43 14/Oct/08
Posted 11:03am 14/10/08
Clients dont edit documents, they read them.
The "broken formatting" thing applies to Word just as much as it does in OpenOffice. If you want people to see document the way you wanted it to look, the only sane option is PDF.
Posted 11:05am 14/10/08
Posted 11:14am 14/10/08
To change to new software and lose some functionality is a big deal. Not the same as changing browsers (much to my disappointment, as I love opensource and really gave OpenOffice a big run at home).
I think I remember parabol always saying in these debates that for uni a change in format f**** everything up. Uni use is like 95% of my usage of office. For me, no reason to have this software for the other 5%.
Posted 11:16am 14/10/08
Posted 11:51am 14/10/08
I should also mention another reason why OO would be unsuitable for my situation - plugins. Our accountants use so many bloody addons and plugins for Word, Excel etc. that they'd be lost without them in OO. That and the fact that our main auditing software is designed to package multiple word / excel / pdf documents together, and I'm not sure how it would go with OO - plus, its a global application.
ARGH, just thinking about the issues associated with changing to OO is giving me nightmares.
last edited by mongie at 10:51:26 14/Oct/08
Posted 12:06pm 14/10/08
Posted 12:17pm 14/10/08
Posted 12:27pm 14/10/08
Posted 12:41pm 14/10/08
Posted 01:51pm 14/10/08
I found the training stuff MS setup pretty adequate, was up and running in no time (some minor hassles):
Excel 2003 - 2007
Outlook 2003 - 2007
Word 2003 - 2007
Posted 04:56pm 14/10/08
Anyways I quite like OO, its my preference at work and home. Both of which I have licenced legal copies of office 2k3 and 2k7
Posted 07:27pm 14/10/08
Posted 07:28pm 14/10/08
Posted 07:30pm 14/10/08
Posted 07:42pm 14/10/08
I dunno what licensing is like in that sort of volume but it must still be a couple hundred bucks a head, right?
Posted 08:58pm 14/10/08
Posted 08:43am 15/10/08
And as for the VBA, its unfortunate that the only near100% VBA converter is in a paid version of Open Office.
Posted 08:50am 15/10/08
One of the FOSS evangelists here I spotted struggling with Evernote the other day, I just shook my head in pity at his bulls*** reasons for not using OneNote instead.
Posted 07:08pm 15/10/08
I tried the same with GIMP, had a much worse time with that. Anyone who tells you GIMP does what Photoshop does is lying. It doesn't even have the arrow tool. You know the main tool that you use to click on stuff. ???