Open Office VS Office 2007

[saf79]

Hi All,

I have Office 2007 installed in my PC...plan to install another office software which one shall i go for Open Office.org or Office 2007.

Which is better between this 2?Can open office such as Ms Word file can open all existing Word document for MS word 2003,2007 and 2010?

 

[strollin]

In order to answer that question we would need to know what you define as "better". For instance, if your main consideration is price then OpenOffice is better since it is free to download. However, if you need the ability to create and run VBA macros, then Office 2007 is better since OpenOffice doesn't support VBA.

 

[LiquidSnak]

Are you unhappy with Microsoft word 2007?

 

[Vertex]

MS Office 2007 is better especially because of the ribbon interface. Its also easier for me because it is where I have accustomed myself with. Open Office is also buggier in my experience.

But in terms of budget, if you want it free Open Office is so much better because its FREE. Only a few people who can get genuine MS Office for free.

 

[Mercurial]

you mean "legally" LOL!

 

[LiquidSnak]

No, I got 2007 for free. Legally.

 

[saf79]

Are you unhappy with Microsoft word 2007?

no not to say i am unhappy..need to install office on another laptop..thats why i am asking is open office org ok to install does it have same feature as ms office 2007

 

[JMH]

Hi All,

I have Office 2007 installed in my PC...plan to install another office software which one shall i go for Open Office.org or Office 2007.

Which is better between this 2?Can open office such as Ms Word file can open all existing Word document for MS word 2003,2007 and 2010?

I would suggest that you do some research on both, examine each carefully & make up your own mind. Opinions are just that, someones subjective views.

To get you going refer the links below for reviews on the pros & cons of Open Office etc.

FYI - I prefer & use MS office 2007 currently.

Pros and Cons of OpenOffice.org

Microsoft Office vs. OpenOffice.org - TechSoup

 

[PooMan UK]

Are you unhappy with Microsoft word 2007?

no not to say i am unhappy..need to install office on another laptop..thats why i am asking is open office org ok to install does it have same feature as ms office 2007

Don't know which ver of MS Office your using but if the lappy is your own and your running the Home/Office ver (this does depend on which ver you purchased) then you can install it legally on up to 3 pc's

 

[saf79]

Are you unhappy with Microsoft word 2007?

no not to say i am unhappy..need to install office on another laptop..thats why i am asking is open office org ok to install does it have same feature as ms office 2007

Don't know which ver of MS Office your using but if the lappy is your own and your running the Home/Office ver (this does depend on which ver you purchased) then you can install it legally on up to 3 pc's

legally up to 3 pcs?u sure i am using the OEM version

 

[LiquidSnak]

If you have the installation disk, then give it a try

 

[eldinv]

Hi All,

I have Office 2007 installed in my PC...plan to install another office software which one shall i go for Open Office.org or Office 2007.

Which is better between this 2?Can open office such as Ms Word file can open all existing Word document for MS word 2003,2007 and 2010?

If you have Office 2007, then why do you plan on installing it again?

 

[mborner]

Don't know which ver of MS Office your using but if the lappy is your own and your running the Home/Office ver (this does depend on which ver you purchased) then you can install it legally on up to 3 pc's

Yep, I have the academic version, it also supports up to three PC's.

 

[Darician]

Hi All,

I have Office 2007 installed in my PC...plan to install another office software which one shall i go for Open Office.org or Office 2007.

Which is better between this 2?Can open office such as Ms Word file can open all existing Word document for MS word 2003,2007 and 2010?

If you already have the copy of Office 2007, stick to it. OpenOffice is not going to beat it in terms of functionality or intuitiveness. And in terms of Office file compatibility, nothing is going to beat Office at its own game currently. To me, what truly sells me on Office is the Ribbon UI in Office 2007 and 2010; after using that, Office 2003 feels extremely convoluted and dated.

 

[si8mon]

To me, what truly sells me on Office is the Ribbon UI in Office 2007 and 2010; after using that, Office 2003 feels extremely convoluted and dated.

If It wasn't for the Ribbon UI I probably wouldn't be using office.

 

[mlevy]

If you already have the copy of Office 2007, stick to it. OpenOffice is not going to beat it in terms of functionality or intuitiveness. And in terms of Office file compatibility, nothing is going to beat Office at its own game currently. To me, what truly sells me on Office is the Ribbon UI in Office 2007 and 2010; after using that, Office 2003 feels extremely convoluted and dated.

Regarding the bolded statement. That's not 100% true. I do PC support for a large corporation, I've had people call in with Excel files they couldn't open (.xls, still on Office 2000 as standard for another month or so), Excel wouldn't open them but I was able to open them in Calc (OOO's Excel equal), re-save with a new name making no other changes and it would then open in Excel 2000.


Regarding the Ribbon being the reason to use 2007, try the interface in 2010. I've been using it at work since Office 2010 was still Beta (we were beta testers) and LOVE the customizability of it.

 

[Lemur]

I have Office 2010. If a company REALLY needed to save $$, I would recommend OO. I noticed some caveats. Base cannot directly open Access, and Excel scripts may get muddled. The best cross-platform is the word processor.

 

[Darician]

If you already have the copy of Office 2007, stick to it. OpenOffice is not going to beat it in terms of functionality or intuitiveness. And in terms of Office file compatibility, nothing is going to beat Office at its own game currently. To me, what truly sells me on Office is the Ribbon UI in Office 2007 and 2010; after using that, Office 2003 feels extremely convoluted and dated.

Regarding the bolded statement. That's not 100% true. I do PC support for a large corporation, I've had people call in with Excel files they couldn't open (.xls, still on Office 2000 as standard for another month or so), Excel wouldn't open them but I was able to open them in Calc (OOO's Excel equal), re-save with a new name making no other changes and it would then open in Excel 2000.


Regarding the Ribbon being the reason to use 2007, try the interface in 2010. I've been using it at work since Office 2010 was still Beta (we were beta testers) and LOVE the customizability of it.

Yes, 2010 certainly improves on it. I especially like that I can hide it and only bring it up when I need it, gets me quite a bit more screen space. As far as the files, I meant modern Office Files (ie: Office XP and up).

 

[jimbo45]

If you already have the copy of Office 2007, stick to it. OpenOffice is not going to beat it in terms of functionality or intuitiveness. And in terms of Office file compatibility, nothing is going to beat Office at its own game currently. To me, what truly sells me on Office is the Ribbon UI in Office 2007 and 2010; after using that, Office 2003 feels extremely convoluted and dated.

Regarding the bolded statement. That's not 100% true. I do PC support for a large corporation, I've had people call in with Excel files they couldn't open (.xls, still on Office 2000 as standard for another month or so), Excel wouldn't open them but I was able to open them in Calc (OOO's Excel equal), re-save with a new name making no other changes and it would then open in Excel 2000.


Regarding the Ribbon being the reason to use 2007, try the interface in 2010. I've been using it at work since Office 2010 was still Beta (we were beta testers) and LOVE the customizability of it.

Hi there

Not sure of your problem with Office 2000 but I've had UTTELY NO PROBLEM in opening ANY version of office files from Office 97 onwards in all versions of office (office XP, Office 2003, Office 2007 and Office 2010).

I suspect as is common in a lot of corporate environments that when Office is installed on remote PC's not all the functionality is installed -- you are probably missing some of the "converters" in various versions of office.

The user probably just clicks install and the process is automatic without any choices or custom options being available. This keeps it simpler for central administration too -- but often the bog standard functionality isn't quite enough.

Note it's harder to read OFFICE 2010 docs say in Office 2000 but it CAN be done if you save in the CORRECT format -- and don't have any fancy formatting.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[strollin]

I have Office 2003 on my computer. The other day someone sent me a doc in Office 2010 format. When I attempted to open it I was prompted as to whether I wanted to DL and install a converter. I clicked yes and once the converter was installed, I was able to open the document and read it. There was some warning that certain features and formatting might not be supported but it didn't seem to me that anything was missing.