Microsoft launches attack on OpenOffice

[Haider]

Microsoft has a long-established practice of disarming competition by not acknowledging it, because acknowledging the competition gives it power. Well, the Redmond giant has changed stance when it comes to OpenOffice and launched a video attack on the free alternative to the Office software suite

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[YoKenny1]

Why spend $139.95 for Microsoft Office 2010 Home & Student when OpenOffice will do 99.9% of what the user wants for Free?

I like this quote

[uPDATE #2: Glyn Moody writing for ComputerWorld UK has the following to say: "You don't compare a rival's product with your own if it is not comparable. And you don't make this kind of attack video unless you are really, really worried about the growing success of a competitor."]

[mountaintree16]

Well unfortunately I can't afford Office and I don't need it badly enough to purchase it (if I were going to school right now I'd buy it though), so I am going to use Open Office for the few tasks that I do need to do.

Sorry MS.

[Firefox]

MS does have a valid point.....

For a tech savy person like myself, I would probably not mind using open office and I could probably figure out how to do what I needed it to do.

For folks that can find their way around or figure it out, they have to call tech support and then spend $$ trying to figure it out.

M$ makes it easy provides lots of free help as well.....

I am an M$ office user....

[Jacktivity]

Wow! I'm surprised by that video. Have to say I agree with it though. Free to install is just the beginning. Using software and maintaining it is a whole other thing.

However, I think Open Office is an excellent alternative, particularly for home users. I've used both and tried Open Office for over a year. I have to say I strongly prefer MS. Open Office loads a lot slower, though it seems I've read that's because of some built in tricks MS uses with loading their own version of Office. That was a while ago though, and I may be off base about that.

My main problem was getting the formatting to remain the same in a document created in Word and then edited in Open Office. Even reverting back to MS would not restore the formatting from 3 pages back to 2. Luckily, I had a copy of the original Word doc so that I could edit that one in Word instead, thus maintaining the 2 page format.

Then there was the inevitable problem of learning a different interface as well. For instance, envelope printing is way different between the two. The spreadsheet software was really tough for me to use, having extensive experience with complicated Excel files including some macros.

I'm glad Open Office is available. Like everything else, software gets better when there is competition to worry about. Maybe that's why MS is offering starter editions of Office with new PC's now?

[DarkSnakeKobra]

Well unfortunately I can't afford Office and I don't need it badly enough to purchase it (if I were going to school right now I'd buy it though), so I am going to use Open Office for the few tasks that I do need to do.

Sorry MS.

Agreed. Some people aren't in favor of the new interface it brings and prefer the old toolbar menus. I got Office 2010 Pro for 99.99 at the local college book store. But really, who needs to spend $400 for Office? You don't get outlook and other office specialties, but free alternatives exist that can replace them.

[mountaintree16]

To be honest I haven't watched the video yet -- I will though.

If I was going to school or worked from home or something, I would definitely purchase Office.

Right now I rarely need to use a Word processor/spreadsheet at home, so I scooted by with WordPad, and downloaded OpenOffice a couple of months ago. I think it's great and it has all the basics and I like it.

[DarkSnakeKobra]

I have to use Office at least once a week. Taking Intro to computers which is part of my IT degree. Outlook has been a bit irritating lately with checking email and occasional crashes. On open most of the time it generates errors on sending/receiving email. Manually clicking send/receive always works though.

[Amethyst]

We're using Microsoft Office 2003, Student and Teacher Edition, I think it's called. However, we have received documents created in Office 2007 and I had to get Google documents to open them for me. Can't open the Powerpoint files that way, though, if they were created by 2007 and beyond. So it might be time to bite the bullet and upgrade to 2010. We would use the Home and Student, as we do have a student in the house, and it's license is for 3 computers.

At the moment, my son has OpenOffice on his laptop, not Microsoft Office. If we do go ahead with the upgrade and he decides to install Microsoft Office on his laptop, does anyone know if MS Office will open the documents he created with Open Office? And should he uninstall OpenOffice first (if he wants to), or is it OK to just leave it there?

[ShyWriter]

Wow! I'm surprised by that video. Have to say I agree with it though. Free to install is just the beginning. Using software and maintaining it is a whole other thing.

[...]

However, I think Open Office is an excellent alternative, particularly for home users.

[...]

I'm glad Open Office is available. Like everything else, software gets better when there is competition to worry about. Maybe that's why MS is offering starter editions of Office with new PC's now?

I agree with you 100% Jack. I have no business or personal need for commercial programs when I only do a range of things maybe 5 to 10 times a year. I have a licensed version of OFFICE 2003 (and real early versions with electron dust on 'em ) I like freeware that is well-designed and updated for bugs; such as OO and Firefox and I also try out shareware for a multitude of tasks.. If I use it more than once or twice a year I eventually pay for the shareware program or stop using it to try something else. I've actually gotten more use out of shareware than commercial programs with a few more bells and whistles that do the same thing. I got so tired of BUYING commercial software that didn't work as advertised. And I still use programs like PainShopPro 7.04 even tho' COREL bought them out (I think) and their adaptation is almost like PhotoShop now. And I use Homesite 3.01 for my HTML/webwork even tho' I bought the 4.0 upgrade way back when (and it's turned into something else now) as I was more comfortable with the older version.

I rambled on, didn't I? I think Open Office is super.. and I'm glad it's FREE!

~Shy

[AdvancedSetup]

We're using Microsoft Office 2003, Student and Teacher Edition, I think it's called. However, we have received documents created in Office 2007 and I had to get Google documents to open them for me. Can't open the Powerpoint files that way, though, if they were created by 2007 and beyond. So it might be time to bite the bullet and upgrade to 2010. We would use the Home and Student, as we do have a student in the house, and it's license is for 3 computers.

At the moment, my son has OpenOffice on his laptop, not Microsoft Office. If we do go ahead with the upgrade and he decides to install Microsoft Office on his laptop, does anyone know if MS Office will open the documents he created with Open Office? And should he uninstall OpenOffice first (if he wants to), or is it OK to just leave it there?

The issue of opening newer files with older programs is often an issue with a lot of software not just Microsoft Office. What you need is this download from Microsoft so that you can open newer documents.

Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint File Formats

Brief Description

Open, edit, and save documents, workbooks, and presentations in the Open XML file formats, which were introduced to Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint beginning with Office 2007 and continuing with Office 2010.

Users of the Microsoft Office XP and 2003 programs Word, Excel, or PowerPoint

[mountaintree16]

Hey Amethyst,

Just save the files (Save as) that he created with OpenOffice as this file type (see attached screenshot)

And you shouldn't have any troubles

Edit: Thanks for that link, Ron

[Haider]

I got Office 2010 Pro for 99.99 at the local college book store

In chunks you'll end up paying far more

[Amethyst]

Thanks, Ron. That looks a LOT simpler.

Thanks, Mountaintree, I'll let my son know.

Now, another question for you OpenOffice users: Does Open Office open Powerpoint files--of the .pps variety and the .pptx (I think that's the new format for MS 2007 powerpoint)?

[mountaintree16]

You're welcome

Unfortunately I am not sure about the PowerPoint question, if no one else answers within a couple of days, I could try and test this out for you if you want -- we have Office at work. It could be a while before I'd be able to test it though, just so you know.

In the meantime, I'll try to see what information I can find out about this on their website or something.

[Amethyst]

@mountaintree,

Thanks. I wasn't able to find a clear answer to that question myself in searching around online, just posts by people who were having problems with it. I just wondered if anyone here had tried it and knew. I can see if my son wants to give it a try, too, if he hasn't already.

[Haider]

Hello Amethyst:

.pps is for PowerPoint Show in Office 2003, .pptx is default extension of PowerPoint Presentation in Office 2007

[AdvancedSetup]

In chunks you'll end up paying far more

[Haider]

Ron:

That reply was for Buttons, already enrolled in Microsoft Partners Program, however, you have a valid point as I don't know about the category!