# Open Office???



## DMcFadden

Does anyone have any experience using Open Office? I love the idea that it is free and I hate the hegemony of Gates and Jobs. It looks like it reads and saves in Office format. What are the pros and cons?


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## Southern Presbyterian

I use it at work. I think it is more intuitive than Word and does all the same things that MS does. It does read and even save in Word formats, but sometimes has trouble with formatting on pages that have lots of different elements. All-in-all, it's one great package of programs. Enjoy!


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## Ezekiel3626

Which Microsoft components do you use primarily and to what extent? I ask because I use Open Office Write (Word) and Open Office Calc (Excel) mostly. I open slideshows or ppt. files with Open Office Impress (PowerPoint). I find the user interfaces to be similar, if not easier in the Open Office suite. In my experience, almost files are readable and backwards compatible. I say "almost" because there may have been exceptions that I have forgotten about. On my Windows machine, I do not use MS Office products, because it did not ship with them, and I do not want to purchase them. On my dual boot laptop, with Windows XP and Ubuntu Linux, I have both, but I do not remember the last time I used the MS components. I do not know if all the keyboard shortcuts and "tricks" can be used in Open Office, but for casual users, I am not aware of any drawbacks.


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## Grymir

Hmm. Let me see. I'll pull down my Barth books. hmm. It says that we can't know the answer to this question dogmatically or with certainty, because MS Office is wholly other, and unknowable, execept as IT choses to reveal ITself. But we have to experience the 'essence' in relationship. And if Open Office moves you, as it did the authors, then it becomes THE MS Office for you.


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## DMcFadden

Grymir said:


> Hmm. Let me see. I'll pull down my Barth books. hmm. It says that we can't know the answer to this question dogmatically or with certainty, because MS Office is wholly other, and unknowable, execept as IT choses to reveal ITself. But we have to experience the 'essence' in relationship. And if Open Office moves you, as it did the authors, then it becomes THE MS Office for you.



Grymir, you are impossible! Barth again?!? Well, you are quite Barthian (despite yourself) in rejecting the analogia entis. Karl Barth famously remarked that the analogy of being (analogia entis) is both “the invention of antichrist” and the only good reason for not becoming a Roman Catholic. But, now David Bentley Hart, in his well received _The Beauty of the Infinite_, turns Barth on his head with his suggestion that the rejection of the analogia entis might in fact be “the invention of antichrist” and “the most compelling reason for not becoming a Protestant”! He contended that it is as subversive of the notion of a general and univocal category of being as of the equally ‘totalizing’ notion of ontological equivocity.” (pp. 241-42). 

Obviously your effort to know MS Office while rejecting the analogy of being between it and the lowly Open Office must be considered against the backdrop of other moves within contemporary theology. Open Office, in this event of becoming, participates in the beauty of MS Office's own infinity: “MS Office is the infinity of being in which every essence comes to be, the abyss of subsistent beauty into which every existence is outstretched.”

Von Balthasar, following Barth's nemesis Erich Przywara, anticipated Hart with a dynamic and apophatic understanding of the analogia entis. And like Hart, von Balthasar insisted on the ontological dissimilarity between MS Office and Open Office. It is hardly coincidental that Gregory of Nyssa - with his theology of the infinite - is a major influence on both theologians.

On the other hand, von Balthasar, hearing what his colleague and friend Barth was saying, tried to assimilate the analogia entis into the analogia fidei in order to preserve the freedom of the Open Office while maintaining the transcendence of MS Office.

But I digress. *What the devil are you talking about anyway? All I wanted to know was what were the pros and cons with using Open Office in place of MS Office, not to hear you rant again about Barth!*


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## Grymir

DMcFadden said:


> Grymir said:
> 
> 
> 
> Hmm. Let me see. I'll pull down my Barth books. hmm. It says that we can't know the answer to this question dogmatically or with certainty, because MS Office is wholly other, and unknowable, execept as IT choses to reveal ITself. But we have to experience the 'essence' in relationship. And if Open Office moves you, as it did the authors, then it becomes THE MS Office for you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Grymir, you are impossible! Barth again?!? Well, you are quite Barthian (despite yourself) in rejecting the analogia entis. Karl Barth famously remarked that the analogy of being (analogia entis) is both “the invention of antichrist” and the only good reason for not becoming a Roman Catholic. But, now David Bentley Hart, in his well received _The Beauty of the Infinite_, turns Barth on his head with his suggestion that the rejection of the analogia entis might in fact be “the invention of antichrist” and “the most compelling reason for not becoming a Protestant”! He contended that it is as subversive of the notion of a general and univocal category of being as of the equally ‘totalizing’ notion of ontological equivocity.” (pp. 241-42).
> 
> Obviously your effort to know MS Office while rejecting the analogy of being between it and the lowly Open Office must be considered against the backdrop of other moves within contemporary theology. Open Office, in this event of becoming, participates in the beauty of MS Office's own infinity: “MS Office is the infinity of being in which every essence comes to be, the abyss of subsistent beauty into which every existence is outstretched.”
> 
> Von Balthasar, following Barth's nemesis Erich Przywara, anticipated Hart with a dynamic and apophatic understanding of the analogia entis. And like Hart, von Balthasar insisted on the ontological dissimilarity between MS Office and Open Office. It is hardly coincidental that Gregory of Nyssa - with his theology of the infinite - is a major influence on both theologians.
> 
> On the other hand, von Balthasar, hearing what his colleague and friend Barth was saying, tried to assimilate the analogia entis into the analogia fidei in order to preserve the freedom of the Open Office while maintaining the transcendence of MS Office.
> 
> But I digress. *What the devil are you talking about anyway? All I wanted to know was what were the pros and cons with using Open Office in place of MS Office, not to hear you rant again about Barth!*
Click to expand...



Why? Now that's a great question! I saw this thread that you started, an idea popped into my head. Something about MS Office being wholly other and unknowable. And since you know how much I love Barthian metaphors, I thought you and fellow readers would appreciate my post.

But your post above is perhaps one of the best I've ever read here on PB or anywhere!! I'm gonna spend days following and learning from that. Thank you so much. See, if I hadn't said what I did, your brilliant post would not have followed. Aristolilian cause and effect. Sorry Hume.

I really would use MS Office before I would use a clone. My 'relationship' knowledge of them is that they are not as reliable, and I looked into Open Office, and went with MS Office. I don't use all the bells and whistles, but the reliability and workability is what I went with.


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## Semper Fidelis

Open Office is great. I installed it on my in-laws computer (2 non-techie people) and they use it for everything - including it's presentation software for Church overheads.


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## Casey

I use OO for everything. The only con I know of is that it sometimes will format things incorrectly when saving in one of Microsoft's proprietary formats. But on the plus side, you can save any document as a .pdf and bypass Microsoft's messy files altogether.


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## Broadus

I have Word 2003 but have used Open Office. I'm sure I'll switch someday to OO for my .doc file needs.

That said, my word processor of choice is Nota Bene, a small academic company which puts out the best (in my opinion) software for research and writing. It's not cheap, but it's unsurpassed. Someone once said NB was WordPerfect on steroids. Been using it for seven or eight years and wrote my dissertation with it.

I say that just to note that I use Word only when absolutely necessary and find OO a better option. I wouldn't buy Word, but your mileage may vary.

Bill


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## sastark

Open Office is great. It's what I have loaded on my MacBook at home. I have yet to run into any downside using it.


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## py3ak

I like OpenOffice as well. It disappoints me that it doesn't come with the _Thorndale_ font, unlike StarOffice.

One thing to be aware of: as of a couple of days ago Open Office could not open the .docx format.


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## JohnGill

As a Mac user I use the Mac port of Open Office called NeoOffice.

It does not use X11. Much nicer.


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## skellam

JohnGill said:


> As a Mac user I use the Mac port of Open Office called NeoOffice.
> 
> It does not use X11. Much nicer.



Have you tried the new Beta version of OpenOffice for the Mac? It runs without X11 and integrates like any other Aqua application.


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## JohnGill

skellam said:


> JohnGill said:
> 
> 
> 
> As a Mac user I use the Mac port of Open Office called NeoOffice.
> 
> It does not use X11. Much nicer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you tried the new Beta version of OpenOffice for the Mac? It runs without X11 and integrates like any other Aqua application.
Click to expand...


Didn't know there was one. I've gotten so used to NeoOffice I didn't look for anything else. I'll check it out.


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## DMcFadden

py3ak said:


> I like OpenOffice as well. It disappoints me that it doesn't come with the _Thorndale_ font, unlike StarOffice.
> 
> One thing to be aware of: as of a couple of days ago Open Office could not open the .docx format.



The web site says that version 3.0 is coming soon and takes care of that nicely and oh so much more.

OpenOffice.org 3.0's new features, an early look - OpenOffice.org Ninja


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## skellam

JohnGill said:


> skellam said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JohnGill said:
> 
> 
> 
> As a Mac user I use the Mac port of Open Office called NeoOffice.
> 
> It does not use X11. Much nicer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Have you tried the new Beta version of OpenOffice for the Mac? It runs without X11 and integrates like any other Aqua application.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Didn't know there was one. I've gotten so used to NeoOffice I didn't look for anything else. I'll check it out.
Click to expand...


I never heard of NeoOffice. I rarely used OpenOffice on the Mac before this beta version came out because using X11 made it very slow and quirky. But, I've been using the new beta 3.0 for a few months and it works great.


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## sastark

skellam said:


> JohnGill said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> skellam said:
> 
> 
> 
> Have you tried the new Beta version of OpenOffice for the Mac? It runs without X11 and integrates like any other Aqua application.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Didn't know there was one. I've gotten so used to NeoOffice I didn't look for anything else. I'll check it out.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I never heard of NeoOffice. I rarely used OpenOffice on the Mac before this beta version came out because using X11 made it very slow and quirky. But, I've been using the new beta 3.0 for a few months and it works great.
Click to expand...


I've switched from NeoOffice to Open Office beta 3 on my MacBook and now prefer it over NeoOffice. It has been much more stable for me than NeoOffice.


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## py3ak

That's good to know, Dennis. Thanks!


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## refbaptdude

Does Open Office have something like MS Outlook?


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## Seb

refbaptdude said:


> Does Open Office have something like MS Outlook?



No. But you could use something like Thunderbird or the Google email and calendar apps depending on your needs.

Some of the developers that used to work on Lotus Notes have supposedly been working on an open source alternative to all the Outllook features, but I haven't seen anything about them in quite a while.


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## Iconoclast

If you save a document on a flash drive using open office,and lend it to someone, it will not open unless they also have open office on their computer


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## JohnGill

sastark said:


> skellam said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JohnGill said:
> 
> 
> 
> Didn't know there was one. I've gotten so used to NeoOffice I didn't look for anything else. I'll check it out.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I never heard of NeoOffice. I rarely used OpenOffice on the Mac before this beta version came out because using X11 made it very slow and quirky. But, I've been using the new beta 3.0 for a few months and it works great.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I've switched from NeoOffice to Open Office beta 3 on my MacBook and now prefer it over NeoOffice. It has been much more stable for me than NeoOffice.
Click to expand...


I tried downloading it from their site, but their 3.0 link is just the old x11 open office. Could you post the link you downloaded from.

Thanks.


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## sastark

JohnGill said:


> sastark said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> skellam said:
> 
> 
> 
> I never heard of NeoOffice. I rarely used OpenOffice on the Mac before this beta version came out because using X11 made it very slow and quirky. But, I've been using the new beta 3.0 for a few months and it works great.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I've switched from NeoOffice to Open Office beta 3 on my MacBook and now prefer it over NeoOffice. It has been much more stable for me than NeoOffice.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> I tried downloading it from their site, but their 3.0 link is just the old x11 open office. Could you post the link you downloaded from.
> 
> Thanks.
Click to expand...


Try this one: http://openoffice.bouncer.osuosl.or...macosxintelaqua&lang=en-US&version=3.0.0beta2


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## sastark

Iconoclast said:


> If you save a document on a flash drive using open office,and lend it to someone, it will not open unless they also have open office on their computer



That is only true if you save it as an Open Office format. If you save it as a Word document, anyone should be able to use it whether they have Open Office or not.


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## DMcFadden

refbaptdude said:


> Does Open Office have something like MS Outlook?



3.0 does and should be out in a short time.


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## Seb

DMcFadden said:


> refbaptdude said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does Open Office have something like MS Outlook?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 3.0 does and should be out in a short time.
Click to expand...


Is it just going to provide an email client or does have scheduling, calendars, tasks, etc?

{Edit} Found the answer myself. It looks like they are integrating Mozilla's Thunderbird & etc. apps into Open Office by extensions.

see: http://marketing.openoffice.org/3.0/featurelistbeta.html#OpenOffice.org_Extension_Repository


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## JohnGill

sastark said:


> JohnGill said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sastark said:
> 
> 
> 
> I've switched from NeoOffice to Open Office beta 3 on my MacBook and now prefer it over NeoOffice. It has been much more stable for me than NeoOffice.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> I tried downloading it from their site, but their 3.0 link is just the old x11 open office. Could you post the link you downloaded from.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Try this one: http://openoffice.bouncer.osuosl.or...macosxintelaqua&lang=en-US&version=3.0.0beta2
Click to expand...


Nope, finished downloading and installed it. It's 2.4 and still using x11.


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## skellam

JohnGill said:


> sastark said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JohnGill said:
> 
> 
> 
> I tried downloading it from their site, but their 3.0 link is just the old x11 open office. Could you post the link you downloaded from.
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Try this one: http://openoffice.bouncer.osuosl.or...macosxintelaqua&lang=en-US&version=3.0.0beta2
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> Nope, finished downloading and installed it. It's 2.4 and still using x11.
Click to expand...

That's odd. I went ahead and downloaded again from that link to update to the latest beta and it worked fine. It's the Intel Mac Aqua version 3.0 Beta.


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## JohnGill

skellam said:


> JohnGill said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> sastark said:
> 
> 
> 
> Try this one: http://openoffice.bouncer.osuosl.or...macosxintelaqua&lang=en-US&version=3.0.0beta2
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Nope, finished downloading and installed it. It's 2.4 and still using x11.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> That's odd. I went ahead and downloaded again from that link to update to the latest beta and it worked fine. It's the Intel Mac Aqua version 3.0 Beta.
Click to expand...


Duh! Me not wit it tonight...duh...

Like a dimwit I forgot to delete the old one. So in the Applications menu which I have in grid mode i could only see the 2.4




We really need :stupidmove: icon, or at least i do.


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## Ron Henzel

If only Open Office had something comparable to Outlook! As I see it, that's its only flaw.


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## panta dokimazete

Ron Henzel said:


> If only Open Office had something comparable to Outlook! As I see it, that's its only flaw.



Outlook? Ewww - go to gmail!

Ya'll should also look at docs.google.com - they now have offline capabilities!


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## VictorBravo

panta dokimazete said:


> Ron Henzel said:
> 
> 
> 
> If only Open Office had something comparable to Outlook! As I see it, that's its only flaw.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Outlook? Ewww - go to gmail!
> 
> Ya'll should also look at docs.google.com - they now have offline capabilities!
Click to expand...


Agreed on gmail, but I just don't see google docs replacing a real word processor. Maybe it's just me, but I can't produce any custom formatting at all. Block quotes, footnotes, background line number--none of that stuff works well. It only works with preestablished settings if at all. If I try to import a document with formatting (even when it gives the option for importing a Word doc), it strips everything that can't be supported by HTML codes. 

In other words, it's useless for court pleadings and nearly useless for research papers.

Google docs is fine for basic docs, but so is a run of the mill text application(like wordpad). 

Again, maybe I'm missing something. . . .


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## Gryphonette

*We've used it for years.*

In fact, Dmitry's school (a charter school) uses it for their office computing class.

I don't have it on my laptop here, though, because it takes up a fair amount of memory. But it's a super, super program.



DMcFadden said:


> Does anyone have any experience using Open Office? I love the idea that it is free and I hate the hegemony of Gates and Jobs. It looks like it reads and saves in Office format. What are the pros and cons?


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## DMcFadden

Here is what the new Open Office 3.0 "Outlook" module looks like.

*New Personal Information Manager *
* Supports local and server-based calendars 
* Task management 
* Month, week, day view 
* Multiple calendars support
* Free/busy management 
* Connector to Sun Java System Calendar Server (WCAP, iCal, WebDAV, CalDAV, and Google Calendar


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## Grymir

Wow DMcFadden! That picture looks wholly other and unknowable. I'm glad I'm a Chef. Gimmie some butter and garlic, and I'll open your office. 


P.S. When I went to college for computers, we used punch cards. Much Better!


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## gene_mingo

DMcFadden said:


> refbaptdude said:
> 
> 
> 
> Does Open Office have something like MS Outlook?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 3.0 does and should be out in a short time.
Click to expand...


Mozilla Thunderbird and Lightning aren't extensions or modules. They are considered complementary tools and both have been available for some time now.

I have been running version 3.0 for 4 months and am very impressed by it, but I have been using openoffice for around five years now. It is one of the better opensource projects out there.

for those that are interested in opensource and what types of programs are available, here is a great website to visit:

SourceForge.net: Open Source Software

Lots of great stuff there. 
enjoy.


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