MS Office Suite Clone - FREE

[Holzster]

I am a computer geek by day & a tree farmer by night (hopefully revused soon, but that is a whole other story). I just want to make sure everyone here know about a great product Called Open Office.

This is a full office suite that is FREE - YES FREE!!!!

I switched over from M$ Office last year no issue or concerns I like it more. Because of my job I can get free copies of Office but I prefer the Open Office more.

The Web site is: Open Office Wen Site

They have 2 versions the regular one & the beta version. Iuse the beta - it is a good stable version.

With this Office suite you can open MS office files also!! /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif It can open Word docs, Excel docs, Power Point docs, Access docs (witht he beta version).

Please email me if you have any questions I will try to help - Just my way of saying thanks to everyone here who helps me all the time

/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[RayCo]

Here I thought I was the only one with that combination of two personalities. All my fellow computer-geek co-workers go home and play the latest Quake or whatever the game is. I run home after work to grade ground and buck trees. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

As for Office, I'm a fan of MS, but Open Office really isn't that bad when you factor in the price.

 

[texbaylea]

Open Office is a good product. I use it when I run my OS2/eCS computer. Being an old computer curmudgeon the only Windows product I use is Windows 2000 ( which is based on old OS2 code) but I use Corel Wordperfect Office Pro which is fully the equal of MS Office and Paradox is a far superior database than Access. I can work with all WS file formats without problem.

There is more to life than M$.

Vernon

 

[Hypernix]

Great recommendation, I use OO all the time and it just plain works!
Like others have said, you can't beat the price, and it works on most major platforms.

Hypernix

 

[BamaRob]

I, too, am a computer geek by day (a Geographer/GIS Pro by education and a Programmer/Analyst by trade) and a tractor operator in the evenings and on weekends.

I find OpenOffice a very capable replacement for M$Office. I'm also a big fan of Firefox as a replacement for M$ Internet Exporer.

It's good to see a few of us here with common interests.

Later,

BR

 

[Syncro]

Thanks Holzster for the info, I'm going to give it a try. Already switched to Firefox and like it better than IE, (except there are still a few sites that require IE like Banc America). If OO will read Word and Excel than its another step in the divorce proceedings with buggy expensive MS. Question is though, can MS read OO files?

I'd switch to Linux except for compatibility issues with the exisiting Windows apps I already use, most important of which is ACAD and my Data base files. I currently use Lotus Approach to handle my primitive DOS database files in my old accounting software (circa 1985) that I still use daily. I enter data in DOS and export to Approach for reports, printing, etc in Windows.

 

[BamaRob]

I don't know about ACAD (I assume you mean AutoCAD) in Linux, but there are DOS emulators available in Linux that may be able to handle some of your software requirements. Also, I've had pretty good success with running Windows software in Linux using WINE (Windows Emulator).

Later,

BR

 

[Syncro]

<font color="blue"> I don't know about ACAD (I assume you mean AutoCAD) in Linux, but there are DOS emulators available.......</font>

I'm not well versed on Linux, but its my understanding that Autocad no longer has a UNIX release, or anything that will run on anything other than Windows. I suppose there may be a go-around, but since I use acad in my business I don't want to have to go through any intermediate steps in the interest of both speed and also to be able to xfer files cleanly with others. I think for the time being at least, I'm stuck with Windows.

I also use Photoshop a lot both for fun and also for a few publications that we do stuff for. I did try the Linux equvilent, (GIMP ??) and was very impressed with it, in fact if one is fluent with PS its a snap to cross over.

Anyway thanks for the info, I think Bill Gates monopoly days are numbered. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[Hypernix]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Question is though, can MS read OO files? )</font>

Syncro,

Of course MS Office won't read native OO files, Bill likes it that way I guess /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif BUT OO will save files in MS Office format at no cost!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Hypernix

 

[Holzster]

Syncro

Like Hyper said you can use the "save as" in OO to save in MS format. Also a nice feture is the OO has a PDF creator built in so you can save any file in adobe format!!

I use this feture for sending invoices etc...