MS Office or OpenOffice?

dulpit

Hey, so my new laptop is due to arrive tomorrow (\o/ w00t!)

Anyways, it comes with Microsoft Works pre-installed, so i'll be getting rid of that as soon as i turn on the machine... Now i can get Office 2003, or I could download OpenOffice... Which would you recommend? As in, which is better when it comes to being quick and not a resource hog, etc.

Webmonkey

Download OpenOffice, try it. If you like it keep it. If not invest in MS Office

Gandalf23

OpenOffice can do almost anything MS Office can do ... and maybe even more! Almost completely interoperable too at this stage.

DublinDilbert

Very impressed with open office, i've installed it for a few people, most people wouldn't notice the difference between it and MS office... Also there's a "Save to PDF" button on the task bar which is fairly handy too...

The drawing program looks fairly good too, probably not as good as MS Visio, but still very useful for doing flow chards ect...

dulpit

Well my point is i have access to both, can get MS Office at work...

Any real reason why I shouldn't use word?

RoyalMarine

openoffice is free.
works isnt.

but if you can get it at work, then no harm there either.
in the end, its down to your own preference.

zilog_jones

There's not much difference between OpenOffice and MS Office 2003. However, IMO MS Office 2007 is a lot nicer. The interface has completely changed and stuff.

jaqian

Webmonkey wrote:

Download OpenOffice, try it. If you like it keep it. If not invest in MS Office

I second that. Its a little strange looking at first when you are so used to MS but its brilliant. Also they are always upgrading it so every so often check out their site and download the latest and greatest. I've been using it at home two years now and wouldn't go back.

themole

I have used openoffice a good while ago and i had problems using word docs. Most of the stuff worked but it wasn't perfect. This might have changed, but if you need to use MS office files with work i would not rely on open office to work correctyl with them, especially since you can get office from work.

I would say install both and see what works for you.

Anti

Microsoft works is fine for basic home use. But anything more you should use office or openoffice.

dulpit

So i decided to go with Microsoft Office, it's what i've always used so i said i might as well stick with it... (if it ain't broke, why fix it?)

BopNiblets

Because you can buy booze with the money you save?