Open Office vs. M$ Office

[VectraMan]

I believe Office 2007's native file format is open XML-based so Open Office will have no problem.

LOL! I love the way people think XML somehow makes all things compatible.

I forked out for MS Office not so long ago. People said I should have just got Open Office instead, but when clients, agents and accountants all use MS Office it only takes one thing not to work the same and you're screwed and/or left looking like an idiot in front of the client.

[chicane]

when clients, agents and accountants all use MS Office it only takes one thing not to work the same and you're screwed and/or left looking like an idiot in front of the client.

Spot on ... it's easier to splash out 300 quid (or the cost of a CD-R, depending on your viewpoint) than make ourselves look stupid due to software that isn't 100% compatible. Especially on the basis that most of us on this board earn that amount in 2 days or less.

OO also doesn't support VBA so many documents (especially spreadsheets) used in the corporate environment would be worthless in the hands of OO.

I admire the ideology of free software and open source as much as the next person, but if it gets in the way of my ability to earn a living then it's a no-no.

[LegendsWear7]

LOL! I love the way people think XML somehow makes all things compatible.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07...eroperability/

Microsoft is reluctantly lending its name to a project for interoperability between Office 2007 and desktop productivity software using a non-Microsoft supported file format.

The Open XML Translator Project will allow desktop productivity applications saved using the industry backed Open Document Format (ODF), which Microsoft has stubbornly opposed, to talk to files using Microsoft's own Open XML File Format. The first goal is for users of the delayed Word 2007 to be able to open and save ODF documents in Word.

[Back In Business]

I had a chat with the guy who runs Microsoft's XML project at Technet in November. The are really excited (in an insincere American way) about the whole interoperability thing. The envisaged endgame is that their .docx will work perfectly with any open source office product. Not sure how that will pan out though.

[cojak]

Powerpoint conversion is better in v2.02 than v1.

[n5gooner]

Got OO v2.1 last night, and so far it can open and save all my x.s and .doc documents without any problems.....but it still needs a lot of playing with to be sure of compatability..

[expat]

Spot on ... it's easier to splash out 300 quid (or the cost of a CD-R, depending on your viewpoint) than make ourselves look stupid due to software that isn't 100% compatible.

And yes, the way to fix that is to get everybody to swap .rtf files. Try explaining that to the clients.

[cojak]

When I train I always use my Linux laptop. If I have created something in .odt it only takes a minute to convert it to .doc

[cojak]

*sigh...*

[DaveB]

sorry

No you're not