Joe, I have use OOO for a few years now. While I think it is very good for a free software it is a bit more "rough" than M$ Office.
I have not really had a use for Impress yet. ( But I also have no use for PowerPoint either.) I have not really had a use for Math yet. ( But I have no idea what in M$ Office this would compare to? Maybe something in Word?) I have not really had a use for Base yet. ( But I also have no use for Access either.) However Base does remind me of Access for as much as I have used the two of them. I noticed this at the bottom of the Base program. "HSQL Database Engine". Which I take to mean http://hsqldb.org/. So if you want to read up on the feature set of the base engine I think that is the right place to go. Or you can read stuff here too: http://www.openoffice.org/product/base.html :) If I had more need for database ish applications (other than ARS) I would defiantly spend some time with Base before I would spend time with Access. Writer does all that I have ever asked it to do. Calc works almost exactly like Excel. ( minus a few wizards, and with a few "new tricks" too.) And to my knowledge it does not suffer from the nasty calculation bug that Excel 2007 appears to have. (http://blogs.msdn.com/excel/archive/2007/09/25/calculation-issue-update.aspx) I have spent a bit of time in Draw. And I must admit that I think it leaves quite a bit to be desired. ( However, I am a big, BIG fan of Visio. Well at least before M$ purchased it. ) Draw just does not live up to Visio. However, once again, the price of Draw sure does compare very well against Visio. ( http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/FX101211561033.aspx Office Visio Standard 2007 $259.95 (US) - Buy $129.95 (US) - Upgrade Office Visio Professional 2007 $559.95 (US) - Buy $349.95 (US) - Upgrade [ Ouch! You spend as much on Visio as the rest of Office Pro! ] ) So even though Draw is "harder for me to use". It is a lot more approachable for me too. I also find the OO (Open Officee) Java API to be more than a bit confusing. I find it *very* complicated and I am sure very powerful. Just to bad that the docs are so lacking for a reasonable Java programmer (with little OpenOffice knowledge) to do simple things like take a stack of ARS data and make a diagram from it. :) Can anyone say Org Chart tool? -- Carey Matthew Black Remedy Skilled Professional (RSP) ARS = Action Request System(Remedy) Love, then teach Solution = People + Process + Tools Fast, Accurate, Cheap.... Pick two. On 10/5/07, Joe D'Souza <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > ** > > I pulled this from a summarized list of features that OpenOffice.org > supports. > > Writer – a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick > letter to producing an entire book. > Calc – a powerful spreadsheet with all the tools you need to calculate, > analyse, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics. > Impress – the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia > presentations. > Draw – lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D > illustrations. > Base – lets you manipulate databases seamlessly. Create and modify tables, > forms, queries, and reports, all from within OpenOffice.org > Math – lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface > or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor. > > How much of this is true? I was specially interested in 'Base'. Is 'Base' > like an open database client to any standard RDBMS? > > Also what about Impress and Draw? Are they any good for things like creating > initial data flow diagrams or presentations? > > > Joe D'Souza _______________________________________________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE or access ARSlist Archives at www.arslist.org ARSlist:"Where the Answers Are"
