On 24 Mar 2008 at 6:46, Kim Garback wrote:

> Hi, Open Office team.
> 
> Well, thanks for the educational lesson, but here's the thing: My
> opportunity cost is too high to take the time to learn all the twists to

A number of very reputable organisations have taken the 
trouble to research the cost of conversion to OpenOffice.org 
(OOo) and have come to the conclusion that it is worth while. 

See:

http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Major_OpenOffice.org_
Deployments

For myself, I use it because I choose not to pay for MSO or use 
a pirate copy of MSO, when OOo gives me all I need.

Do I assume that you, personally, do not have to pay for MSO 
and do not have it on your budget?
 
> using your product.  Get a clue: if my whole college uses Microsoft Office,
> they're not going to all download the necessary attachments to be able to
> read Open Office documents and I'm not going to take the time to study the
> techniques necessary to use your product.

We did tell you that OOo has the option to save all work in 
MSO formats (except docx). 

> As for product support, I'm sure Microsoft Office reps would never respond
> in an immature fashion like this to a customer support email, but then
> again, that's why Microsoft Office sells for a much higher markup than your
> product, which, now that I think about it, doesn't sell for anything at all.
> :(

If I remember correctly, your email wasn't a request for 
customer support.  You had already made up your mind. It 
ended with this put down

" Just thought I'd let ya know: your product sucks."

So how do you expect people to respond to you?  

> Lol, I just can't believe you sent an email back to a former customer trying
> to compete with words.  Do you make it a point to try to outsmart your
> customers rather than make your product easier to use with less
> manipulation?  I guess this is why Microsoft Office has more clients than
> Sun Systems or whoever your product is owned by.  Lesson learned: don't go
> with second-rate products because you get the ease of use you pay for. :)
> 

It puzzles me why you took time to send us your disparaging 
email when you had already decided to give up on OOo.  
Perhaps you really would like to give OOo a real try.  If so, 
there a lot of people like me who would be happy to support 
you and make it a success for you.

Tony Pursell
OOo user and Community volunteer
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michael Adams [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> Sent: Monday, March 24, 2008 3:47 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: [discuss] Advertising Strategy
> 
> On Sun, 23 Mar 2008 12:37:09 -0700
> Kim Garback wrote:
> 
> > Hi, wonderful minds of Open Office.
> >  
> > Here's an idea about how to market for Open Office: make it compatible
> > with Microsoft Word.  
> 
> So you would prefer it be a Word look alike. This would mean it could
> never be better than Word because it would only ever be trying to play
> catchup - Agreed?
> 
> > I wasn't happy to begin with because Open Office doesn't have all of
> > the options Microsoft Word offers for its documents. 
> 
> By golly Microsoft Word does not have all the options of OpenOffice.org
> either (like the ability to have page styles).
> 
> > Then I found out that I can't use Open Office documents to send them
> > to friends and teachers who have Microsoft Word because the file ends
> > up as "corrupted" and cannot be opened with Microsoft Word. 
> 
> Umm, you really got it wrong here. OpenOffice.org can save files in Word
> format - You only need to learn how (2 minutes tuition - or 1 polite
> email to this list).
> 
> What it does do as default is saves in the International Open ISO
> standard ODF format[1]. The one being adopted by various governments
> around the world[2]. Microsoft Word can actually open these files but
> you have to download a third party extension to do it[3], because
> Microsoft want to keep all their customers locked in[4] to their format
> with the secret bits in it that only Word is meant to understand[5]. No
> corruption here, just a lack of knowledge on your part.
> 
> OpenOffice.org can even be made to save in .doc format by default.
> 
> > Doesn't do me any good, so I bought Microsoft Office.
> >  
> 
> Boy have you got egg on your face now.
> 
> > Just thought I'd let ya know: your product sucks.
> 
> Lets see:
> 
>  o You suggest we make it compatible with Microsoft Word - It can Open
> and Save Word Docs... so it is compatible. tick!
>  
>  o You said the file format was corrupted - Microsoft don't want people
> to use a format that isn't theirs, so Microsoft dont won't thier program
> to Open or Save in an Internationally Standards accepted format. Word
> can't open a perferctly good file that at least nine other programs
> can[6]. Wheres the corruption there?
> 
>  o You paid really good money for a program that locks you into a system
> that you have to keep paying for. All because you didn't ask for help
> when you got it wrong.
> 
>  o And you reckon the free program that can do more than your Store
> bought Word can, like Opening a simple file format, sucks. 
> 
> Go figure?!?
> 
> 
> [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument
> [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument_adoption
> [3] http://www.sun.com/software/star/odf_plugin/index.jsp
> [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in
> [5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in#Microsoft
> [6]
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDocument_software_comparison#Word_Processor
> s
> 
>  
> 
> -- 
> Michael
> 
> All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall
> be well
> 
>  - Julian of Norwich 1342 - 1416
> 
> 
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