In addition to Guy's excellent comments I would like to offer the following personal opinions:
This was a timely post because it reminded me I still had not registered. Something glitched at Sun with my previous name/password, and I had to contact them to get it straightened out. They responded quickly and got my account working very quickly. KUDOS to them. The explanation for the bad links is correct; I caught the note at the bottom of the registration page but at the time was having trouble registering. As you enter Sun, it can be confusing because when you fill in your name and password, then click the box that says you understand the policy, and the Submit (forget what it's named) goes blanked out. You have to put your cursor back into the Name field to get the Submit button to un-gray. Then it will work. And then there are the confusing and almost pointless error messages as you came across. I notified them of that and a couple other things I came across but apparently that was black-holed as I've had no response and the problems are still there (see above) after a couple months. ============== IMO OO.o version 3.x is the best they could have ever produced! It's fully functional, useful, and if you are not an MS Office expert, very easy to get going with. In particular I think the menu layouts are a lot more sensible and user friendly. The best thing OO.o 3 does for me is, it helps to break the strangle-hold Microsoft has on me with their now extremely expensive/overpriced Office Suite/s, history of forced obsolescence (in which I got caught with VB and office both), and is so far is completely flexible and manageable with few exceptions. I *think* I may finally be able to uninstall MS Office finally but I'm not certain yet. I could not care less that OO.o doesn't do things exactly as MS did, I DO care that I can assomplish the things I need to do, easily and effieiently. For me I think that point may have arrived or is very close to arriving. There are a couple bugs yet, probably always will be considering the complexity of such an application, but they aren't major and are not showstoppers. I am not looking for a Microsoft clone: I am looking for, and seem to have now, a viable alternative to the single-sourced MS Office Suite. Also, OO.o would be perfect for those who are new to computers and want a great Office Suite to get started with without investing almost as much in the software as they did in the hardware purchase. I use a LOT of open source software and support it every chance I get. Although some may prefer to note my previous falling out with a part of the OO.o team, that's a personal issue and has absolutely nothing to do with the current functionality of OO.o or its support teams. The reality is, OO.o is great! Regards, Twayne > 2008/10/31 Frederik Larsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >> Hello open Office discussion. >> >> I am pretty new to Open office. I wanted to download the new version >> 3.0 Found that i could help by filling in the OpenOffice.org >> survey< >> http://survey.services.openoffice.org/user/ooo_survey_january_2008_en.php >>> but >> thi link to this was broken. Not so good a start for new-comers >> wanting >> to believe in an alternative to other office software. >> Then wnating t report this broken link by hitting Reporting Bugs & >> Issues<http://qa.openoffice.org/issue_handling/project_issues.html>on >> the same page and then going to "OpenOffice.org >> Infrastructure Problems< >> http://qa.openoffice.org/issue_handling/project_issues.html#oooinfrastructure >>> " >> just to find the link "component >> www<http://www.openoffice.org/issues/enter_bug.cgi?component=www>" >> leading to a page with the below message: >> Enter issue >> >> start: >> >> *Permission denied* >> >> This all does not seem very professional, and actually not very >> reassuring, if i should keep using this product. If this is what i >> found of faults on the website in my first 2 minuts, how will it be >> to use the applications? >> >> Confused new user!! >> >> Fred >> <http://www.openoffice.org/issues/reports.cgi> >> > > Hello Fred, > > Welcome to OpenOffice.org. > I think that one difference between Open Source software and (at > least some kinds of) proprietary software is that the former doesn't > hold your hand from the cradle to the grave. This community thrives > on volunnteers, and isn't a closed and well delimited circuit. > One of the downsides of this dynamic ecosystem is that there may be > some piitfalls etc. > You stumbled on one of those, a File Not Found (the rare times I > visit Mr G's emporium, I regularly stumble on some of those too... so > after all the difference on that level may be small). > > The survey is not obligatory, and I have the impression that it isn't > considered a priority to keep up up to date. > Normally you are presented the option to fill in the questionnaire > when you install OOo. > Otherwise, I found (on the OOo website that isn't always so easy to > browse...) it here: > http://surveys.services.openoffice.org/surveys/index.php?sid=91452 > > Filing issues is not so easy at first hand (like most things it gets > easier as you do it...). > First thing is that you have to be registered to file an issue. That's > probably why you got the 'permission denied' message - underneath it > says "the user 'guest' has no permission etc. - Please Login first" > Secondly, you have to get a bit acquainted with the components of > this open source project and the names developers give to them. The > other day, I was trying to file an issue concerning an extension, but > I'm not sure I got it to the right spot. The idea is that different > developers get to see issues filed concerning the part of the big job > they are working on. > Many people on the users' list ask more experienced colleagues to file > issues. > > Finally, I think it's the program itself that proves whether the > OpenOffice.org is professional. Several million people and quite some > commercial and official organisations are already using it on a daily > basis for all their office work. I don't think governments would > chose to replace the well known proprietary software with OOo if the > latter didn't perform as required. > > HTH --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
