-----Original Message----- From: Bryen [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 3:19 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [opensuse] [OT] spreadsheet data exchange format?
On Tue, 2007-12-11 at 17:47 -0500, BandiPat wrote: > On Tuesday 11 December 2007, Carlos E. R. wrote: > > The Tuesday 2007-12-11 at 09:34 -0600, Bryen wrote: > > > A couple of months later, she called me complaining that OpenOffice > > > was too cumbersome and her daughter was complaining that she didn't > > > understand it because everything she learned in her elementary > > > school computer class taught MS Word. We had a little bit of a > > > heated discussion, and I told her that a) she can't afford MS > > > Office anyway and > > > > That argument doesn't hold in some places, unfortunately. People here > > are convinced Windows is free, as in beer, and if it doesn't come > > included free, you just get a "pirate" copy from anybody. In the end, > > free. > > > > I simply can not convince anybody here to use linux or even OOo with > > the price argument, I loose. Windows software is free. And, if you > > are in a business, the boss pays, and as the boss is by definition > > always rich, so it is of no consequence, it is free. And you can > > borrow a copy for home, too. > > > > :-( > > > > The rest of the possible arguments are then moot. It is more > > difficult, it doesn't have all the whistles, it is not serious, it is > > not compatible (!), etc. The best argument in my armory, freedom and > > zero license cost being useless to them, the rest is moot. > > > > (Don't argue with me, I'm all for OOo... the problem is "them") > > You guys are all missing the point of my anecdote since Carlos snipped out the last part of my original posting. In the end, while my friend disagreed with me that she would ever have to use OpenOffice, one year later, her employer mandated that she and everyone else in her company use OpenOffice. So, the "resistance is futile" quip that Carlos always refers to is quite relevant here. Resistance to OpenOffice is futile. :-) ~~~~~~~ Just wanted add my own experience with OO 2.x. Although I was able to get most of my users to use it, anyone who used the Writer and Impress (which doesn't) for anything with special page details and imbedded graphics were sorely disappointed. Even after saving the document or presentation in any MS format, all the formatting was lost or scrambled when opened in MS Word and/or PowerPoint. In order for OO to be useable for everyone and, hopefully, displace the MS equivalents, OO will need to save in a way that anyone who uses MS will not have any difficulty opening and viewing the content. For better or worse, MS is the standard that the corporate user knows and uses as the measuring stick. Once OO can accomplish that, all my users will switch to it. Just my observation. Not trying to start a flame war. Kind regards, ~James -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
