My problem is I would like to use OOO but as our main software is accountancy based, every add-in we buy in for a spreadsheet won't work with OOO as Excel VBA won't translate in to OOO. This leaves us with the desire to use OOO but practically, we can't until this problem is resolved,
From the OOo point of view, it's not actually a problem - at least not the way it's worded here. What I mean is, the lack of VBA support is intentional, and is unlikely to change. What I'm sure most on the OOo side would agree *is* a problem, is the lack of outside add-ins, like these 3rd party plugins for Calc. There are some out there, OOOExtras comes to mind, but not much outside of that.
It's a chicken and egg problem. It's hard to have one without the other, and no one knows which comes first. There's not a big market for OOo add-ons, partially because OOo isn't anywhere near as popular as MS Office. OOo isn't as popular as MS Office, partially because there isn't nearly as many add-ons for OOo as for MS Office. It's the same problem Linux has gaining comercial software - like Adobe, Intuit, Macromedia, and others.
The only other option is to rewrite all the accounts software in to OOO, which we could do in time, but meanwhile we have unsatisfactory systems for producing accurate accountancy documents.
This would help greatly. But, as you point out, it's an expense of both time and money and frustration - and one that few are willing to pay.
OOo is a great program, and it will continue to get better and better. And more and more people will start to take it seriously and start making things to work with it. Since OOo is open source, meaning anyone can look at and improve the code, making add-ons should be easier than having to guess with MS Office, or enter into some agreement with MS to see parts of the code, like some big companies do.
-Chad Smith
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