Well stated!
On Thu, 09 Mar 2006 02:56:43 -0500, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I have seen many posts this week about the sheer arrogance of Microsoft. They have a nice product, but then so does OpenOffice. In some ways it is easy to compare the two products, but then in others, it is not. First, I believe the target audience is different. Open Office is free. MSO is NOT. The latest release of MSO is supposed to cost (according to OW #11.10 - Office 2007 bundles plus new ebooks) Microsoft Office Professional 2007 $499/$329 Microsoft Office Small Business 2007 $449/$279 Microsoft Office Standard 2007 $399/$239 Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 $149/ no upgrade available The difference in pricing alone is enough to separate out the different users. Unless you are able to get a student version somewhere, you are out a house payment or two. Second is the support level. OpenOffice has users all over the world willing to help. Microsoft will often give you the run-around and then direct you to a book you must buy. Has anyone ever tried calling for Microsoft support? Did you reach a person? Did they speak English? I recently had a question about my OfficeLive account. My email came back with a few spelling errors and written by someone with a name I could not pronounce. I am not saying it was out-sourced to India, but I have my suspicions. The difference in the interface is negligible. This coming from someone who had never seen Windows until 1999 - much less any other GUI application. I am now considered a PowerUser I say this because if you take a few minutes to look thru the icons and toolbars, sooner or later, you will find most of what you need. Personally, I never understood why you had to VIEW (and not INSERT) to insert a header or footer in MSO. OpenOffice seems better organized. To a person with a passing familiarity with Office it may be confusing at first. Some people never think to look thru the toolbars. They do not see what they need, they do not consult help, they do not look at the website for a guide - They write the forum and ask. And I see the same questions asked over and over. But you guys are patient and kind. I still do not understand if you can find the product to download, how you can miss the downloadable guides. How, if you can find the forum, you can missing the system requirments page. The few things I have found missing in OpenOffice, there were work-arounds I learned about via this forum. But then again, OpenOffice will do a few things Microsoft Office cannot do. Office comes easier to me because of familiarity and if it cannot do what I want, I write in my own VBA code or borrow some. StarBasic will take some extra learning. So many of the arguments I have seen this week just do not make sense. Either you have the money to buy MSO or you do not. You either want NetMeeting or you do not. You either feel confortable using Thunderbird as your email client or you do not. I have even read that some cannot get OpenOffice as a download because they are on dial-up. WHAT! I am on a 28.8 dial-up connection. That is the MOST I can ever get. Most of the time, I run at about 15! It took me a week with a download manager running every night but it has since worked just fine. I still have that download on my older computer. The 2.0 download (the ISO) I had a friend in the neighboring county download. They have broadband. It works just fine also. The one comment I remember from a forum (paraphrased) was you are either a free-thinker or you are not. You either are willing to try out new things or you are rigid and only rely on doing the same thing over and over. If you are willing to try out new things, you will find that OpenOffice is comparible on most tasks with MSOffice. If you are a well trained monkey, stick with Microsoft, learning something new may not be for you. Sure, I have the Office Beta 12. Will it ever get installed??? Probably not. Have you seen that montrosity? I am slowly switching over from 2003 to OO as I learn the product. The VBA will be the last to go - I really love making a spreadsheet dance to MY tune. But then I am sure with a little learning, I can do the same in StarBasic. Roxann Milby 502-247-2054 IM -- RMilby Wing B Office Admin 1DA TRACS Master Admin
-- Steven Cox Mectek - Inetprime www.inetprime.net --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
