Jim Allan wrote:
Katharine Karr wrote:
Hi-
I have just downloaded OpenOffice and am completely overwhelmed by the
amount of data presented to me. Just starting -- there appears to be
several "Start here" or "Read this first" -- "Take this class" titles.
The sensation is of wandering into yet another open source project for
programmers. I tried to read the review or information - I can not tell
if it is written by your group or another. I did not understand 3/4 of
the authors comments.
I have used Office for Mac 2004 for several years and having a new
Macbook with Leopard, know that I need a new system, especially "Word."
As a writer and a regular non-programming woman, I am terrified of
trying OpenOffice. I really can't handle the lack of straightforward
directions; not even a yellow brick road. I do not want to have to look
all over to find the options I need, especially because everything is
obviously unfamiliar.
Well, a good straightforward road is the tutorials and manuals at
http://support.openoffice.org/ . Since you are a long-time Word user I’d
suggest starting with the basic guides at
http://documentation.openoffice.org/manuals . The Migration guide is
especially useful for people moving from MS Office, pointing out both
points of difference and similarities between MS Office and Open Office.
Indeed there may be little point in bothering with anything else beyond
the Migration Guide until you get comfortable. Some of the material is
indeed for tech-type people. If you don’t think you need that stuff, just
don't worry about it. Did you worry about writing macro programs for MS
Word? But you may also need something beyond the normal and then you will
be glad of a more complex manual, even if you only get the one thing want
now out of it.
There is a learning curve, because very word processor and every
spreadsheet and so forth does some things differently, and we tend to
forget how overwhelming any new software can be, especially when compared
to software that we are used to.
Be reassured. A lot of OpenOffice is exactly like MS Office, or can be
used that way, depending on how you used MS Office.
The main difference is the emphasis on styles which makes OpenOffice much
easier to use when you get into styles. Honestly! You can use styles in
Word too, but not so many do so, because it is supposedly harder in Word,
but then the occasionally commenter comes up who claims he or has had no
trouble with Word styles but cannot get their head around the way
OpenOffice does it. More people seem to feel the opposite. Different
strokes for different folk I guess.
You can ignore styles altogether if you want, though I don’t advise it,
either for MS Word or for OpenOffice Writer. But to judge from the
correspondence I get in Word at work, most supposed Word processing
professionals also ignore styles most of the time. Unfortunately then I
have to fix up their material to get it printed.
Also, many people who have learned to word process haven’t, to be blunt,
learned to do it properly. They’ve learned on the job and haven’t bothered
with the books. So it comes as shock to discover to that that there is a
word-processing jargon and that it can be very technical when you are
working with pictorial backgrounds, different styles of pagination in the
same documents, indexes, endnotes, footnotes, bullet points, indents and
so forth.
The best manual is often Google. If you are having trouble with something,
probably someone else has had similar problems. So stick the word
“OpenOffice” and a few words pertaining to your problem and see what comes
up.
Jim Allan
Jim did a great job, but here is my question.
Do you need to buy a new version of Word for
you new Mac? If so, you have a big learning curve
with Office/Word 2007. If not like the older version
like 2000 or 2003. Everything has changed with
Office 2007. I tried it for a few weeks and gave up.
I use Open Office 2.4 almost all the time over my
copy of Office 2003/pro. I find OOo much easier to use
that MS Office. Yes there are some differences, but
most of what a non-poweruser wants to use is there.
By poweruser - I mean those who need to use Word for
a so complex document, that it takes years of book reading
to understand half of the stuff.
I create documents and text for things and web sites.
I can save the text in DOC format for those who do not
have OOo yet, or PDF if placed online or that is not to
be easily edited by the receivers/readers.
Also - I suffer from a stroke and I find the problems
that I face is easier to get around within OpenOffice.org
than with MS Office. That is my opinion.
Yes there is a lot of files and printed manuals vis the web
site. Yes there are some very technical stuff that can be
confusing, if you read deeply into the manuals. YET,
have you tried to read the standard Office 2003/2007
manuals and books on the shelves? I have and it was
hard to find any good, easy one. Still have not found one
that was not a "dummy book".
In the end, all anyone can say is download OpenOffice.org 2.4
and download Office 2007 trial edition. See which one you
like best. That goes for Windows, Mac, or Linux(if MS had one).
Try it and see. I did when OOo was in its early years, and
have been using it ever since. I keep Office 2003/pro around
with the 2007 filters so I can download the 2007 templates and
save them in DOC format. This fall when version 3.0 comes out,
I may not need any MS Office product.
As always, I am a bit long winded, blame the stroke. But, I
hope I gave you some more to think about.
TL, Elmira NY, USA
or Web at Work (at home working actually since the stroke)
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