<p>Today just downloaded Open Office (since it is free) onto my new laptop. I was just wondering if anybody here has used it and can comment on how it compared to Microsoft Word.</p>
<p>Open Office Writer is nearly identical to Microsoft Word. It also has its own Excel-like program, PowerPoint-like program, etc. I used Word until the license for the copy that came with my laptop expired, then I switched to Open Office. I also use Open Office on my Linux computer at work. I've found no major differences between the two, except one is free.</p>
<p>I like to thank my father for the fact that he's a computer programmer. He pretty much gets every Microsoft program and programming engine for free. So I have Office 2007.</p>
<p>Open office is very much like Office 97-2003, but it's not quite as advanced as Office 2007.</p>
<p>I used Google Docs for a while, you should try that out.</p>
<p>open office is kind of annoying because it saves things as "open document format" by default, and files saved in that format can't be opened by windows computers. so now i have a copy of open office on my windows machine just so i can open stuff i wrote back when i was running linux =/</p>
<p>there's probably a way to get it to save stuff as .doc by default, but i'm a n00b so i don't know it</p>
<p>There's an add-on to Microsoft Office where you can convert and read it. I'm going to use Microsoft Office until something free and better comes along.</p>
<p>seriously,
microsoft office 2007 is ridiculously expensive, so im just going to go with open office since there dont seem to be any major differences.</p>
<p>When you "save" on open office, there are MULTIPLE extensions you can save it under...or maybe I have an expansion pack?</p>
<p>I dont like the spell check in open office. it misses a lot of my dumb mistakes.</p>
<p>
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When you "save" on open office, there are MULTIPLE extensions you can save it under...or maybe I have an expansion pack?
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</p>
<p>She meant default as in pressing "save" or control + s, rather than "save as" and choosing a file type. Yes, all those extension options come with the program. I don't know if there's a way to change the default.</p>
<p>At my school, they have an agreement w/ Microsoft where you can buy the latest Office(Word, Excel, all of it) for around $35. Unless you can find a deal like that, I'd stick w/ the free Open Office.</p>
<p>I think the default margins in Open Office.Writer may be different than Word-thats the only difference I've seen.</p>
<p>I really get irritated with Open Office. It really limits waht you can do: the spell check sucks (if you add a word that's not currently on its dictionary, such as "discombobulated" with a lowercase "d," and later spell it with a capital "d" it will try to tell you you've misspelled it), and it doesn't check for grammar or anything. I feel that investing $150 on Microsoft Office would be a lot better than dealing with Open Office; I would do so but my parents think that spending over $10 on anything is preposterous.</p>
<p>THEY BOTH SUCK </p>
<p>VIM TO THE DEATH </p>
<p>BUT iF I HAVE TO OPEN .DOCS I USE ABIWORD; ITS MUCH FASTER THAN THE OO OR MSW</p>
<p>BUT I NEVER HAVE TO OPEN .DOCS</p>
<p>ALSO I USE GV OR XPDF (BECAUSE SOMETIMES EVINCE SUCKS); KPDF IS NICE BUT IT RENDERS SLOW, AND MOST OF THE OTHER ONES ARE JUST RUBBISH</p>
<p>Open Office may be free, but it sucks and it may waste too much time tinkering with.</p>
<p>Try Google Docs if you can't get an old copy of Office 2003.</p>
<p>EMACS FOR THE WiN</p>
<p>FLAMEWAR COMMENCE</p>
<p>hey pyroclasm, can u double space with what u use?</p>
<p>haha you guys are exaggerating;Open Office is not that bad for a FREE program.</p>
<p>Yea it is.....Linux is free, and that's not a bad program :D</p>
<p>Microsoft Word. phail!
NeoOffice FTW!</p>
<p>open office writer is pretty much the same thing as microsoft word. I havent found a single difference so far.</p>
<p>If you're looking for free, you should check out some of Google's "office like" functions.</p>