Open Office

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Elizabeth Ann West
Posts: 561
Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:42 am
Location: Moncks Corner, SC
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Open Office

Post by Elizabeth Ann West »

I have posted about this twice in the question about rejection section, but thought I might put it here too in case other writers aren't like me, and don't read every new post.

Since Microsoft Office has come out with new versions every couple of years, and it appears the price tag keeps going up, I have a solution other writers might be able to use: OpenOffice.org.

It is a free, open source replica of Microsoft Office programs, that were programmed by computer geeks who believe software should be free, or at least not grossly marked up. If you ever saw the movie Antitrust, with Ryan Philippe, you know a little bit about open source. They do accept donations, and help with the project updates, such as oh um writers to pen the help sections... :)

I switched to Open Office about a month ago, my husband has been using it for over a year. It opens, saves, edits, and does anything else you want to do with a Microsoft Office file. I write all of my articles using Writer, and just save it as a Microsoft Word document.

These aren't illegal, or "stolen code" or anything like that. Most of these programs derive from computer enthusiasts starting a project, and then working with other people to keep growing it. Believe me, if you ever saw how non-responsive my husband gets when he is programming something as simple as a ball bouncing on a blank page (I still don't see how that's cool....) you would understand to these types of people-- it is a passion!

Open source isn't for everyone. If you struggle with installing applications yourself, or don't know how to virus scan, and don't want to be responsible for updating your software every few months or so, then Open Office isn't for you. It is nice though that things are where they belong, like Page Format is under Format, not File, and I've never had the program stop responding, or just crash either. Though Writer does save a copy of your document if you shut down your computer and forgot to save, I learned this the hard way, but was thankful none the less.

Just thought I would share...
Ed
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Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:15 pm

Post by Ed »

Thanks Elizabeth!

Google also has a similar program called "StarOffice," which can be easily downloaded from Google's main site.

Ed
Elizabeth Ann West
Posts: 561
Joined: Tue Nov 13, 2007 4:42 am
Location: Moncks Corner, SC
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Post by Elizabeth Ann West »

LOL. Didn't realize Google took over Star Office! That's what my husband used before Open Office.

I'll definitely check it out. Ahhhhh, nvm I now see the rub. Star Office now requires you to buy it. OpenOffice is completely free, they only ask for a donation or help with the project if you feel so inclined
Ed
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Joined: Mon Feb 20, 2006 2:15 pm

Post by Ed »

I didn't have to buy StarOffice - I just downloaded it with some other free Google software. Maybe it's changed in the past few months.
David Hamilton
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Mar 14, 2008 9:10 am

Open Office

Post by David Hamilton »

I am a strong advocate of Open Office. I'm knew to Constant Content (loving it so far). For those that want to use Open Office here, I would strongly suggest making a change to the preferences.

By default, Open Office saves documents in it's own format. A quick change will make the MS Word format the default. This way you don't have to remember to save it the Word Format before submitting it.

In order to do this, within any OO program go to Tools->Options
Click the little plus next to 'Load/Save'
This will bring up a menu where you can change 'Default File Format' for the various OO documents.

I find this makes it easier to share documents with people that use MS Office.
jowal
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Joined: Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:31 am
Location: France
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Open Office

Post by jowal »

I started using Google's Star Office a couple of months ago after loosing Word in a disc recovery operation ! ( don't even ask :cry: )It was still free then and once I got the hang of it I've been very pleased with it.
AThompson
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:08 pm
Location: The Kootenays, British Columbia, Canada

Post by AThompson »

My computer is an Eee-PC from Asus. It's a wonderful, fully loaded laptop that folds to the size of a trade paperback book. If you Google Eee-PC you should find some pics.
I love it because it does everything a full sized laptop does, but fits in my purse and was only $400! Woohoo!

It comes preloaded with all your software - and all the software is open source, so all my writing is in Open Office. (internet is Firefox, email is Thunderbird, etc)

I love all the little touches in Open Office. I can hit the minus key to represent an em or en dash and as I continue writing, OpenOffice will figure out what it's supposed to be and change it to the appropriate dash! I just finished a home decor article and every time I wrote "decor" it inserted the accent over the "e".

I always found the little "instant" changes in Microsoft Office intrusive and annoying - to the degree that I finally gave up and started using WordPad. Now I'm HOOKED on Open Office.
Very intuitive and user friendly.

:)
AThompson
AThompson
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2008 11:08 pm
Location: The Kootenays, British Columbia, Canada

Post by AThompson »

Oh!.......one ongoing issue with Open Office is a bug with the Word Count function - which can be important to a freelancer!

I get the most accurate word count if I first "Reload" the document, then "Select All" and do a word count with the document highlighted.

FYI
:)
AThompson
vjlenin
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Post by vjlenin »

Yes, I am another user of Open office, it's great though not so visually stunning as MS thing. I use MS office, however, for writing articles. OpenOffice is really great. It has more options than MS thing.
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