Is it time for me to switch to Openoffice?
* the online retailer has disappeared,
* the CD's sure look genuine and I have never had a problem,
* if I wanted a pirate copy I am perfectly capable of obtaining a pirate copy for free.
So, I need to do something... my requirements:
* I must be able to open and make simple annotations to any Microsoft Word document people send me,
* I must be able to produce documents which other people can open and read without spending a lot of time installing new software,
* I don't need complex features, I think Word 2003 is too complex.
* I need an easy way to produce pdf files from my documents,
* I produce some 200+ page documents full of pictures and diagrams. These documents are too big for Word to handle on my six year old PC.
Is OpenOffice suitable choice for my requirements? Any other recommendations on what I should do?
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$5 Answers
What I don't know is, if your computer can handle it. If it wouldn't handle Word 2003. I have my doubts.
The site to check out for the details about OpenOffice.org 3.1 is here.
The following video also gives some good information.
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$Next, you may not need to retire Microsoft Office just yet. I would start off this process by making sure your computer is completely up to date with Microsoft Update. If you still get the warning, then check out Microsoft's Genuine Software page.
Finally, if Open Office does not suffice and Microsoft Office no longer works for you, then you may be stuck with purchasing a new computer. Personally, I would consider 6 years and long and sufficient life for a PC. I would call it ready for retirement. Personally, I build or buy a new machine ever 2 to 4 years. The advantage here is that you would catch the Windows 7 upgrade at no additional charge and you can get Microsoft Office 2007 and its built in PDF support.
Various Personal Experiences
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
My plan is to buy a new PC around the end of the year after Windows 7 is released. It is possible I could get office with the new PC.
I have not had a need to upgrade my PC, it does everything I need.
Actually, it sounds to me like your old computer does not do everything you need at the level you require. Your original question notes that "I produce some 200+ page documents full of pictures and diagrams. These documents are too big for Word to handle on my six year old PC." While I am not suggesting you rush out an buy a new PC, I think you may want to reconsider the statement of your current PC being sufficient.
In addition, I noted in your other comments that you are self employed and seem to be looking for the least expensive options. In which case, some major PC manufacturers offer refurbished and returned computers at good discount prices. For example, Dell has a whole online store dedicated to selling these kinds of PCs.
Here are some MS office alternatives.
Open Office
Star Office -- Commercial version of Open Office from Sun has more features
Google Docs
MS Office Live
All are free but Star office is like $50. I have used all of these and MS office is the best. Star Office is next. Google docs or Open office is good as well but you need a professional level product. Nothing beats MS Office. I know that Microsoft can be a pain. So I'm going to you how to get it cheaply and legally. Check you company they some times have deals, for example my company gives me MS Office for $20 for being an employee. If you or friend/relative is in the military they can get MS Office standard for $50. There is also student pricing if your in collage.
You need compatibility you need MS office, I use open office at work on a sun machine and I often get word docs that don't display right. If I make a change it, it mess up the version tracker. If you need simple try there online product.
If you don't want to upgrade you MS Office use one of the alternative I listed. I really like google docs you don't have to email the doc you can just send them the link to it.
Hope this was helpful
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
Thanks good information, but I am self-employed.
I tried Openoffice about 4 years ago, but I abandoned it because of Word incompatibilities. I was hoping Openoffice has gotten better in the last 4 years.
I do not need to display all Word documents which are sent to be 100% perfectly, but I need all documents I create to be displayed 100% correctly on other person's PCs.
I don't think online documents will work for me because I produce huge 200+ page documents.
If you buy it at the military base it's $50 and at work it's $20. Sometimes company's sell a extra copy of there Volume license copy. But your right it could be a boot leg
I would be wary of this online retailer selling office so cheap. It may be a scam or non-genuine software (leaving you back in your original predicament). Microsoft's official retail price for Professional is $500 outright or $330 for the upgrade.
Office Home and Student Edition is the cheapest package including Word and is suggested at $150. Some places, such as Amazon, are retailing it for as little as $100.
At $58, I would study the offer carefully to determine if there is some special condition (such as only available to college students) or if it might be a scam to sell illegitimate copies.
Try the free MS office online this could be the trick if you need to get away from the paided version. $58 is also cheap
There is an online seller selling copies of Microsoft Office 2007 Professional for $58. :) I think this is less than what I paid for Microsoft Office 2003.
it is much better.
and a lot more features
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
You will only notice minor interface differences and must always make sure that you are saving your work under .doc or any other format that your friends use too.
May I also suggest that you take a look to google documents?:
http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html
You don't need installation, you control who can see and/or change your documents, you can share comments about the documents, etc.
You don't even need to download the documents, you work them online.
But the best I think it's that you wont ever have to store your documents in your computer, in that way, you can't ever lose them :D
You can leave an optional "tip" with Mahalo's virtual currency, Mahalo Dollars. If you are asking a difficult question that might require some research, or if you'd like a wide variety of feedback, a higher tip often leads to more answers to your question.
M$
google docs is great you can download the doc for backup.
Interesting, but here's my problems with Google docs:
* I produce 10MB+ documents. Somehow I don't think working online with huge documents will work,
* I need to keep the documents under configuration control (I use Perforce),
* I need backups of the documents. I don't trust Google enough that they might not lose my documents or accidentally close my account. (Google does close accounts which are not used for a certain period of time.)
I have had a lot of OpenOffice Word compatibility problems. If you use text boxes forget it.
Have you had OpenOffice Word compatibility problems?
I haven't had any compatibility problems. OpenOffice loads, converts, and saves the files in its own format, almost seamlessly.