[ILUG] OpenOffice compatibility with MS Office

[Stephen Holmes]

At Novell we had to make a declaration in the strongest possible terms that we're moving from MS Office to OpenOffice - this was accompanied by a drop dead change over date.  There was some initial resistance (human nature!) but this was an edict, not an option - when I look back on this transition, it's hard to see what all of the fuss was about.  For us, there were two parts to making a hard and fast decision.  

- Reduce our licensing fees (a substantial amount of money)
- Embrace open source - or as we say at Novell, "Drink our own champagne" ;-)

I'd recommend famliiarising yourself with the product and it's nuances and run a series of demos/presentations.  Focus on the cost savings for the company and emphasise the zealous attention that OpenOffice has in the community (in other words, they innovate and will continue to innovate). Once you get over the initial hump in the basics of menu navigation, formatting differences, then you'll find that the transition isn't as difficult as you might have imagined.  

Steve.



S t e p h e n    H o l m e s
 
sholmes at novell.com
Tel: +353-1-605-8087
Cell: +353-86-833-5027
 
Novell, Inc.
Software for the Open Enterprise
www.novell.com


>>> Kevin Philp <kevin at cybercolloids.net> 09/02/2006 10:30:43 >>>
Thanks, a very interesting document. They seem to consider OpenOffice pretty 
much on a par with MSOffice and OpenOffice ahead in several areas. They also 
consider OpenOffice 2 the one that takes it into the realm of being a 
feasible alternative.

I think the main issue I have is with the more conservative element who object 
to change anyway. The younger guys in the lab are fine and are all busy 
making copies of the Windows editions of OpenOffice and GIMP and taking them 
home....all helps the acceptance level so I don't object.

Kevin.


On Wednesday 8 February 2006 19:29, Tomek wrote:
>Hi,
>
>You maybe interested in this document (some comparison of OpenOffice,
> StarOffice and MS Office 2003):
> http://www.opensourceacademy.gov.uk/osa/folder.2005-09-28.8524679420/folder 
>.2005-09-28.7241574634/featurecomparison/resolveuid/5f9edf70d5f74e2cf2f34d5e
>b479b684
>
>Really long URL but I think the document is quite good.
>
>Cheers and all the best,
>
>Tomek
>
>Kevin Philp napisał(a):
>> Can someone point me in the direction of some notes on optimising the
>> compatibility of OpenOffice and MSOffice? I am writing a short note for
>> our
>> office - I think I have most of the points - Use common fonts, tick all
>> the
>> boxes in the load/save OLE objects menu. Thanks
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