We have been switching our MS Office users to OpenOffice.
The advantages of OpenOffice as I see them, your situation may be different.
In no particular order:
1) Open Office does not bloat the Windows registry as much as MS Office. Windows registry bloat causes slow start-up and stability problems.
2) OpenOffice works the same across WIndows, Linux and OS X. We use all three platforms here.
3)
Open Office can save PDF files directly.
We send out PDF files instead of Word files because of 4) below.
Not as big of a deal on OS X, but this is a big deal on Windows and Linux.
4)
Word files can contain random data from your hard drive and/or other documents.
Sending Word format files can compromise a NDA, or disclose other information that should be left private.
OpenOffice files saved in Word format don't suffer the same problems as Word files saved from MS Word.
I once had a vendor supply a quote in Word format. Also included in that file was a different quote for another company. The vendor was surprised I knew of the other quote. I have received quotes from that vendor in PDF format since.
5)
OpenOffice files are smaller than Word files, so they take up less network bandwidth, less hard drive space, and require a smaller backup window.
6)
Only the grammar checker is missed by the users we have switched. We have not switched our accounting people, the OpenOffice spreadsheet does not handle their more complex needs. However, they use 1-2-3 not Excel.
7)
Our 2 month testing phase only had two Word documents out of hundreds that did not import well. The content was not affected, but some of the ( really goofy ) formatting did not import.
8)
Switching to OpenOffice has allowed us to upgrade several Windows systems to Linux.
9) WordPerfect filter soon to be available.
10)
After version 2.0, some of the ideas from the NeoOffice prototype will be pushed into OpenOffice, so a "aqua-fied" version for OS X will be available ( no X Windows ).
Charles Dostale System Admin - Silver Oaks Communications http://www.silveroaks.com/ 824 17th Street, Moline IL 61265 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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