Open Office 2.0 Kicks MS Office Around the Block
I’ve always been a fan of Open Source software, but I have to admit that frequently the quality of free and Open Source software leaves something to be desired when compared to their commercial counterparts. That said, nothing can beat these applications where price is concerned. I first tried OpenOffice years ago when it was still prior to version 1.0. I noticed immediately that the suite had a lot of potential. Up until then, I had been primarily using the Lotus suite at home because it came with our computer. In fact, I felt so comfortable using it that it quickly became my first choice of office applications. I never bought MS Office after Office XP ,and I rarely ever used that.
My primary use for OpenOffice has always been as a word processor and I believe this is an area where it excels (so to speak!). For anyone used to MS Office, the difference in the two interfaces is minimal. In fact, I find it easier to use OpenOffice’s interface than MS Office’s for various things such as inserting a header and footer. To create or change a header and footer in MS Office XP, you must go to the “view” menu. I’m not sure why something like a header or footer would be placed in the “view” menu before it is actually part of a document. OpenOffice placed these options in their “insert” menu—a placement that I believe makes much more intuitive sense. The OpenOffice word processor also has all of the font and text options one would expect placed in their own tool bars. OpenOffice also supports all of the major features of MS Office (and a few of its own) except for the grammar check. I’m personally fine with not having a grammar checker since it has given me the opportunity to actually learn the English language instead of relying on my word processor to make my sentences coherent.
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