i've used office95, 97, 2000 and now am on office xp.
Was just wondering if anyone has tried the office 2006 free download yet?
i understand it's free to try until about march next year..... but is it worth trying? that's what i really want to know.

I know this isn't your answer but Ever since I've installed Open Office,free,Ive never gone back to Office. It does the same things and I actually prefer the writer more.
Just a recommendation if you haven't tried Open.

Thx boopme
I have heard a lot of good reports about 'Open Office' but have to admit i've never tried it.

I switched to OO.o about two years ago. The newest release (2. something) is much more compatible with MS Office files than earlier versions, and you can save to a PDF file with a single click. The only conversion problems are those with difficult macros and extremely complex formatting on some spreadsheets. I found changing from MS to OO.o not at all that difficult.
Unless you are using Office to collaborate with associates at work, OO.o will fit any needs, and avoids all the pitfalls of needing constant security patches unlike MS Office.
OO.o not only has a spreadsheet, presentation, and word processor module, it also has a database (like Access) and a Visio-like module. All, of course, for free.

Regards,
John

So, does that mean that my 'word' and 'excel' documents plus the databases i have in 'access' .... will all open in 'Open Office' ??

Yes it means that, and it means that you can work in OO.o and save as a MS Office document. I have not actually worked very much in the db application to be positive it translates/opens Access files with ease, but certainly I have had almost no problems with Word documents and only a few with spreadsheet macros (but then I tend to keep spreadsheets relatively simple).
You can certainly download OO.o V2 and validate whether it will translate/open/save in the format you want.
Cheers,
John

thx John
i'll definatley look into that then,
thx for your advice

As a PS to the above, MS will make available third party applications for 2007 that will translate its proprietary file structure to the open document standard! It appears that MS is attempting to make itself relevant to the trend towards non-proprietary file structures. But only half-heartedly, since they refuse to build the translators into Office itself.



http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=01200172O5GO

See also:

http://www.gcn.com/blogs/tech/41294.html

Cheers,
John

Following the recommendations of jgweed and boopme
i've installed 'Open Office' onto one of my computers, the installation was really easy and during the installation it asked me if i wanted to open existing word and excel documents in 'Open' Office' from now on...so that was an easy change over.
I'll try it for a couple of weeks and if all goes well, i'll install it onto my other computer as well.
Thx for the recommendation guys.

I think you will like OO.o (despite its funny name) and you can always save whatever you are working on as an Office document. The OO.o site itself provides some documentation and links to user community forums if you need help.
If you use PDFs a lot, at least OO.o provides support for the format; MS is currently "at war" with Adobe and may not provide support for its files.
More and more I see growing support for an international standard Open Document, especially from governmental agencies around the world.
Regards,
John

I like what i see so far, the only thing i was missing was 'outlook'.... so i've downloaded 'Thunderbird' to take care of that.
Even after a day.... i'm beginning to think.......... Yes this will work for me!!

Certainly the price is right, and you will not have to worry as much about installing all those monthly MS Office security patches. I am curious about your opinions and insights into the db module; after you have played with it for a couple of weeks, could you post your thoughts? And, of course, any insights about OO.o/Office.
Regards,
John

Am I reading this right? There is a FREE (for now) office suite that DOESN'T have Outlook? This sound too good to be true. I'd LOVE to get Outlook off my computer.

Do you know if the Word part opens and converts WordPerfect files as well? I use WP about as much as I use Word, but I have to convert my WP files at times in order for other folks who don't have WP to read them. Which leads me to the next question: Is MSWord able to open documents saved as OO.0?

Orange Blossom

From the OO.o FAQ:

<blockquote>Does OpenOffice support WordPerfect file formats ?

Not yet. StarOffice on Windows does but the filters they use are proprietary from a 3rd party and therefore not available to the open source community.

But there is a WordPerfect filter project which has a preliminary version available. </blockquote>

http://user-faq.openoffice.org/faq/ar01s05.html#id2811699

Right now, MSO will not open files saved in the Open Format, you must save the OO.o file AS a MS file, although OO.o will open any MSO file type. However, Microsoft is working with third parties to provide Office/ Open format conversions, at least for Office 7.
You can also save any OO.o document as a PDF file, which everyone should be able to open.
Since OO.o is an open source project, the licenses under which it is developed and distributed does not allow its free use to be changed.

Hope this helps,
John

Thanks for the reply and the link. Yes, it does help.



Hmm. Is it necessary to have MS on the system in order to save it AS an MS file?

Orange Blossom

It is not necessary to have Ms on your system.
When you save a writer document (equivalent to a word document) you can use the drop down box and select the format you require.
eg.... Ms Word 95, Ms Word 97/2000/xp. or Ms Word 6.0.
as well as lots of other formats.
I've been trying 'Open Office' for a couple of weeks now and find the 'Writer' just as good as 'Word'.
The only thing i've found to be a disadvantage is..... is the database, it doesn't offer the choices that Ms Office does.... but as i don't use it that much, i can live with that.
Overall though..... you'd be hard pressed to find much wrong with 'Open Office'. I'm beginning to like it and i've used Ms Office since 95.

Thanks Starbuck. That's cool, and makes things easier.

I'm going to have to give it a try, and if I have any WP documents I need to convert; I can always go to the public library, convert them to MS Word there, and then open them in Open Office at home.

Orange Blossom

Just as a thought about OO.o. As more and more governmental agencies around the world begin to use it, there will be more and more support from OO.o and most likely, we will see more and more enhancements, templates, and documentation, etc., for it.
Cheers,
John

I'm still experimenting with OpenOffice. There are some situations when I am in a hurry and I don't have time to figure out how to do something in OpenOffice, and I go back to MS Word.

I would like to mention something that I really love about OpenOffice: its bullets and numbering system. The MS Word system drives me nuts because I have to keep changing their stupid auto-formatting. With OpenOffice, you have an nice little tool bar that allows you with single click or two to change the indentation and bullet figures. I used it today in creating a lesson, and boy did that save me a LOT of time. I wish I'd had that available during my graduate student years, it would have saved me oodles of time.

I have yet to try out the endnote and footnote functions and figure out how to set up labels exactly the way I want them. Its the label function that so far I end up going back to Word.

Orange Blossom