Reviews of OpenOffice.org for Windows

1. 
   mjm01010101

   Reviewing 3.1.0 (May 20, 2009)

   Crashes at the "welcome to OpenOffice" screen if you update the one extension available. repeatable.
   
   Otherwise works fine.
2. 
   MCHAL

   Reviewing 3.1.0 (May 5, 2009)

   Yes, OpenOffice is really great! I love it! But apparently there are good paid alternatives out there, such as Softmaker Office. So could any of you visiting guys make an "expert" review or the like about this shareware product?
   
   Thanks!
3. 
   irateman

   Reviewing 3.1.0 (May 5, 2009)

   There a few things about OO that just make sense :
   1) install on just about any system
   2) no cost
   3) standard, open and compatible
   4) easy installation of add-ons even in OS of different languages
   
   I must admit that there a few things that I cannot do with OO that can be done with Framemaker, like preceding and following text or graphics for paragraph styles, but that could be implemented with an add-on.
   Compared to MS Office, its performance is pretty much the same. I cannot see why anyone would pay for Office 2007. Besides, I cannot stand the interface.
   
   I have worked with documents over a 150 pages with graphics, columns, indexes, tables etc. and have had no problems. If you use the paragraph styles, everything flows nicely.
4. 
   coover

   Reviewing 3.1.0 (May 4, 2009)

   This is a good example of an inexpensive product vs. an expensive one. This one has all the qualities of the inexpensive one. It will do the job ... but you won't be as happy with it as you would with the expensive product.
   
   However, Open Office is free (as long as the time to download it is not costly to you), so it is better than "inexpensive". To make the comparison between the expensive product and Open Office fair, you have to factor in it's actual cost .. zip, nada, nothing, freeeeeeeeeeeee! It all depends on what YOU can afford.
   
   If you can afford the expensive product, I suggest you purchase it. You will be happier with it. But if you simply don't have the money, Open Office will do the job.
   
   There is nothing wrong with Open Office. It isn't dangerous, it won't introduce malware, and if you wish to share Office files, it won't easily give away to the folks with which you share that you are so poor (or cheap) that you use something other than the expensive product (as long as you use the right file extensions).
   
   So if you need it, get it. it is worth every penny you pay for it (and more).
5. 
   netean

   Reviewing 3.1.0 RC2 (Apr 28, 2009)

   well, it's ok.. It's a terrific feat of programming to create an office suit of this complexity and for FREE it's superb, the best free office suite there is (sort of)
   
   Sadly, on Windows, it's a bit second rate (it's much much much better in linux) - its' slow to load, it's a huge application to download - particularly if you don't want the whole suite, (you still can't simply download the components you need/want) Nor can you update easily, you have to download and install the whole suite again!
   
   Furthermore, it's fine if you're using Ooo to create a document from scratch, and it works fine with long documents, but if you're editing a document that's already been written with MS Office, or even worse, swapping back and forth between Openoffice and MS Office, it's a bit of a nightmare, it doesn't work well with long MS office Documents (I'm talking about the writer component)
   The presentation component, is... well it's OK, it's like using Powerpoint from about 5 years ago, gets the job done, but it's slowly and certainly without any pleasure.
   
   That's the sad things about openoffice, it looks old-fashioned and rather ghastly (again, it looks better in linux) and just isn't very enjoyable to use, it's functional, but not pleasurable.
   
   I think IBM have done a good job with Openoffice by morphing it into Symphony, sure that has its own problems but it's much prettier, friendlier and much more usable (ifor the most part)

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