Taking another OpenSource step

flogen

I recently downloaded Open Office and installed it last night; after having a look around it I felt it was well enough designed to replace Windows Office, and it would take up a fraction of the HDD space too...
However, before I relegate MSOffice to the trash heap, is there anything I should know about cross-platform usage? Will some files saved as .doc's in MS have trouble opening in Open Office and vice versa? Are there any features of MS Office that are sorely lacking from OO that I haven't spotted yet? Any at all??
Given that journalism is the career path I plan on taking, sending and recieving .doc files will be a standard proceedure, in fact it will be the basis of my work; can be I be sure that any files I create will not be messed up when someone opens them on the other end (I have to assume they use WinWord etc.) and any files they send me will not be the same?

Oh, and another thing; is there a way to get my Open Office to have it's default save file type (the one that's automatically selected when you hit "save as") to be .doc rather than odt etc.

Thanks

Karoma

Missing: Support for some of the MS proprietary formats (Rather unsuprising) - don't know/think you'll notice tbh.
There is occasionally minor differences between formatting in MS -v- OO .doc's - so minor, that I couldn't be bothered remembering specifics.
I've found Impress (2.0) (Powerpoint-type-crap) to be buggy with ATI cards.. *shrug* (Probably fixed by now and it wouldn't be so bad if all powerpoint presentation type things died a slow and painful death.)
In summary: There are minor differences and incompatibilities but personally the really are too minor to worry about.

There was a performance comparison performed a few months ago stating MS Office is faster, etc.. (To be taken with a pinch of salt tbh as the author of the article is known to be rather pro-MS)

Q: Can I set up OpenOffice.org to always save my files in Office format?

A: In fact, not only can you do this, but you can choose separately for each type of file. To specify the default save format, use the Options dialog (Tools | Options from the menu). Expand the Load/Save section and click on General.

At the bottom of the dialog, there's a section titled "Standard file format." Choose a file type from the list box (for example, "Text document" or "Spreadsheet") and then, in the dropdown list, choose the file format you want to use for that type of file.

Office formats are available for text documents, spreadsheets and presentations. When you've made all the changes you want, click OK to save your changes. Warning messages will appear; see "When I save documents in Office format, I get a warning that formatting might be lost. What formatting is lost and what can I do about it?" elsewhere in this FAQ.

No matter what format you choose as default, you can always save a particular file in a different format by using File | Save As from the menu. For more on the file formats supported by OpenOffice.org, see Chapter 3, "OpenOffice.org File Storage."

Source: http://www.hentzenwerke.com/catalog/ooo501faq.htm

flogen

Thanks for that Karoma.
I think I might ease myself into the switch over just in case; start using Open Office for everything but keep MS Office to check out how it formats etc.
A friend of mine who uses both said he has had the occasional problem, not so much in word as in other parts of Office.
If after a while I can't see any problems I'll be able to drop MS Office for good (until Vista )

fade2che

I used to use open office but switch back a few months ago due to problem with others viewing my documents. In particular the marking of changes made by different people didnt port well between the two apps. Might not be a problem for you tho.....

Karoma

fade2che wrote:

I used to use open office but switch back a few months ago due to problem with others viewing my documents. In particular the marking of changes made by different people didnt port well between the two apps. Might not be a problem for you tho.....

Which version were you using?
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