Open Office fFor Dummies?

[Bob Stockdale]

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Joe Pollock wrote:

>Hi.  I'm thinking about switching over to OpenOffice.org from M$ Office 2000
>to save money and to make the transition to Linux easier.  I'd appreciate
>responses to any of the following questions.  I'm also open to other
>alternatives, but I'm not quite ready for all Linux-only solution.
>
>What do you folks think of OOo?
>
It works for me. Wouldn't trade it for any propietary program.

>How good is it for an end user with no computer experience (my partner)?
>
My wife uses the Windoze version and has no problem. Reads and writes 
Word files. She is really a computer newbie.

>How good is the documentation for use in learning it?
>
Lots of documentation online. That is where I go for help. Many things 
get discovered after one has installed the latest greatest version. I 
monitor the dev at openoffice.org list and know that lots of things are 
happening.

>Are there any "OOo for Dummies" books out there?
>
Don't know. Don't feel it is necessary though. So much documentation 
online.

>Are there any compatibility issues with reading and writing MS Word files?
>
Few, but nothing a newbie needs to concern themselves with. More issues 
involve calc/excel especially where macros are involved.

>What's the relationship between Star Office and OOo? 
>
Sun Microsystems bought StarOffice from StarDivision (In Germany). Sun 
open sourced the majority of Star Office shortly there after. Beginning 
with Star Office 6.0 it became closed and proprietary. However many Sun 
developers are contributing code to OpenOffice.org, however the majority 
of the decision makeing comes from Hamburg, Germany. Development is 
worldwide. Ports are being developed for nearly all countries and languages.

> Are they pretty much
>the same from an end user's point of view (other than cost)? (I'm asking
>this because I already have a Sams Star Office Book.)
>
What version? Development is progressing at such an accelerated pace 
that a hard copy (book) could be obsolete before it hits the printing 
presses. Best advise is to browse the OpenOffice.org web site at
http://www.openoffice.org

>
>Thanks.
>
>Joe
>
>
>  
>
Hope this helps.
Bob