Microsoft Office 2007 and Openoffice 2.3
Sep 21st, 2007 by Vinny
I have been using M$ Office 2007 for a couple months now, and my overall impression is that the new features don’t justify a new purchase. Everything has been organized into “ribbons” which are groups of features that Microsoft thinks are the most popular. Having used Office 2003 for years now, the learning curve is huge trying to find where they moved everything. The old menus are not there anymore, like file, edit, etc, they are all replaced with a bar of icons (ribbon). Other than that major change, for the basic functionality I use (just creating faxes, letters and excel for budgeting) there is no reason to upgrade.
A free alternative to office is the Openoffice.org 2.3 office suite. It is owned by Sun but it is still open source. The new 2.3 version came out within the last week, and it works very well. You can download it from peer to peer networks (P2P) on their website.
It comes with (from website):
Writer – a word processor you can use for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book.
Calc – a powerful spreadsheet with all the tools you need to calculate, analyse, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics.
Impress – the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations.
Draw – lets you produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations.
Base – lets you manipulate databases seamlessly. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, all from within OpenOffice.org
Math – lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.
The components that are still missing from OpenOffice are a Visio diagramming program, and a project tracking program. There are freeware alternatives out there, but I still prefer MS Visio and MS Project due to its compatibility and market penetration.
If you currently own MS office 2003, you can download the office converter, which will let you open and save 2007 documents within your 2003 programs. You can get that here.
There are quite a few companies now that are creating office suites online. Google is one of the popular ones, with almost every application except Visio, and Project. You can store your files online, and share files easily with other Google users. This is all tied into your Google account.
A less popular but easier to use (in my opinion) and upgraded more often is Zoho. I have used most of the products, and they seem to work nicely. I had an issue with chat, emailed support, and within an hour had a response and a promise to fix it within the week. That kind of support makes a great company. This site also includes a free online meetingplace, most people are familiar with webex, but that has a cost. Zoho has a version that works just as well, and also gives you remote control abilities, tech support personnel will like this very much.
So if you don’t have a specific reason to get Office, then stick with the free stuff!
