Comments on: OpenOffice.org vs Google Docs

By: PF reply

PF reply — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 22:18:31 +0000

Sharepoint is an awful proprietary format that is quickly being replaced with Wikis or other more relevant software apps. I wouldn't bet on Office 2010 for anything.

By: PF

PF — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:01:51 +0000

Office 2010 is quickly moving beyond document composition to include document collaboration (via Sharepoint). Until OpenOffice includes something similar, it represents yesterday’s technology.

By: Joel

Joel — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:23:18 +0000

I think Pages is pretty slick, and you should check out Buzzword from Adobe.

By: Sen de Silva

Sen de Silva — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:20:52 +0000

my vote: the near future belongs to the mix of OO and Google docs for the reasons mentioned above and for maximum user flexibility and productivity.

By: Joseph Huberman

Joseph Huberman — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:29:44 +0000

I use both Open Office and Google Docs, however I am frequently in an environment without dependable web access. Until I have the ability to work offline and then update my “cloud” seamlessly and easily, I can’t depend on web apps.

By: Surfrover

Surfrover — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 02:19:50 +0000

Some great discussion in this thread and thanks to all who have contributed so far.

I’ve been a long term MSOffice user because I worked in large corporates and there was really no other option. This was often driven by the mandatory requirement to use MSOffice when responding to Tenders or RFI/Ps. (more recently I have noticed a steady change in this requirement moving to the PDF format – a good thing in my opinion but something for another Post)

I’ve also followed the development of OpenOffice and often dabbled with it but, until Rel 3.1, have not found it ‘commercial’ enough to spend too much time on. My conclusion is that is has now matured to a level where I can finally ‘ditch’ MSOffice, GoogleDocs, and a gaggle of other ‘productivity’ apps which I have used over the years.

The key milestone for me was OO’s ability to convert files in both directions and support such large number of ‘options’ do achieve this.

This has allowed me to switch to OpenOffice on both my Business and Home PC systems with the confidence that I can cope with whatever formats are sent to me. As a business consultant who’s role involves endless review then comment on a variety of documents formats, this has proven such a relief.

Let’s keep up our support for this really ‘free’ application and encourage others to move to it as their office standard.

By: Cyril

Cyril — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 10:32:08 +0000

Hello
When you say that “people like a sense of tangibility that web apps don’t provide”, I personnally agree, because I feel the same, this kind of security feeling based on control (or feeling of control).
But I really think that this feeling might eventually be shared by people of my agegroup (30-40y old), but the yougner (15-25), I am definetly convinced that they do not care at all where there data are physically stored, neither whether they “control” or not the application they use… On the contrary, they would not consider a computer beeing a computer without an internet connection… consequently, googledocs, or any good office features, can be online…
IMHO
C.

By: Thrawn

Thrawn — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:40:17 +0000

I partially agree with Jesse Zylstra: MS Office can do more than OpenOffice.org can.

However, I suspect that there are some 80/20 rules: 80% of Office users use about 20% of the features, and OO.o does about 80% as much as MSO for not 20% of the cost, but free.

So, you can either pay for MSOffice, and most likely get 5 times the features that you need, or you can get OO.o for free, with probably 4 times the features that you need.

I use MS Office only for:

- Opening OOXML documents. As yet, they’re ugly in OO.o. But I’m sure that that will improve.

- Synchronisation with EndNote. Not so relevant to me now, but was last year.

By: Kyoshi09

Kyoshi09 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:10:03 +0000

I’ve been using OpenOffice for years and would never go back to M$ Office not simply because of the cost but for the following additional reasons;
1. IOO is very intuitive to use. In fact, when I first started I thought the opposite until I realised that I had been so brainwashed into doing things illogically by Office. That’s when I realised how intuitive OO really is.
2. It rarely crashes in it’s own right and if something like a power or OS failure causes it to abort abnormally it recovers whatever you were working on without fuss. I’ve never had a completely corrupted document in OO that wasn’t recoverable, and that’s not the case with MS Office.
3. Being open source and having a large community following you know what the bugs are (and there aren’t many of real consequence) and you can adapt while they get fixed pretty quickly. With MS Office, particulalrly Excel there are some fundamental bugs that can lead to incorrect results but because it’s MS, most people blindly believe it to be correct. (BTW I have degrees in both business & pure/applied mathematics and I’ve tested both)
4. I can take OO with me on a USB stick thanks to “PortableApps” see http://portableapps.com.
5. Since I run an IT Security company I have a fundamental paranoia about putting sensitive information on Google, or any other server for that matter, where I don’t have control over the security of that info.
5. Synchronisation with mobile phones etc is not an OO problem it’s a email/calendar problem so it depends on the email/calendar client and platform you are using. In the Windows world there is ActiveSync/Outlook for example and in the Linux world there is opensync/multisync. I have to say though that the Linux opensync/multisync combination is pretty terrible so functionality in this particular area is sadly lacking.
Have a great day.

By: RC Davis

RC Davis — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:35:34 +0000

It’s interesting that few people are talking about the user interface (UI) changes that Microsoft implemented in Office 2007. I see it as one way to add real value — make it easier to use. I’ve been using Office 2007 for a few months now and after adjusting to the new UI I find it an improvement. Many of us Open Office users will not jump to Office 2007 just on UI improvements alone, but I wonder if OO follow MS’s UI improvements?

By: Jesse Zylstra

Jesse Zylstra — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:17:10 +0000

In the world of how well they all work, I do believe Microsoft Office /still/ beats Open Office.
And no, I don’t say that to start an argument for all of you supposed “computer experts” who are about to disagree with me on the basis that I’m just full of ****.
Working in Information Technology, most of the people I work with use Microsoft Office, and a few of them have tried out Open Office, and just found it all too difficult and advanced.
That is still Open Office’s weakness.

Google Docs, however, I find very impressive.
Though it is missing many features we find in MS Office, such as a good alternative to Access for example, it is incredibly easy to use and ridiculously convenient.

Disagree with me, if you want, but you have to admit: Open Office is still too complicated for the average Joe. (Me, personally, I have seen OpenOffice crash more than MS Office… but that’s just me.)

Also, OpenOffice does not support synchronizing contacts, tasks, calendar, notes, and email with your phone. From the looks of it, this won’t happen in a long time. I do not consider OpenOffice a “full” office suite because it does not include any of the features I just listed. I hear they are working on it, though… who knows *Scary 1940’s Sci-Fi Music*

Nevertheless, disagree with me if it truly pleases you and you must go to that level.

By: Lame Name for a User

Lame Name for a User — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:33:24 +0000

I like Google docs but, the other day, I was busy typing up ideas for web applications… and I am in that industry so they are viable… and I thought, ‘hang on, if anyone has the technology to _find_ and steal these ideas, it’s Google’.

Then I returned to OpenOffice.org and kept typing.

The privacy agreement for Google Docs doesn’t say ‘we will not read or use your content’ it says something more akin to ‘we will analyse your content to our own ends but we won’t sell it to 3rd parties’. Now, I like to believe that Google are fundamentally the good guys – why would they need to cheat when they are so successful? But if I were to use web applications, I’d need to pay for them. That way I can have a guarantee that my stuff is PRIVATE.

OpenOffice.org Rocks!
Lame.

By: Gareth S Price

Gareth S Price — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:23:19 +0000

There’s an ooo2gd plugin for OpenOffice which provides basic integration between Google Docs and OpenOffice at http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/ooo2gd .

It’s a bit flaky though, and just lets you download a document, work on it, and re-upload. No checkout or file locking so it’d not be good for a Docs repository with multiple users.

OpenOffice with Google Docs integration would be a true Office killer…

By: Neill Harris

Neill Harris — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:14:11 +0000

I agree that I need ‘anywhere access’ a la Google Docs, which I find very easy to use and find info from my docs, but I need a much more ‘functional editor’. So, if Google Docs was integrated with OpenOffice or the other way round, it would be an unbeatable combination!

What is keeping them apart? Vested interests?

By: David Legg

David Legg — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:00:25 +0000

Great article, apart from spelling and grammar.

The only problem with google docs is that you have to trust Mr Google with your secrets. Maybe you don’t have any – fine, but if you do it’s back to good ol’ openoffice.org.
Why anyone would want to pay for an office suite on every platform, I cannot imagine, and anyway, I actually prefer openoffice.org; it’s more intuitive to use, always getting updates, never crashes, …

By: Simon West

Simon West — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:33:20 +0000

I followed a very similar route to the author, being a big MS Office user for many years but falling out with them as upgrades cost more and more. For me, having access to my documents *anywhere* is proving to be a big plus for Google Docs, although I would like not to give them so much control over my life (they already own my search and email)

I use OO.o most of the time, but the pull of *anywhere* access is strong. For a while I dallied with a PortableApps version of OO.o, but this stopped when I lost two USB sticks and had two more die on me – luckily with no real loss of data.

What I would really like is to have OO.o on my pc, editing local content which is seamlessly backed up to the cloud, and to have a Google Docs type of method to get at those docs and edit them securely from any browser, with no-one able to look at them without my say-so. Too much to ask?

By: Michael Lankton

Michael Lankton — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:47:54 +0000

The point is not to be tied to one platform. SSuite is Windows.

By: Didos

Didos — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 11:16:06 +0000

You may try SSuite Office for a free office suite. They have a whole range of office suites that are free for download that will meet all your demands. Their software also don’t need to run on Java or .NET, so it makes the software very small and efficient.

You can try these links:

http://www.ssuitesoft.com/index.htm
or
http://ssuite5element.webs.com/thefifthelement.htm

By: Best CSS Gallery

Best CSS Gallery — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:41:40 +0000

I still prefer google docs

By: Free Sony Vaio Laptop

Free Sony Vaio Laptop — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:03:39 +0000

I have just gotten into using OpenOffice and was amazed at how versatile it was, I can’t believe that something so user friendly is available for free on the web. I also agree that in the changing world, the memory on laptops will decrease and we will access much more of our software via the Internet, like this.