jederick Loc: Northern Utah

I've been using a very old version of Microsoft Office and thinking about upgrading now that I'm using Windows 10. Before I do, was hoping to get some opinions on the free suite called "Open Office"...anyone using it or have info (pro or con) about this free product?

TIA

davefales Loc: Virginia

Another one you might consider is LibreOffice. It replicates Word and Excel functionality fine for my purposes.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

Open Office or Libre Office - good deal!

I have been making use of Libre Office for quite some time now on my Mac. Also used Open Office when I ran a Linux box, still use Linux on a netbook with Libre Office installed, no problems, works great as an office suite.

It is very functional, will read and save other Office Suite formats and is updated regularly as well as being easy to make use of.

tramsey Loc: Texas

I've used both 'Open Office and 'Liber Office' and I found no difference between the two and Microsoft Word. I was using Microsoft Office 2003 then and Word was part of it.

Reinaldokool Loc: San Rafael, CA

:thumbup: :thumbup: What others have said. I have used Open Office and it worked fine. I have an old copy of Office 2010, but I see no advantage in it over OO.

My understanding is that OO is no longer being developed and is the basis for LibreOffice.

SFPete

Currently Libre Office is getting more updates than Open Office, so that's the one I use.

Photoninny Loc: Monterey Bay Area

If you are using an older version of MSO you will hardly notice the difference with Open Office (Apache Open Office). Libre Open Office is the same as Apache but slightly ahead in bug fixes. I use both and dont notice any difference. Both interfaces feel like an older version of MSO.
Check out the history of Open Office on Wikipedia.

pixbyjnjphotos Loc: Apache Junction,AZ

Your understanding is correct. OO is now Libre Office. I use Libre Office on two of my laptops. One has Linux Mint 17.1 OS and the other has Windows 10. Both installations work very well. I find that Libre Office is very compatible with Microsoft Office, just not as fancy. All functions are there, just not in the same places as MS Office. I have MS Office 2010 on another computer running Windows 8.1 and share files on all three computers. Just remember to save files using the MS Office 2010 format. And, the price of Libre Office is right (free). It is a good deal and an easy install. Have a GREAT DAY!

jederick Loc: Northern Utah

Thanks everyone for your informative responses...I've been reading Wikipedia and am going with Libre Office. Appreciate the input. :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

Beagleman Loc: Indiana

I have Open Office and like it fine. I use it mainly for magazine articles that I write each month. The only quirk it has is with what it calls "Bullet Numbering" which is default on the version I have. If you start numbering in the left margin it wants to take over and indent in funny ways...further in with each new number. I have learned how to turn that off and get around it.

--Beagleman

obeone

If you don't need to run macros in Excel, then the free office suites are the way to go. I've had no compatibility problems with Word on shared documents.

sodapop Loc: Bel Air, MD

I found moving data from Excel to open office very tricky. What am I doing wrong?

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

I've used open office on linux, windoze, and OS-X. Works as well as, or better than MS Office.
--Bob

dcampbell52 Loc: Clearwater Fl

I have Open Office and Microsoft Office 2007 (the last time I paid for a Microsoft solution. I was a member of the Microsoft support group and got all of the Microsoft programs on DVD in a canvas carrier for a flat fee per year including the license keys.) Open office does most of the things that MS Office does, however, I use Microsoft Office Outlook for my email handler. (for no other reason than I am comfortable with it). I use MS Word, etc about 90% of the time because I know that I won't have issues with other MS users being able to open the file. Open Office provides many different ways to save a letter, email etc and all ways are not always equal. I have open office on my wife's computer but she uses Yahoo as her email handler and other options. She primarily uses Open office for a replacement to MS Word, and to replace MS Excel which she has no idea how to use in the first place. She just uses it to open an Excel file that may have been sent to her. I use Excel, and Microsoft Access all the time for my databases etc. and I am not sure how well the Open Office equivalent would interface. I guess what I am trying to say is that if your intent is basic use of a word processor etc., then Open Office is a good solution, if you want to guarantee compatibility across the board, you might be better off with the MS solutions. Having said that, I would certainly give Open Office a try and see how it works.. The price is right and if it works, then great. Personally, I have both and use them.

Edia Loc: Central New Jersey

I am running MSO 13 and OO under Windows 10. The only problem I had was using the send item on the file menu. OO has not been updated for Windows 10 and does not allow you to use Windows 10 Mail to send documents. You have to save the document first and then send it as an attached item.