ralphc4176 Loc: Conyers, GA

I have Windows Office Professional 2010 and 2013 on different machines. I also have and use LibreOffice, essentially the same as OpenOffice but allegedly slightly better. Both are "free," but they ask for a donation when you get ready to download, but it's not required. My version of LibreOffice will open Microsoft Office files of similar type; i.e., the word processor opens Word files, the spreadsheet program opens Excel files, etc. A disadvantage is that Microsoft Office (at least, the versions that I have) won't open a LibreOffice file, as far as I know. Most businesses and many individuals have and use some version of Microsoft Office; a document that you create in LibreOffice will not be usable to anyone who doesn't have LibreOffice, as far as I know. But the price is right.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

All that you would need to do is to save it AS a document that MS Office CAN read, in Libre Office you can elect to save docs as MS Office documents, .DOC for Word and .XLS or .XLSM

Libra Office Save AS

Papa Joe Loc: Midwest U.S.

I have MS Office on two of my computers and OPEN OFFICE on another. The main difference is when you SAVE a document, if you want it to be a .DOC file, you must choose 'SAVE AS', and select from two or three choices i.e. Microsoft 97, etc. Then your document will save with a .doc extension instead of the default, Open Office extension. Great free software and VERY much the same as MS Office, even cosmetically. If you've used MS Office, you'll be right at home with Open Office.

lateron Loc: Yorkshire, England

I use Open Office. I have had no problems with it, but it lacks the advantage of a graphics suite, or any publications application.

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

It includes Presentations, which mirrors Powerpoint.

What graphics suite does MS Office contain?

Libra Office Apps

Nelson.I Loc: Monument, Colorado, USA

Open Office was developed under the aegis of and owned by the Sun Corporation. From my recollection, a short time after Oracle bought Sun, it decided to either take Open Office private or do some other kinky Oracle stupidity with Open Office's license. The OSS (Open Source Software) community said, in effect, "Go for it numb-nuts, we'll just take the last open licensed copy of the source and continue development on our own." That copy became Libre Office which is still OSS.

Sometime later, when oxygenated blood finally reached the brains of the appropriate manager(s) at Oracle, Open Office was once again returned to a completely OSS license. Alas, as I presently understand it, Libre Office has received more attention/work which translates to more updates and bug-fixes and has thus surged ahead of Oracle's Open Office quite a bit.

I stuck with an open-licensed Open Office the moment Oracle got stupid with it and started using Libre Office shortly thereafter. Libre Office is reportedly more active than Open Office.

OldEarl Loc: Northeast Kansas

I gave up MS Office 11 or 12 years ago. The Open Source programs are quite similar to the old Lotus SmartSuite which I used previously. Prior to Excel 97, which I believe has some Lotus components because it is capable of handling really large spreadsheets, the Excel programs sucked and I only used them for small jobs. The spreadsheet in Apache and Calc in Libre are easily equivalent to Excel and use less memory. Similarly, I use Writer for all my business documents such as management studies and I cannot figure out why my wife uses Word--she cannot figure out why I will not open Word files.

Open source software is the wave of the future.

lateron Loc: Yorkshire, England

None - I use Yahoo Calendar as I no longer have access to PagePlus

pixbyjnjphotos Loc: Apache Junction,AZ

Not true at all. As DNGallagher (sp) wrote previously, when you save a file in LibreOffice, you must choose to save as a MS file format. Then, those files can be used in MS Office. I do this all the time. Works very well. Have a GREAT DAY!

Nelson.I Loc: Monument, Colorado, USA

Furthermore, one can QED set LibreOffice to automatically save, as its default, in appropriate MS formats.

Tom--K4TTA Loc: Near Memphis. TN

One of the MS "upgrades" wiped out my MS Office (when I was using Windows 7) and I started using the Apache Open Office. I actually like it better than MSO. Only problem has been when trying to modify some PowerPoint files created in MSO. However, we got it to work.

I'd rather spend $$ on telescopes and cameras than pay MS, especially when I like the free product better.

Tom, K4TTA
Memphis Astronomical Society
www.memphisastro.org

jjtotten Loc: Washington, Utah

I have been using Open Office exclusively for many years after using both Microsoft Office and Open Office. There is nothing Microsoft office can do that Open Office can't do just as well. The price is the final reason for me since Open Office can do anything Microsoft Office can do. I was involved in computer support for several years and recommend it to everyone

Dngallagher Loc: Wilmington De.

:thumbup: :thumbup: