# Office suites...open source alternative to office 2007



## bikdel (Nov 21, 2007)

yeah i know OpenOffice and have used the 2.1  version.

I wanted to know which other open source office suites are there that can handle the MS OFFICE WORD and POWERPOINT extensions...


But i don't think that a suite offering the same flexibility and usability of Office 2007 is available in Open world... 

I mean i really love the usability; USER INTERFACE of Office 2007 as compared to the CLASSIC interface which are still used by many other office suites...

are there any office suites having a really good and easy to use GUI (something better than the boring classic version)  available? I currently use OpenOffice.org 2.1 ... don't know how the newer versions look like..

can anyone throw some light in this? 

regards
bikalp


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## mehulved (Nov 21, 2007)

check out Koffice2 though it's still in pre-beta(or maybe beta) so it may not be upto the mark. It's interface isn't revolutionary but is pretty nice.
If it isn't then bear with oo.org till then.
And well I find the Office 2007 interface more difficult to use rather. Maybe just cos I haven't used it extensively enough.


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## vish786 (Nov 21, 2007)

its been said that microsoft ppl themselves are so confused about office 2007 interface & its hard to work on... so ppl are still sticking to older versions.


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## infra_red_dude (Nov 21, 2007)

Obviously its a new product. So Office 2007 will take some time to set in. I believe this is the best product MS has to offer (Office suite) and all others haf a long way to go to catch up.

Apart from OOo, as Mehul mentioned, you may try Koffice2. Also do check out the new free office suite by IBM, Lotus Symphony: *symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.jspa

However the requirements are a bit too steep. No official Debian/and derivatives' support yet. This suite is based on Open document format. Except the new OXML format of Office 2007, it supports all others.


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## iMav (Nov 21, 2007)

is digit planning to giv symphony ...


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## FilledVoid (Nov 21, 2007)

Ive been using OpenOffice the past few days at home and sometime at work. Ive found that it has most of the features but there are some features I wish it would have/fix. Example, A better Bullet/Numbering system , Header and Footer - although included its kind of complex if you need a document with multiple Headers and footers , etc. Although I do have some minor problems with it I can definitely adjust with no problem. 

Haven't tried KOffice, however I have heard that it lacks the functionality of OpenOffice.org. Maybe Ill try that sometime. I think my USB stick with NimbleX has it installed by default. 



> Also do check out the new free office suite by IBM, Lotus Symphony: *symphony.lotus.com/software/l...hony/home.jspa



There was a review of this recently on Digit or Chip I think. The requirements are way to steep and it seems to be slow on a moderately fast PC . Not to mention the non - descriptive error messages.


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## lywyre (Nov 21, 2007)

bikdel said:
			
		

> But i don't think that a suite offering the same flexibility and usability of Office 2007 is available in Open world...



Flexibility?

I do have MS Office 2007. But I always have to use the 'Save As...' to save documents in formats that other users can use. I don't see flexibility beyond what was available in Office XP/2003. Just repositioned menus (as ribbons) and dialogs. All other improvements are only visual and it is a waste of investment if one already has any other version of MS Office later than v2000.


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## FilledVoid (Nov 21, 2007)

> All other improvements are only visual and it is a waste of investment if one already has any other version of MS Office later than v2000.



Absolutely true. In my honest opinion Microsoft has always been a  follower of the principle " Same stuff in a new packaging"  . My view is that 99% of the people could do anything what they do on MS Office 2007. Yet it astounds me to see so many people buying it. I mean, sheesh.... I was still using Microsoft Office 2000 till I upgraded to Linux which was 2 weeks ago.


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## gxsaurav (Nov 21, 2007)

exx_2000 said:
			
		

> Absolutely true. In my honest opinion Microsoft has always been a follower of the principle " Same stuff in a new packaging" . My view is that 99% of the people could do anything what they do on MS Office 2007. Yet it astounds me to see so many people buying it. I mean, sheesh.... I was still using Microsoft Office 2000 till I upgraded to Linux which was 2 weeks ago.


 
Yo, u r forgetting one thing that how easy it is now to make something or work in Office 2007 compared to Office 2000 or Office 2003. U don't need to dig through all those menus & work can be done really fast now.

All office suites are similar in features, what sets office 2007 apart is that it is the most used format out there & it makes it very easy to make spreadsheets or presentations etc


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## Cool G5 (Nov 21, 2007)

> All office suites are similar in features, what sets office 2007 apart is that it is the most used format out there & it makes it very easy to make spreadsheets or presentations etc



Agree. As .doc format is very popular most of them use MS office even if it is pirated version.

As alternatives Openoffice is simply superb.Also it's free. 
Also Abiword is great if you just need word processing.


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## bikdel (Nov 21, 2007)

Well one thing is for sure... you wont get any REVOLUTIONARY add ons in Office Apllications like you see in other softwares.. The features will remain pretty much the same and what you can do in Office 2007, you can easily do in older verisons, OOo or for that matter any office suite...

Trust me. More features are there than anybody would ever need 

Its the interface that has to be developed for increasing productivity.. 

and im damn sure that Office 2007 has till date the best Interface available. The biggest change ive seen in the Office world  

I mean you can do all your work with a few clicks. No need of those drop down menus or heavy mouse-work.   

Initially even I was lost/disoriented but thats called withdrawal symptom  

But you still have to BUY it   and thats where i still love OOo. Havent tried Koffice 2 though 

And you can sure as hell work with .doc format in open office  

anyways im getting most work done with those free suites. I can wait for them to get a better interface.

EDIT : @ infra_red_dude... 
does the lotus symphony support Ms word, Ms Powerpoint and Ms Excel files?? Man it also has pretty cool interface... 



> With Lotus Symphony, you can import, edit, and save a variety of file formats including Microsoft® Office® files. You can even export your documents to Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF). The tools work with computers running both Microsoft Windows® and Linux® environments, with support for Apple® Macintosh® to come. Lotus Symphony supports Microsoft Office 97/XP/2000, Microsoft Office 2003 XML, and Microsoft Rich Text Format but does not support the OOXML format used by Microsoft Office 2007.



i did not understand by XML standard ... does it support opening Ms Office Format and saving in those formats as well? I dont need the Office 2007 support as yet...


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## FilledVoid (Nov 21, 2007)

> Yo, u r forgetting one thing that how easy it is now to make something or work in Office 2007 compared to Office 2000 or Office 2003. U don't need to dig through all those menus & work can be done really fast now.



No offense but I always found the things in XP to be much more complicated than in 2000. Not to mention when I pay money for something I expect features rather than eye candy and ease of use. I guess its more of a perspective thing .This is in my humble view of course.


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## bikdel (Nov 22, 2007)

^^ its now time to focus on usability and productivity...

You can do your work with the Office Suite you use ... Great!!

You can do it faster with a revamped style which puts all commonly needed features at hand...                                In Office 2007.. thats my view...


and User interface IS a new feature isnt it?
that was the main reason behind compiz for linux or say aero for vista.. isnt it?


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## FilledVoid (Nov 22, 2007)

> ^^ its now time to focus on usability and productivity...
> 
> You can do your work with the Office Suite you use ... Great!!
> 
> You can do it faster with a revamped style which puts all commonly needed features at hand... In Office 2007.. thats my view...



You can customize the menus of ANY version of office to get access to the most common needed features at hand. My point was considering the cost required for a person or in this case me to move on to MS-Ofice 2007 is rather steep(Could be that I find it rather expensive than most others do). I would rather customize the existing version that I have. Nonetheless Im no OpenOffice advocate either theres a few changes they definitely need to make, but for a FREE office suite that thing is definitely incredible. As you can see judgement on an office suite is rather subjective to a persons perception. 

I would base my decisions on a two main aspects
Cost 
Features

Just to express myself better may I show you a small reference



> Wins and Losses
> The new interface may ultimately be easier to use – once you’ve learned it – and may shave seconds off some document production tasks. But anyone well-versed in previous versions of Word should be aware of the costs involved to reap those benefits.
> 
> It’s not just the cost in lost productivity while learning a new interface. If you’ve extensively customized Word in previous versions – as we had – those customizations go out the window (so to speak), though you can recover some of them. Macros – little programs you can write within Word to quickly perform complex or repetitive tasks – also disappear in the immediate aftermath of upgrading to Windows 2007. Again, you can recover them with a little effort, but many of them will not work if they involve aspects of the interface that have changed.
> ...


Source : *itmanagement.earthweb.com/entdev/article.php/3665781


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## bikdel (Nov 22, 2007)

^^^ Very well 

No need to shell out money for Office 2007 if you have got Office 2000 or anything released after that. I was telling that it provides fairly good performance/functionality for the money IF and ONLY IF someone is looking for a PAID office suite as an upgrade. 

Yeah OpenOffice.org and IBM Lotus Symphony are really gr8 considering you get them for free. But sometimes they won't cut it for someone  many times MS Office is needed by people. Thats the reason there are so many people who cant afford original are using pirated MS Office 2000/XP/2003/2007.

Falls down to your personal choices and personal opinions in the end. ...

PS: I have one question I asked earlier. Does lotus symphoney handle MS Office files? does it support read and write, both? I wanna give it a try 


regards
bikalp


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## gary4gar (Nov 22, 2007)

can we do something to improve the Eye candy of OO?
and also why doesn't OO ship with extra's like clipart some themes for presentations etc etc


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## FilledVoid (Nov 22, 2007)

> PS: I have one question I asked earlier. Does lotus symphoney handle MS Office files? does it support read and write, both? I wanna give it a try



Yes it does work as far as I know. But how far it will retain your formatting I have no clue. Im sure the macros wont work if your document contains any.


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## phuchungbhutia (Nov 22, 2007)

i read in newspaper about "hotmail' bhatia's Live Document which is online office ... any info guys .....


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## QwertyManiac (Nov 22, 2007)

Its gonna blow


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## gxsaurav (Nov 22, 2007)

exx_2000 said:
			
		

> Nonetheless Im no OpenOffice advocate either theres a few changes they definitely need to make, but for a FREE office suite that thing is definitely incredible.


 
OpenOffice is good enough if u r a single user. It will do your work fine...come to an enterprice where u have to do work together with many other people, & u will know the potential of Office 2007


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## sakumar79 (Nov 23, 2007)

Even for small businesses, OOo is fine... We use it at our office... For large offices, there are some useful features in MS Office that help in inter-office communications... If these offices make use of such features, then MS Office will be useful for them... But if they dont use the features, then even for them OOo will suffice largely...

Arun


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## FilledVoid (Nov 23, 2007)

> OpenOffice is good enough if u r a single user. It will do your work fine...come to an enterprice where u have to do work together with many other people, & u will know the potential of Office 2007



Been there done that, as I said with Office 2000 and 2002. The features didn't impress me then . I hardly doubt its going to impress me now.


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