Changing Horses
Thanks all for suggestions about the "flowchart" kind of software I asked about yesterday. Among the options were several useful programs, some familiar, some not. What has totally distracted me from those links for my son's needs is this situation of my own: I am disappointed with Microsoft Word that I purchased in my recent computer upgrade and would love to find something better for the long haul as a reliable writing and graphics-capable tool. Commenter Tony suggested Open Office that has a Draw component for my son's project; I'm considering it as a MS Office replacement. (I think this package has some Sun Microsystems history? Right, David, Gretchen?)
I'm not excited about being at the bottom of the learning curve. Learning a new office-type package seems like it would be second only to learning a new operating system! If anybody has experience, horror stories, glowing praise or other input on Open Office components, pullleeeze let me know about them before I spin my wheels in the sand on this one. Making the switch even more tempting: Open Office is FREE!
Some knowledgeable people seem to like it. I'd love to know what you think.
Comments
Open Office is our application of choice after years of MicroSoft Office. It is actually better software. There are some features which are implemented in a slightly different way than MS Office and this can be frustrating when you have a deadline to meet and you haven't bothered to read the manual or Help. Rest assured, the features ARE ALL THERE. You just will have to get used to activating them in a different way.
Posted by: David | October 21, 2003 12:18 PM
Openoffice History .. maybe that question was an inside joke that I missed, but if not, there you go.. lol
I've not used openoffice on windows, but on linux it takes forever to start up. once it's up and running though, it's pretty snappy. if you already have Microsoft office, I wouldn't bother with openoffice unless you really dislike microsoft that much.
if you want a graphics capable tool you might want to look into somthing along the lines of Indesign from adobe, though it's more of a page layout than writing.
Matter of fact, if Nate has a studend id you can get a great package from adobe for around $400 that includes most all the programs they make.
Pretty good deal. Adobe Creative Suite
your e-mail is going to hate me for this mile long student discount link: Journey Ed.com
Posted by: Jeremiah | October 21, 2003 11:20 PM
I downloaded OpenOffice last year, but quickly abandoned it. It seemed strange to me and I didn't have the patience to learn it. Also at the time Tricia and I were sharing a PC and she wanted to stick with what she already knew. You probably have more patience than me, though.
When I got my latest machine it arrived with WordPerfect installed, and since I don't share the machine with anyone I have never bothered to install another word processor. I like WordPerfect.
Posted by: bill | October 23, 2003 10:30 AM