Open Office: years ago while employed in special libraries in the business sector, I learned IBM displaywriter, one of the first word processing programs. There was a fair amount of complication and a lot of button and function pushing. Then I was introduced to Professionalwrite, which was designed for busy professionals who did not want to learn to use the cumbersome displaywriter. What a difference. You could literally be up and running with Professionalwrite within five minutes. Not so with displaywriter.
Open Office seems to be running along these concepts. There are a lot of plusses: it claims itself to be compatible with other programs. It is easy to learn (always a HUGE bonus), it comes in many languages (I am not sure how Microsoft Office measures up in this respect.)
Plus, it is free. While it may always be true that we get what we pay for, who would not be tempted to ditch Microsoft Office and go with something free?
I liked their sales pitch: digital inclusion - making software of the highest quality available to all, regardless of income. My clientele certainly can’t afford Microsoft Office Suite.
Google Docs: as always, I am prepared to be impressed by anything sponsored by Google. The overall appearance is clean, straightforward and uncluttered. I always appreciate that. Looking at the upload function for a new document, it looks pretty easy and seamless, including the ability to upload PDF files. Within the same word processing window, you can research in Google. I always must minimize a Word document if I need to go out and find something while in the middle of composing.
“Google Docs Offline will give you access to your documents when there is no internet connection.”
Wow!
Also, nice templates are available.
I’m impressed, as I knew I would be.
Could these two choices completely replace Microsoft Office? Probably. Will they? Probably not. Microsoft Office has far too strong a stranglehold on the market. Who could conceive of being without them? I see these choices as exactly that: choices that can be used in addition to and alongside of Microsoft Office, and by those who don’t have the couple of hundred dollars it takes these days to buy it.
1 comment:
I think you are right when you say neither alternative will probably replace Microsoft Office, but I did install and try out Open Office. It did work fine for me. The drawback that everyone mentions is the lack of pictures/photos/clip art. Everyone I can think of has liked Google Docs!
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