Just wondering if any of you out there have tried the Open Office software that is out there now, and how you would compare it to something like Microsoft Office. Is it worth the 179$ to buy Microsoft Office, or should I just try the free OpenOffice version?
OpenOffice is pretty decent, it mostly works like Office. Though I've experienced some issues with file/version compatibility. Opening some word documents look wrong, though most stuff appears right in Word.
i don't even know what's "buying" software is :):)
I'll recommend OpenOffice wholeheartedly. It's a great suite, easy to use and it has this miraculous knack of opening older MS Office files than Office 2007 can.
I use it at home exclusively for budget and pension tracking spreadsheets, as well as for crafting car show flyers and the odd presentation. I plan on using it for a very important presentation over the winter and through the spring ;)
Only caveat, have at least 1GB of memory because I found Open Office sluggish on only 512MB of RAM...
Having said that, I broke down & bought MS Office 2003 at the time because there were some file compatibility issues with work files that I was too lazy to chase down
NefCanuck