Trying Out OpenOffice.org

I have been playing around with OpenOffice.org. (the weird name is due to another group having copyright of 'Open Office'.) The program is great and the only problem I had was when I opened a file and it's derivative .pdf file at the same time. When I did this Windows crashed.

I made a 'newsletter' using different fonts and artwork. I then saved it as a PDF file – a one-click process – and it looks good. The program could use some more templates and fonts. The commercial version – StarOffice – has clip art, more templates, and licensed fonts. StarOffice costs over $100 cdn while OpenOffice.org is free.

The office suite has a spreadsheet program, word processor, presentation program, and others. They are on par with MS Office for the most part. The only program I am really interested in is 'Writer' the word processor. I am finding it easy to use so far. Tables and other common tasks work logically. The layout is clean and easy and there are some nice touches.

Overall I like the program and I plan to use it for my writing and other projects. It won't replace specialist desktop publishing programs like Printshop for tasks like making business cards but for letters, essays, and newsletters, it is fine.

This entry was written in OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org can be found at: www.openoffice.org