|
 |
Why OpenOffice? |
Using OpenOffice
Deer Park Schools are joining many school districts and businesses around the nation and around the world in making the shift from Microsoft's Office Suite to the open-source office suite, OpenOffice (if you're interested in the story behind OpenOffice click here). While our high school has particular certification programs and individual teachers whose work and whose responsibilities necessitate the use of Microsoft's products, the vast majority of end users are well-served by what OpenOffice has to offer.
So what exactly is OpenOffice? It is a full-featured office suite that is free to download and install on any computer. "Writer" is the OpenOffice equivalent of MS Word, "Calc" is the equivalent of Excel, "Impress" is the equivalent of PowerPoint, and "Base" is the equivalent of Access. In addition to these products, the OpenOffice suite includes "Draw", a program for producing everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations and also "Math" a program that lets you create mathematical equations with a graphic user interface or by directly typing your formulas into the equation editor.
Many wonder why we would shift from software that has seemed to become somewhat of a "standard" to an open-source product, while others voice concern about compatibility. In short, does make this decision to change really make good sense?
* First and foremost, if OpenOffice programs were not capable of reading and editing the documents created in MS Office (or if documents created in OpenOffice could not be shared with others presently using MS Office), choosing OpenOffice would certainly be a poor decision. That said, the OpenOffice suite is fully compatible with files created by the core programs in the Microsoft office suite (Word, Excel, & PowerPoint). Files in the .doc, .xls, and .ppt file formats can be shared, saved, viewed and edited from within either office suite. While OpenOffice can easily save files using the MS formats, natively it saves in the OpenDocument format (ODF), an "open" standard recognized around the world. So, while OpenOffice does indeed play nicely with the files MS files, there are many good reasons why someone would consider saving files in ODF; just do a quick Google search (opendocument format vs. open xml) in order to read up on the file format debate.
* OpenOffice is FREE...yes, completely free (head on over to OpenOffice.org to download it now!). Obviously, the Microsoft Office suite is good, polished software (this certainly isn't about any "anti-Microsoft" agendas!), but it does not come cheap! The fact is that schools have much more important things on which we could spend taxpayer dollars. And, just because OpenOffice is a free product does not mean it is an inferior product. Programmers from around the world are constantly working to improve OpenOffice, adding new features and seeking to make some functions more user friendly. Finally, because OpenOffice.org is open source software, updates and new versions are always free.
* OpenOffice can be used in the Windows OS, Mac OS X, Linux, as well as in Sun's Solaris OS. The Mac specific version of OpenOffice has been released under the name NeoOffice and has integrated dozens of Mac specific features, including: native Aqua menus, Mac OS X fonts, and Finder integration, allowing Mac OS X to automatically launch NeoOffice when any OpenOffice or Microsoft Office document is double-clicked. Regardless of platform, the OpenOffice suite has you covered.
* Is there training and documentation available? You bet! First of all, there is the OpenOffice documentation site. From manuals to templates to user guides, this is a great place to find out about OpenOffice - check it out at http://documentation.openoffice.org. You can also find help at two very active OpenOffice user forums answering many of the most often asked questions - the "official" OpenOffice forum is available at http://user-faq.openoffice.org/ and another excellent user drive FAQ can be found at http://www.oooforum.org/. Finally, the OpenOffice community hosts an active support forum dealing with various OpenOffice issues for which people are needing answers (the support page also includes links to a number of excellent training and reference books available for order) follow this link to see the OpenOffice forum - http://support.openoffice.org/index.html . In addition, there are some other great websites where you can find the OpenOffice help you need... Tutorials for OpenOffice and also at Learn OpenOffice.
Recently, the State of Massachusetts released an initiative that orders that all state agencies and employees make the switch to the "OpenDocument" format, supported by OpenOffice - the initiative set forth Jan. 1, 2007, as the date by which all documents must be created and saved either as .pdf or in the OpenDocument (ODF) format; this format is based on "open" (non-proprietary) XML standards, ensuring that documents can be shared and used by a host of applications - you can read more about this switch at http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25845 Interested in reading a bit about what others think about OpenOffice and what other are doing with OpenOffice? Check out some of these links...
http://www.pcworld.co.nz/PCWorld/PCW.nsf/0/2bfbfcbc5349511acc256dea000ac694?OpenDocument
http://www.pc-tools.net/comment/openoffice/
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/magazine/technical/openofficewriter.html
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/10/04/HNdanishopenoffice_1.html
Created on 08/05/2005 03:15 PM by hansont
Updated on 02/08/2007 07:40 AM by hansont
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
