I just downloaded OpenOffice... do I need to buy Microsoft Office?

[liberalpragmatist]

I just got a new computer (a Mac -- my first in years). It doesn't come with any office suite, however. I went ahead and downloaded OpenOffice.

Having gotten OpenOffice, is there really any need to go ahead and buy Microsoft Office or Apple iWork?

Some feedback would be appreciated.

[leeroysphitz]

1. No need. Open Office has EVERYTHING you need.

Good choice!

[KitchenWitch]

2. I have MS office on my laptop and Open Office on the desktop machine

they both open each other's files just fine.

Open Office is far less bloated with stuff that I do not use. IMHO you do not need MS Office.

[nickgutierrez]

3. In a word: No.

I've got a Mac, and I use NeoOffice (basically, OpenOffice semi-officially ported to Mac). Whatever you absolutely have to have in Microsoft whatever format, you can find a converter, or you can save it in that format in OpenOffice. It works just fine - maybe better - and it's both open-source and free. What's not to love?

Google Docs are out there, too - but I haven't used those in a while.

[Orrex]

4. I've used it primarily for its word processor, with no complaints

Well, two complaint, and they're minor:

I'm having trouble figuring out how to do selective word-counts. MS Word allows you to word-count a selected passage of text, but when I try what with Open Office's Writer program, it gives me the count for the whole document.

Also, when I save documents in RTF format, they sometimes wind up being huge, like 2.5megs for a file that I know shouldn't be more than 400K.


Like I said--minor complaints.

[Breeze54]

5. No! Open Office is the MS alternative!

It works just as good as MS Office, from what I've heard.

[UndertheOcean]

6. Latex is all you need !

[Systematic Chaos]

7. Open office is a beautiful thing.

I had "trial" versions of MS Office and the various Works programs on my old HP, and after they expired I actually thought about sending Bill Gates my money. Then, I read about Open Office here on the DU and haven't looked back since.

I now have an iMac with Boot Camp and use O.O. in both OSX and Windows XP. Excellent programs!

[DarkTirade]

8. I haven't had any complaints so far.

[JCMach1]

9. No, AND you can even download the MS Office reader for

free just to open those pesky .docx xlsx files.