OpenOffice.org 1.1.4
OpenOffice.org is a free, open-source office suite based on StarOffice, a product that Sun purchased in 1999. You can also buy StarOffice from Sun for $60 per user, which includes the Adabas D database, customer support, and some extra fonts, templates, and file filters based on code not licensed for open-source distribution. OpenOffice.org 1.1.4, the current stable release, includes the Writer word processor, Calc spreadsheet, Impress presentation software, and Draw vector-based drawing program. Version 1.9, the current beta precursor to Open Office.org 2.0, also includes Math, a mathematical equation editor similar to features found in both WordPerfect and Word. Like WordPerfect, OpenOffice.org can read and write Office documents, but not all elements convert correctly. Although OpenOffice.org's document-editing features were comparable to the other two suites, the product's performance and deployment features disappointed me.
>Word processing. I performed the same document-conversion tests for OpenOffice.org as for WordPerfect Office. OpenOffice.org Writer performed well converting most elements of my Word document but failed to convert the page size and orientation for a section that had a special page setup. However, Writer converted the changes to the margin that I made on that page. Like WordPerfect, OpenOffice.org also failed to convert paragraph borders and macros. It displayed WordArt but missed some properties, such as the angle of the text, as Figure 3 shows. I also had sporadic problems reopening Word documents I'd saved. OpenOffice.org 1.1.4 hung with 100 percent processor utilization for 5 minutes before I closed it. Other documents worked without a problem, though. Both Word and the OpenOffice.org 1.9 beta, which I also tested, opened the same documents without a problem, so my experience was probably just a bug that has since been fixed. Both OpenOffice.org versions preserved changes I'd made by using Word's Track Changes, which gives it an edge over WordPerfect for sharing documents with Word users.
>Spreadsheet. OpenOffice.org was a bit more successful than Word at converting an Excel document, but it lost the number of digits to display in fraction and formula formatting. Calc also provided most of Excel's formula-auditing features, but I was disappointed that it didn't identify inconsistent formulas, one of my favorite Excel features.
>Presentation. OpenOffice.org Impress also did well converting my PowerPoint presentation. It kept my master slide, notes, action buttons, and sounds but lost transitions and animations.
>Deployment. OpenOffice.org includes a setup.exe file for deployment. Although you can perform silent installs from a response file, creating such a response file involves manually editing a text file instead of creating it based on responses to a GUI install. Documentation about the silent install feature is also hard to come by, but I got it to work by copying a file I found in the OpenOffice.org forums. Mass deployment is possible with OpenOffice.org 1.1.4, but it's not quite as easy as deploying the Office .msi file through Group Policy. OpenOffice.org 1.1.4 also lacks a patching mechanism; I had to apply a recommended security patch by downloading a .dll file and placing it in the correct directory, a scriptable but potentially cumbersome process. Fortunately, the OpenOffice.org 1.9 beta includes a Windows Installer (.msi) package, so future deployment prospects for the product are excellent.
It's hard to criticize free software that provides most of the functionality you're likely to need, but when it comes to employee productivity, compromise can be expensive. OpenOffice.org did better overall at converting my Office documents than WordPerfect, but the UI was occasionally sluggish and the deployment procedures were inadequate. I believe OpenOffice.org has a short way to go to start taking market share from Microsoft and is an excellent solution for individuals (I use it at home), but I'm still sticking with Office for business use for now.
Office 2003
Being shackled to the Office binary file format isn't the only reason so many organizations use Office. The product also has some great features that go beyond document editing. For example, Office 2003 lets users edit and save documents directly from Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server document workspaces without having to save them locally. This capability lets you easily add version control and discussion forums to file sharing. Office 2003 also includes the research task pane, which will look up words or phrases for you in a dictionary and thesaurus, look up stock symbols and company profiles, search for help with using the product online as well as through the built-in Help, or translate your document into another language. Office 2003 also supports smart tags across Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Smart tags are fields that automatically update themselves with data from various sources, such as stock quotes from the Internet.
>Deployment. Most IT pros have experience with deploying some version of Office to multiple clients on a network. If you haven't deployed Office 2003 yet, the process is about the same. It's Windows Installer–based and supports silent installs, so that you can deploy it by using Group Policy. You can use Windows Installer transforms to apply custom settings and create your own response-based transforms with the included tools. If you don't have Microsoft Office Professional Enterprise Edition 2003, however, Office 2003 requires users to activate each installation by sending information over the Internet to Microsoft. Although nagware of this sort is acceptable on shareware products, it's an unexpected and annoying drawback on something you've already paid for. It's also something you won't have to deal with if you choose WordPerfect or OpenOffice.org.
The biggest drawback to Office is its price. Retail pricing for the full edition is more than $100 more per license than WordPerfect Office 12. Upgrade pricing is $90 more, and because Corel offers its upgrade pricing to customers switching from Office, you could certainly save money by switching. OpenOffice.org is free, even for commercial use, making Microsoft's product seem even more expensive by comparison.
Office Still #1
Office 2003 is the most expensive of the three products I tested, but nevertheless I give it the Editor's Choice. I failed to find any features in the other products compelling enough to make me want to switch. My existing documents and the people I share documents with all use Office's binary format. Even if only a small number of documents don't display correctly in WordPerfect or OpenOffice.org, avoiding the hassle of fixing them is worth the extra cost. Since I'm not particularly excited about any of Office 2003's unique features, I'll be eager to take a second look should WordPerfect or OpenOffice.org leverage Microsoft's XML-based formats to improve their ability to convert documents in a future release.
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