[olug] OT - Openoffice

[Will Langford]

On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 10:19 PM, Kelly Williams
<kellywilliams81 at gmail.com>wrote:

> I found this out on yahoo news.I thought you all should see this video on
> youtube on how Microsoft is trashing Openoffice.org and how big of a problem
> it is. Not true to me its simpler to use than Micro$oft office. What upsets
> me that they turned off the comments on there so no one can make a comment.
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzdykNa2IBU&feature=player_embedded
>
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20101014/tc_pcworld/microsoftadtrashesopenofficeorg
> _______________________________________________
>


Ars also ran a story about it.

http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/10/microsoft-posts-video-of-customers-criticizing-openoffice.ars

<http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2010/10/microsoft-posts-video-of-customers-criticizing-openoffice.ars>The
comments section seems to congeal into a sentiment that OOo is fine for
hobby / home use, but that it isn't so useful in a full spreadsheet jockey /
office dweller scenario.  The comments section also aptly mention that
Exchange and other integration in Office is sorely missing from OOo.

While there's not much to be said for the original Microsoft commercial, the
comments section of the Ars article are worth reading IMHO.

I typically avoid any office programs at all costs... I'm a coder damnit :).
 But I have used OOo in the past for a few things with very little trouble.
 Granted, I'd prolly still use Word Perfect for DOS if I had ease of access
to it.... since I tend to only use the word processor in office suites,
skipping all the spreadsheet & presentation stuff.  Abiword seemed alright
in my book as well.

It's been years since I've used any OOo / Office app, so ... while I may
think OOo is just fine, I'm sure there are regular Office users who would
disagree.... and I can't really offer a 'recent' opinion.

---------

Also - it's important to note that this is a good sign that OOo has become
important enough to warrant stomping on by Microsoft. It's also a great
avenue of attack, since OOo should be a flagship open source application. If
you discredit a flagship product, it's much easier to discredit the
ecosystem from whence it came.

-Will