OpenOffice.org 3.3.0

Rated 10/50 by Hilbert at Dec 19, 2009

For years I've tried to escape the clutches of M$ Office. Have used OO many times on many different machines--since before Sun when it was StarOffice and every time I have to return to M$ Office because of a gotcha--often many multiple gotchas. - There's no decent grammar checker. - MS Office 2000--right ancient 2000--speller leaves OO for dead. - And for years OO hasn't even been able to provide shortcut keys that even keep up with M$ Office, let alone exceed them. For example, where's the OO equivalent of CTRL-T or CTRL-Q? Right, how many years has MSO had them? 15 years or more, yet OO can't even get a shortcut right! Heaven forbid, it's only shortcut keys after all. - There are so many places where OO's feature set is STILL a subset of M$ Office 2000. Once we open software advocates expected OO to lead in the feature set but that's nothing but a forlorn hope long dead. - There are all sorts of rough edges in the configuration it'd take too long to describe here. - Simply, M$ Office 2000 (not 2007) is always our reference for when we do comparisons of other office products. Continually, year after year, OpenOffice lags behind M$ Office 2000 in the most elementary and necessary operational features. - OO can't even call it self OpenOffice--it has to add an org (just because the name is registered in one European country and they're too damn lazy to make an exception for that country). Every time one deploys OO one has to go around multiple machines and rename all the shortcuts from OpenOffice.org to OpenOffice (users think dot org goes to the net). When they continually screw up minor details like this year after year, version after version even open software zealots like me have to call it quits. This latest version adds nothing of use except perhaps the last rotation of the Titanic's deckchairs. It's a terrible shame that the so-called flagship of the open software movement has become so moribund. Unfortunately, M$ laughs

Rated 10/50 by russandmarj at Dec 20, 2009

"Has a virus that turns off your firewall upon loading!!" Never tried to use. First day I loaded it I notice the virus. Once I removed the program It went away. I have many spyware and malware programs running and none of them could remove this. Don't want something that shuts down my firewall. WARNING: Firewall virus attached!!!

Rated 10/50 by SordoPelon at Dec 20, 2009

"Doesn't show up on desktop." None to speak of. Doesn't show up on desktop.

Rated 30/50 by roj at Dec 21, 2009

Have they FINALLY fixed the Recently used Documents to allow you to 1) clear it and 2) auto remove documents that no longer exist or have moved form their location? That's an obvious glaring UI oversight and its omission is completely asinine. Also, in case you haven't figured it out, Sun's Staroffice uses the same code base pretty much beta tested by users of OO. It's a nice way to cut testing costs. They don't need more developers - they have them. What they need is more forward thinking guidance. THREE stars - one star lost for little refinements like that which are missing.

Rated 50/50 by Alpha258 at Dec 21, 2009

It sure doesn't look very pretty but they will beautify the GUI in the future so I don't mind. I actually prefer this over MS Office because it makes some features really easy to use. MS Office is too complicated in many different ways. To access some of the same features in MS Office I have to search the internet for some kind of shortcut using Ctrl and F(x) etc. This wastes alot of the time I could be using to write my essay/letter/etc.

Rated 50/50 by vondon at Dec 21, 2009

"use for years- excellent" excellent versatility. Handles all requirements. Learning can be a problem if just starting with open office. Startup was slow but now no problem. Used it for everything from websites to proposals. This includes Drawings.

Rated 40/50 by pupster40 at Dec 21, 2009

"Excellent alternative to Office" Does all the things that one needs in text, spreadsheet, and presentation software. A little hard to get used to from an Office standpoint, (formulae and setups). Being a person who learned on Office it is hard to shift over to a new package, but that is my only complaint. This software is as good as one needs to get the job done.

Rated 30/50 by muunlitr at Dec 28, 2009

"I Like It but there is a learning curve . . ." All in all this is a great product that does everything MSO does and has great design tools as well. Buy it for FREE and allow plenty of time for learning. Use the View tab and make sure you have all the tools you need showing. I have complaints about how some docs print funny. The fonts print smaller (going down from 12 to 8) and the document shows up at the top right-hand of the page when printed. Not good. Table functions are not so friendly either, compared to MS Word. Customer service is non-existent so you have to depend on the forums who may or may not understand your questions. If you search Google for help, remember to include which version of OO you're using. Be patient. Be very, very patient. . .

Rated 40/50 by cpwyan at Dec 30, 2009

"A Nice alrenative to MS Office" It allows me to use things I need without costing an arm and a leg. I also like the fatc that it will open Microsoft documents. Nothing so far

Rated 50/50 by Elljl at Dec 30, 2009

"Excellent software." Mostly everything. Excellent layout. Compatible with many O/Ss Becomes unstable when using Writer/Web. An excellent choice of software. OpenOffice.org is definitely giving Microsoft Office a run for its money! And best of all, it's FREE!

Rated 50/50 by agarlyn at Dec 30, 2009

"very very good" can do any of microsoft software files. and it is free none so far excellent and free

Rated 50/50 by pie guy at Jan 1, 2010

"You don't always get what you pay for..." Massively powerful and successfully rivals MSO. Reads and saves documents from and to many formats including MS. Mostly intuitive, but help available for free from forums, or for fee from various entrepreneurs (you're not ever likely to need it). Nothing worth noting. Sometimes a bit more work for more advanced use, but fro most mainstream use it is unbeatable. Best of all, it is FREE.

Rated 50/50 by Lestwist40 at Jan 4, 2010

"Love it free and better than MS office." Does better than the payed for programs out there. None..When using beta or rRC versions there will be bugs to get out. Get this office suite..the plugins are perfect for this App.

Rated 30/50 by morgantobin at Jan 5, 2010

"Alright - Not great" Free of charge Missing much of the functionality and features found in MS Office Hit or Miss when converting to and from other file formats

Rated 40/50 by wil2ya at Jan 6, 2010

"great product" does what i need nothing so far for price can't be beat

Rated 40/50 by Zexcrememator at Jan 6, 2010

"Great alternative to MSO" Extensible, free and open-source with a very active community. Bugs are actually dealt with. Very well and clearly documented, with good tutorials. Skinnable Hard to grasp at times; Lacks a few functions MSO has; Cannot read MSO07 documents properly; No eye candy by default. It takes a while to get used to if you are switching from MSO but with time you'll get to know how to do what you like. Best thing is it is free and does basically what MSO can do. Good for poor students ^_~

Rated 40/50 by experimental003 at Jan 8, 2010

"a wonderful, free alternative to MSO" great interface, useful plugins some trouble customizing the interface to use something other than the default I've only been familiar with MSW and Open Office works wonderfully

Rated 50/50 by tooke86 at Jan 9, 2010

"Don't waste your money on MS Office. This is free." It's free. It may not have all the bells and whistles of MS Office, but it doesn't cost $100 either. There are no cons. It's free. I wish I had known about openoffice.org 3.1.1 before I shelled out over $100 for MS Office 7.

Rated 50/50 by S4Freedom at Jan 12, 2010

"An excellent alternative to Microsoft Word." It has the same type of quality to the new versions of MS word.I recommend downloading this virus-free word processor rather than buying those complicated and expensive word processors. Nope....nothing.Just a great application for everyone to use.

Rated 50/50 by cool_guy at Jan 14, 2010

If you go to their web site: http://www.openoffice.or...beta.html#general_speed "OpenOffice.org 3.2 Calc and Writer have both reduced 'cold start' time by 46% since version 3.0 was released just over a year ago, according to tests by our developers (results will vary on different operating systems and hardware)." This is actually true and it was the first thing I noticed. These two programs indeed start a lot quicker than previous versions. Although the start-up time is now acceptable, I would still recommend further improvements however it is a very good start so well done OOo! team! In relation to the UI, I miss the original StarOffice 5.2 toolbar look. http://linuxbook.orbdesi...h11/images/btlb1116.jpg I personally like that look better over the today's one except for the fact that toolbars cannot be docked/un-docked. Back in the late 90s, when StarOffice was not owned by Sun, I preferred it over MS Office. OOo team, in the past I've rated you low because of slow start-up speed but this time I am giving you 5 stars because you truly deserve it and I am actually quite happy with what you have done. Keep up the good work! 5 stars from me!