Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/06/30

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Subject: [Leica] OT: OpenOffice Suite
From: pklein at 2alpha.net (Peter Klein)
Date: Fri Jun 30 18:03:29 2006

Off-Topic Question, but I'm sure I'll get the answer here:

We're becoming a two-computer household.  Per my company's agreement with 
MS, we may buy Office 2003 from the "work at home" program for a nominal 
fee. But we are only allowed to use it on one computer, or one desktop and 
one portable.

Well, I've now got two desktops.  They will be on a simple home network 
with Internet access.  I really don't relish shelling out another $200 
(employee purchase) for another copy of the Office suite. Since I wish to 
be legal here, I'm considering several alternatives:

1.  Switch to Sun's OpenOffice suite, which is free, and can supposedly 
read and write documents in Office's formats. My wife can use the Office 
Suite.
2.  I have an old licensed copy of Word 97 I could use (but it's old).
3.  Buy a standalone copy of Word upgrade for $110. She uses that, I use 
the Office suite.

Complications:  My wife needs to stick with current MS stuff, as that's 
what they use at her job.  I don't think she needs anything but the word 
processor, and some multi-lingual capabilities provided through the OS 
(she's a translator).

I don't do a lot of document work at home.  I mostly write letters, plus 
the occasional article, and I mess with the occasional spreadsheet. I'm not 
sure I want to get involved with something whose user interface is very 
different from the standard MS stuff, since that's what I support at work. 
But free is nice, and I don't like The Monopoly and their retail prices.

Thoughts, anyone?  I'm particularly interested in people who used 
OpenOffice for themselves when they use MS-Office at work, or collaborate 
with people who do.  Is this practical?

--Peter


Replies: Reply from rangefinder at screengang.com (Didier Ludwig) ([Leica] OT: OpenOffice Suite)
Reply from douglas.sharp at gmx.de (Douglas Sharp) ([Leica] OT: OpenOffice Suite)
Reply from jsmith342 at cox.net (Jeffery Smith) ([Leica] OT: OpenOffice Suite)
Reply from nathan at nathanfoto.com (Nathan Wajsman) ([Leica] OT: OpenOffice Suite)
Reply from pdzwig at summaventures.com (Peter Dzwig) ([Leica] OT: OpenOffice Suite)