OpenOffice.org V1.1
 A spreadsheet and chart in OpenOffice Calc. |
OpenOffice (OO) is available as a free download, a 65MB ZIP file, or can be purchased on a CD for a nominal fee. When unzipped, the download includes a Setup Guide in PDF format that is as complete as any of the other applications installation documentation.
Our test system did not have Java preinstalled and when the OO installation reaches this point the option to install Java is inexplicably greyed out. We had to download and install Java then use the Browse button to locate the new Java installation. Other than the Java glitch, the install was almost identical to, and ran as smoothly as, StarOffice (SO).
Some may argue that OpenOffice's support is a minimal but the OpenOffice Web site provides an extensive FAQ and the OpenOffice Forum would be a wealth of information, and one could argue that it may provide better support in some circumstances some vendors.
It is no surprise that OO's suite is identical to SO with a Word Processor (Writer), Spreadsheet (Calc), presentation (Impress) and drawing package (Draw). The only item that appears missing is the database component and of course OO does not include an e-mail program so you will have to supply your own.
Like SO, the applications are tightly integrated and you can load a spreadsheet directly from Writer without any dramas, Writer will simply "become" Calc. The look and feel of the OO suite is nigh identical to SO, the only noticeable difference is that SO uses larger and "prettier" graphics in the buttons and menus. It is also interesting to note that in Windows Task Manager the OO process is named soffice.exe, the same as SO.
Like its almost identical twin, OO is very snappy handling its own file formats, most of the time marginally quicker than SO, for example six seconds to load a 76-page complex document compared to SO's seven seconds to load the same document. OpenOffice also suffers a bout of indigestion when asked to stomach an MS Word format file but it still managed to load the file in 53 seconds compared to SO's 54 seconds. Admittedly the average user will not notice the difference.
We were quite astonished when OO (remember it is free) opened our MS Word format document and maintained the layout without overlapping or dropping graphic images, something SO occasionally botched up.
However, like SO we found that the OO incarnation of Impress sometimes tended to erase portions of background images when manual events were triggered too close together, and the Excel format charts suffered the same loss of X-axis formatting.
In all other aspects OO and SO are like a pair of identical twins but more so, they even behave the same, you can take a user from one package to another and the only difference they will probably find is, as previously mentioned, the button and menu icons.
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| Product | OpenOffice.org V1.1 |
| Price | Free to download |
| Vendor | OpenOffice.org |
| Phone | N/A |
| Web | www.openoffice.org |
| Interoperability |  ½ |
| Runs on Windows, Linux, and Solaris. | |
| Futureproofing |  ½ |
| File support limited to Microsoft Office, some generic standards, and “Star suite” file types. | |
| ROI |  |
| Powerful and highly integrated office suite--and it's free. | |
| Service |  |
| Lack of broad vendor support but the online FAQ and large user forum go a long way to compensate. | |
| Rating |  ½ |
Database access http://dba.openoffice.org/