OpenOffice.Org Webinar 0208

OpenOffice.org: Free and Open Source Office Suite
Michelle Murrain, Nonprofit Open Source Initiative
February 26 th 2008

What we’ll cover today
What is OpenOffice.org
Brief history of OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org components
Writer
Calc
Impress
Base
Other components
Strengths and Weaknesses
Examples of use (and demos)
How to get help
Do you migrate?

OpenOffice.org...
is a cross-platform, mutli-function office suite
is software that supports open standards
reads and writes MS Office formats (except .docx)
has matured considerably
is free (as in beer) as well as free software/open source
is not Open Office! (Trademark issues)

Cross Platform
Available as a free download from openoffice.org for windows
Is bundled with most Linux distributions
Two versions are available for Macintosh
Official OpenOffice.org works only with X-Windows
NeoOffice is an Aqua port of OpenOffice.org
Official Aqua port is in alpha

Brief History of OpenOffice.org
Originally a proprietary office suite
Bought by Sun Microsystems in 1999
Most of the code was released as open source as OpenOffice.org in 2000
OpenOffice.org 1.0 released in 2002
StarOffice still exists, and has some proprietary components (like the database, and clip art, etc.)
OpenOffice.org is now on version 2.3.1

OpenOffice.org Components
Writer – word processor
Calc – spreadsheet
Impress – presentation program
Base – desktop database
Drawing – drawing program
HTML editor
Formula Editor

OpenOffice.org Components
are the basics of any office suite, and more
work together
have similar interfaces (easy to get familiar with)
are full-functioning
are pretty much bug-free

Writer
Word Processor
lots of input and output filters
exports directly to PDF
columns, tables, etc.

Calc
Spreadsheet
Graphs
Functions
lots of input/output fiters

Impress
reads and writes .ppt files
templates, master pages, etc.
animation
this presentation was written using Impress

Base
Designed as an Access clone
Uses HSQLDB (foss Java database) for back-end or can use other databases via ODBC
can read Access files (table structure and data only)
Not equivalent to Access (think Access97)

Drawing
Basic draw program
useful for diagrams and flowcharts

Math
nice equation editor, if you need one

HTML Editor

Strengths of OOo
Open Source
Free (as in beer)
depends on open standards
reads and writes MS Office formats (except ooxml at this point)
Google docs reads OOo files
90% of the functionality of Word, Excel and Powerpoint

Strengths, cont.
Components are integrated
Lots of developers
backed by Sun, IBM and Novell, among others
lots of third party extensions

Weaknesses of OOo
still a few kinks to work out
Base isn’t up to snuff
can’t read ooxml yet
OOo<->MS Office rendering has issues at times
Menus and features are different than MS Office
true collaborative editing between OOo and MS Office doesn’t work well (but that’s less of an issue now than it used to be.)
Not as slick
Can be slower/take more resources than MS Office

Open Standards
What are they?
Why are they important?
Faithful reading and rendering of files forever
Faithful reading and rendering of files no matter what the software used
Open Document Format vs. Office Open XML
ODF is a bonified open standard (since 2006)
OOXML has not been approved as a standard yet (a big meeting about it is happening this week.) Word on the street is that it might not happen.

Examples of use
Letters
Writing articles/whitepapers, etc.
Newsletters
Contact lists
Charts and graphs
Presentations
Simple databases

How to get help
OpenOffice.org Forums
Active and helpful
OpenOffice.org IRC channel
#OpenOffice.org on irc.freenode.net
I hang out there
it is possible to get immediate help with problems
OpenOffice.org Links

Should you migrate?
First, for whom?
individual
organization
Some users
All users
Then, ask why?
committed to open standards/open source
need inexpensive software
run out of donation licenses for MS Office

Should you migrate, cont.
Ask about how much interoperability you need with MS Office or other office suites
read/write all types of documents
collaborative editing
interoperability with MS Access
Platform is also an issue
Windows and Linux versions of OpenOffice.org are good. Macintosh versions are lagging

tech-savvy users
no need for collaborative editing of documents
no integration with MS Access required
few very high-level MS-specific functionality used
have both Windows and Linux users
less tech-savvy users
lots of collaborative editing
integration with MS Access required
uses bleeding edge MS-only functionality
want the cheesy clip-art
Smooth Sailing Rough Waters

There are differing opinions about how much training is needed to move people to become comfortable with OOo.
Certainly, the vast majority of organizational tasks that MS Office can do, can be done with OOo (with the exception of MS Access functionality.)
Assessment of both functionality needed, as well as end-user issues must be balanced with impetus to migrate, if any.

Process of Migration
Talk to end-users. Make sure all functions that they need have an equivalent (or work-around.)
Allow time for training, and users to get used to it.
If some users in an organization still have MS Office, make sure that the default setting is to save in MS Office formats

Conclusions
OpenOffice.org is a full-featured, cross-platform, mature office suite that you should at least download and try out
It is based on open standards
It has all of the features (and more) of MS Word, Powerpoint, and Excel
It is freely available, and open source
It has the backing of big companies, so it is not going away
It does have weaknesses, and migration to OOo is not a slam-dunk.

OpenOffice.Org Webinar 0208

by Michelle Murrain on May 19, 2008

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