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OpenOffice.Org Webinar 0208
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Overview and introduction to OpenOffice.org
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- 1.
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- OpenOffice.org: Free and Open Source Office Suite
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- Michelle Murrain, Nonprofit Open Source Initiative
2. What well cover today
- Brief history of OpenOffice.org
- OpenOffice.org components
- Examples of use (and demos)
3. OpenOffice.org...
- is a cross-platform, mutli-function office suite
- is software that supports open standards
- reads and writes MS Office formats (except .docx)
- is free (as in beer) as well as free software/open source
- is not Open Office! (Trademark issues)
4. Cross Platform
- Available as a free download from openoffice.org for
windows
- Is bundled with most Linux distributions
- Two versions are available for Macintosh
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- Official OpenOffice.org works only with X-Windows
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- NeoOffice is an Aqua port of OpenOffice.org
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- Official Aqua port is in alpha
5. 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
6. OpenOffice.org Components
- Impress presentation program
7. OpenOffice.org Components
- are the basics of any office suite, and more
- have similar interfaces (easy to get familiar with)
8. Writer
- lots of input and output filters
9. Calc
- lots of input/output fiters
10. Impress
- reads and writes .ppt files
- templates, master pages, etc.
- this presentation was written using Impress
11. 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)
12. Drawing
- useful for diagrams and flowcharts
13. Math
- nice equation editor, if you need one
14. HTML Editor 15. Strengths of OOo
- 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
16. Strengths, cont.
- Components are integrated
- backed by Sun, IBM and Novell, among others
- lots of third party extensions
17. Weaknesses of OOo
- still a few kinks to work out
- OOoMS Office rendering has issues at times
- Menus and features are different than MS Office
- true collaborative editing between OOo and MS Office doesnt
work well (but thats less of an issue now than it used to be.)
- Can be slower/take more resources than MS Office
18. Open Standards
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- Faithful reading and rendering of files forever
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- Faithful reading and rendering of files no matter what the
software used
- Open Document Format vs. Office Open XML
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- ODF is a bonified open standard (since 2006)
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- 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.
19. Examples of use
- Writing articles/whitepapers, etc.
20. How to get help
- OpenOffice.org IRC channel
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- #OpenOffice.org on irc.freenode.net
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- it is possible to get immediate help with problems
21. Should you migrate?
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- committed to open standards/open source
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- need inexpensive software
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- run out of donation licenses for MS Office
22. Should you migrate, cont.
- Ask about how much interoperability you need with MS Office or
other office suites
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- read/write all types of documents
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- interoperability with MS Access
- Platform is also an issue
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- Windows and Linux versions of OpenOffice.org are good.
Macintosh versions are lagging
23. Should you migrate, cont.
- 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
- lots of collaborative editing
- integration with MS Access required
- uses bleeding edge MS-only functionality
Smooth Sailing Rough Waters 24. Should you migrate, cont.
- 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.
25. 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
26. 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.