[slurpee55]

Actually, I found that Novell has released their version of OO with compatibility for 2007 already.
Check out here:
http://go-oo.org/

[Hoovooloo]

Oh even better. Thanks.

[computerman29642]

Have you ever used MS Office? If so, you know how it works. So, I would download Open Office (It's free anyways), and compare the two products.

I personally prefer MS Office, but that is probably due to the fact that I have come accustomed to the design and functionality of MS Office.

[Hoovooloo]

I've been using MS Office for years, but like I said in my first post, I'm stuck using Office 2002 atm so am looking to upgrade to something more modern.

I was told by someone yesterday that OpenOffice doesn't have an equivalent to Publisher? Is this right?

[caraewilton]

No, it does not have publisher equivalent. What do you use publisher for? Depending on what you do, may be worth looking at alternatives.

[Hoovooloo]

Mainly posters and fliers.

Which one is the OO equivalent? Draw?

[caraewilton]

Open office does have a draw application which you can use to make fliers and posters.

[Hoovooloo]

Cool.

I'll have to give it a go then. Thanks.

[Bob Cerelli]

The Novell one starts much faster.

For whatever reason, embedded graphics in Word 2007 native format aren't showing up. They do in the .doc version.

[Hoovooloo]

Cheers for that Bob.

[letchworth]

I have used OOo predominantly for about 7 years now-- and am very happy with it. I use it at home and I use it for my professional work. No one has ever complained of not being able to read a file I have sent and I have only ever noticed one file that looked differently on my screen than what was expected.

Before that time I primarily used Publisher (since version 2.0) for all word processing functions as well as DTP (a self-imposed learning decision).

My copy of Office was licensed to my wife (from her job) and when she wanted a computer of her own, the license went with it- I decided to try OOo.

For my DTP work I have turned to Page Plus by Serif. My many years with MSPublisher still means that I tend to think in "Publisher"- but find that I can do everything with PagePlus (& more)-- I do wonder if your old copy of Publisher would suffice for what you may need along with OOo.

letchworth

[Jack1000]

What else is different from Novell OO compared to the other OO? (Other than Novel has docx support for MO 2007 docs.) How long has the new Novell version been around?

Jack

PS. I heard the new version of OO is slated for September and will offer full docx. support.

Users with MS Office 2003 and below on their computers who wish to view Office 2007 docx. file formats must either:

1.) Download the docx file converter to view Office 2007 files OR

2.) Ask the user with Office 2007 to send the files to you in Office compatibility (97-2003) mode. (with a doc. extension)

Users who DO NOT have MS Word on their computers can Open, Save and Print MS Word Documents with the Word Viewer, available for download here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Open the documents from inside the viewer.

If you want to be able to open docx. files using Word Viewer 2003 you must also install the Office 2007 file compatibility pack. This process is also required if you have the viewers for such programs as Excel 2003 or Power Point 2003. AN OFFICE APPLICATION 2003 VIEWER (i.e Word, Excel, Power Point) for the programs you want to use, is a MINIMUM requirement for the Office 2007 file converter. The Office 2007 file converter WILL NOT work by itself. You must have another MS Office program on your computer and/or the respected viewer(s) installed for the documents to be converted! Here is the Office 2007 file converter download,

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en

MS recommends running Windows Update before installing the converter, so you should do that first.

[caraewilton]

Letchworth has a good suggestion there. Serif page plus is pretty good. They have a free version, an economical version $9.99 and a new version for $100. The free and economical version can be downloaded here. The new version can be found here.
Again try it and see if you like.

Personally I do not like publisher, but fwiw there is no difference between publisher 2003 and 2007. So you could look at buying a stand alone publisher 2003. It will cost much less.

The Novel version of open office, as suggested by Slurpee opens the new office 2007 files. As someone else mentioned, embeded graphics are not showing up in docx files but it does load faster than the normal version. Other than that, I can't find any other major differences. On the site they say it has support for VBA macros and handles excel files better. Another point, It took less time to download, so possibly a faster server than openoffice.org (I may have just been lucky).