Posted by Agent/CA on 3/30/07 12:03pm
Msg #182875

Microsoft Office - necessary in our bz to upgrade to 2007

Microsoft Office - necessary in our bz to upgrade to 2007...just bought new computer system, rec'd trial version of Microsoft Office 2003. Now time to purchase and wondering if it is necessary to upgrade to 2007 version or which version will be fine in our bz for atleast a few years to come. Thanks much for your input.

Reply by PL on 3/30/07 12:08pm
Msg #182878

I use XP office

and I believe that office is office is office. The only question I might have is Office 2003 compatible with Vista ( which I assume is the operating system)?

Reply by cara on 3/30/07 1:34pm
Msg #182901

I just got a new desktop in two months ago and uninstalled the trial 2007 version without opening it up. (I recently taught MS Office to high school and adult learners). I figured that it was risky enough using new Vista operating system within 1st 6 months, that I did not want to deal with potential bugs in new Office suite, too. I use 2003 right now and will probably do so for at least one year and until I become aware of some to-die-for feature required by a future Adobe or another program I regularly use.

Reply by Ever/CA on 3/30/07 2:16pm
Msg #182947

To my knowledge, Adobe does not depend on Office...

I could be wrong. Would love to be corrected.

Reply by cara on 3/30/07 2:48pm
Msg #182961

Re: To my knowledge, Adobe does not depend on Office...

No, it does not depend on Office, at all.

I cannot remember exactly what prompted me to upgrade to Office 03 (before I was teaching it), but I think it was a newer version of Adobe (at that time) that could interface with Office 2003 better. Since use Adobe and Office a lot, the new interface feature was important at the time and prompted me to open my purse to Bill Gates.

Reply by Mumbo719/FL on 3/30/07 3:28pm
Msg #182973

Adobe does not depend on M$ Office n/m

Reply by Mumbo719/FL on 3/30/07 3:24pm
Msg #182972

Re: Microsoft Office - Save the Money!

No need to spend all that hunderds of dollars for a M$ product when there is an open source and free product named Open Office. It will open any M$ format (doc,xls,ppt) In many ways it is better than M$ office plus most of the menu's and shortcuts are the same.

check it out here, it's a free download. http://www.openoffice.org/

Regards,

Reply by BrendaTx on 3/30/07 4:03pm
Msg #182987

Re: Microsoft Office - Save the Money! - Agreed...

**In many ways it is better than M$ office plus most of the menu's and shortcuts are the same.
**

I use it and use MS Word...just curious...how is Open Office BETTER than MS in your opinion?

Reply by Mumbo719/FL on 3/30/07 4:40pm
Msg #182998

Re: Microsoft Office - Save the Money! - Agreed...

1.It's free
2.It opens most document types (office, Word perfect, Star Office)
3.M$ products do not open the Open Documents being adopted by state governments.
4.ODF is becoming the global standard for all document types.
5.It is already using the ODF (Open Document Format) for Office Applications.
6.It creates PDF files from any of it's applications. (M$ products do not offer this)

State governments are starting to adopt the ODF document format.

Oregon Is The Latest State To Consider Adopting ODF Office Standard - http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=198700703
California Is Another State To Consider Move To Open Documents
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197700104
Texas, Minnesota eye move to ODF
http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/02/06/HNtexasminnodf_1.html

The more state governments that switch from M$ to Linux the more you will need the Open Document Format. As of now a few state governments have plans to switch from Windows to a free operating system like Linux, BSD and Unix.

Reply by BrendaTx on 3/30/07 4:46pm
Msg #183000

Re: Microsoft Office - Save the Money! - Agreed...

Thank you. Nice info. However, Texas has not yet checked with me regarding the swap over to ODF so it's certainly not a done deal.

Reply by Mumbo719/FL on 3/30/07 4:53pm
Msg #183004

Re: Microsoft Office - Save the Money! - Agreed...

Yep, not a done deal yet but state governments are looking to trim budgets and all the licensing fees paid to M$ on a per user basis are costing taxpayers dearly. It may not happen this week but there are bills in the works for the states listed as well as a few more. By the end of the decade I would think half of the states would be using a free software suite.

from the article.

Texas and Minnesota may become the second and third U.S. states to adopt ODF (Open Document Format for XML) as the standard file format for government documents instead of the file format that Microsoft uses in its Office 2007 software suite.

Two separate bills up for legislative consideration in each state propose to mandate the use of an open, XML-based file format that is "interoperable among diverse internal and external platforms and applications; fully published and available royalty-free; implemented by multiple vendors; and controlled by an open industry organization with a well-defined inclusive process for evolution of the standard," according to the Minnesota House of Representatives bill, which can be found here.

The Texas bill, which can be found here, uses similar wording to describe the file format the states intend to support.

regards,

Reply by Ever/CA on 3/30/07 4:52pm
Msg #183003

Wow!

Thanks for all that info! I'd always thought OpenOffice was only for Linux/Unix. Boy, am I so wrong! I'll definitely check it out.

Reply by Mumbo719/FL on 3/30/07 4:55pm
Msg #183005

Re: Wow!

yea there is a lot of good free software, Open iffice is a killer app though and works great on all Windows versions. (ME, 2000, NT, XP and Vista)

Reply by MikeC/NY on 3/30/07 4:17pm
Msg #182992

OpenOffice

I agree, OO is a great product (and the price is right - who doesn't like free?), but if you're used to MS Office it can be frustrating at times until you get a handle on some of the quirks. Not that it doesn't work properly, it just does some things differently. For instance, it took me a while to figure out how to paginate a document properly, something that MS Office does easily - OO will do it, but you have to dig a bit to find out how.

It's also missing some features, such as generating Tables of Authority (something that would be of interest only to paralegals and lawyers, and I know there are some here). But for most common, every day business tasks it does everything MS Office will do.

Reply by Mumbo719/FL on 3/30/07 5:41pm
Msg #183019

Re: OpenOffice

Some of the smaller law firms I know use Open Office but most still use M$.

As far as the learning curve I agree, it's no worse than switching from M$ to say a Quicken or Money Dance.

Reply by Joan Bergstrom on 3/30/07 8:33pm
Msg #183063

I recommend this all the time

openoffice.org is the way to go. I bought office years ago but this product is every bit as good and the price is right! Free!!

Reply by BrendaTx on 3/30/07 5:02pm
Msg #183007

IMHO - 2007 is "prettier" but I did not like the interface as well as I like 2003 or OpenOffice. I feel the floating menus, etc. are a pita.

Reply by Mumbo719/FL on 3/30/07 5:44pm
Msg #183021

Re: Microsoft Office - necessary in our bz to upgrade to 200

Haven't tried M$ office in a couple of years. Purchased a new computer in October and the first thing I did was wipe off Windows and install Linux.

How do you like Vista?

Reply by CaliNotary on 3/30/07 10:21pm
Msg #183081

Why would it be necessary?

We all managed to run our businesses just fine before it hit the market.

Reply by Mary_CT on 3/31/07 8:43pm
Msg #183198

The interface is startling at first because it is SUCH a dramatic upgrade....but after using it for about 2 days,....no problem.

Is it necessary? Since our tasks are dependent on printing, email, and an accounting program (Quickbooks)....NOPE!

But I love VISTA..... and recommend it highly for anyone who wants to work with the best interface.

:-)

Reply by Mary_CT on 3/31/07 8:46pm
Msg #183199

and I love Office 2007!

To check it out go to the MSFT site...they have demos and free downloads of 2007 for 30 days.

It is very different, so be prepared...but keep an open mind...it is more intuitive to use.