On Monday 21 January 2008 14:19:17 James Knott wrote:
John Shelton wrote:
I am here because I would like to find out that most of my problems with Open Office are related to the learning process and perhaps not the fault of the program itself.
No-ones fault just the normal learning curve associated with using a new piece of software. However there are many good reasons http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2006/07/top_ten_reasons.html
Regardless of the problem, I am finding it very difficult to "do things" with Open Office that I am accustomed to doing with MS Office products.
OK first point OOo is not an MSO clone, it is a completely different piece of software (Better IMO but then I would say that :) ) It does some things differently, it does somethings that MSO can't do and vice versa. While OOo developers have over time tried to make the transition for MS users as easy as possible it is not the be all of the OOo development process.(In fact it could be argued that it is moving further away at the moment.) The point is that it requires a learning curve and tackling somethings that are unfamiliar
I have downloaded and printed a notebook sized tutorial that is very difficult to read and follow and understand and have yet been totally unable to find ANY tutorial (or any other help) for OO Math.
I find configuring OO Writer difficult compared with Word. (i.e.: setting default fonts, page margins, inserting photo's, clip art, etc.)
In actual fact once you understand how stylist functions you will find it far easier. Check Solvieg Haugland's OpenOffice Blog http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2006/03/openoffice_styl.html
There is also the incompatibility issue with recipients programs when sending documents and graphics by email.
That's not an OpenOffice issue, that's an MS Office issue. OpenOffice happily deals with multiple file formats, both opening and saving and exports with one click to PDF. Strangely, people rarely complain that MSO is limited in it's file format handling ability, even though that is the real issue.... If the person at the other end doesn't need to edit the document send it as a PDF, everyone has acrobat reader. If the person at the other end needs to just add bits to a form then put in form fields and export as PDF form. That's another thing that MSO can't do. Don't like the documentation? Talk to the OOoAuthors team or better yet join up and help write the documentation, one of the great things about OpenSource.
From http://documentation.openoffice.org/manuals/oooauthors2/index.html http://documentation.openoffice.org/manuals/oooauthors2/0216WG-MathObjects. pdf
How much of your difficulty may be because somethings are simply different and not exactly the same as you're used to. There may be some issues with various documents, because Microsoft has chosen to keep formats secret, so everyone else has to reverse engineer them. Some of these issues also occur between different generations of Microsoft Office.
Also, I don't recall seeing your name before. Have you asked questions here about your difficulties?
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