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What are the advantages of OpenOffice.org?
Here are some of the
advantages of OpenOffice.org over other office suites:
No
licensing fees.
OOo is free for anyone to use and distribute at no
cost. Many
features that are available as extra cost add-ins in other office
suites (like PDF export) are free with OOo.
There are no hidden charges now or in the future.
Open
source. You can distribute, copy, and modify the software as
much as you wish, in accordance with either of OOo's Open Source
licenses.
Cross-platform.
OOo 2.0 runs on several hardware architectures and under multiple
operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and
Sun Solaris.
Extensive
language support. OOo’s user interface is available in over 40
languages and the OOo project provides spelling, hyphenation and
thesuarus dictionaries in over 70 languages and dialects. OOo also
provides support for both Complex Text Layout (CTL) and Right to
Left (RTL) layout languages (such as Hindi, Hebrew and Arabic).
Consistent
user interface.
All the
components have a similar “look and feel”, making them easy to
use and master.
Integration.
The components of OpenOffice.org are well integrated with one
another.
All
the components share a common spelling checker and other tools,
which are used consistently across the suite. For example, the
drawing tools available in Writer are also found in Calc, with
similar but enhanced versions in Impress and Draw.
You
do not need to know which application was used to create a
particular file (for example, you can open a Draw file from
Writer).
Granularity.
Usually, if you change an option, it affects
all components.
However, options
can be set at a component level or
even document level.
File
compatibility.
OOo includes PDF and
Flash export capabilities,
as well as support for opening and saving files in many common
formats including Microsoft Office, HTML, XML, WordPerfect and Lotus
123 formats.
No
vendor lock-in. OOo
2.0 uses OpenDocument, an XML (eXtensible
Markup Language) file format developed as an industry
standard by OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured
Information Standards). These files can easily be unzipped and read
by any text editor, and their framework is open and published.
You
can read more about OpenOffice.org, its mission, history, licensing
and other organizational information here:
https://www.openoffice.org/about.html
How
does OpenOffice.org compare?
OpenOffice.org can
match and exceed the feature set of competing office suites. The
following table lists the main components of OOo and compares them
with their equivalents in two leading office suites, Microsoft
Office 2003 (MSO) and WordPerfect
Office X3
(WP).
|
Function
|
OOo
|
MSO
|
WP
|
|
Word
processor
|
Writer
|
Word®
|
WordPerfect®
X3
|
|
Spreadsheet
|
Calc
|
Excel®
|
Quattro
Pro® X3
|
|
Vector
Graphics
|
Draw
|
no
|
no
|
|
Presentation
Graphics
|
Impress
|
PowerPoint®
|
Presentations™
X3
|
|
Database
|
Base
|
Access®
1
|
Paradox®
2
|
|
Math
or Formula Editor
|
Math
|
yes
|
no
|
1
Professional version only.
2
Professional and
Student and Teacher editions
only.
Features
The
following tables list some important features of OpenOffice.org and
compare them with two leading office suites, Microsoft
Office
2003 (MSO) and WordPerfect
X3 (WP).
Styles
and formatting
|
Feature
|
OOo
|
MSO
|
WP
|
|
Navigator
|
yes
|
limited1
|
no
|
|
Styles
and Formatting window
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
|
Keyboard
support for paragraph styles
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
|
Support
for page, frame, and list styles
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
|
Word
completion
|
yes
|
Excel
only
|
no
|
|
Spelling
and language proofing modules
|
70+
|
50+2
|
25
|
|
Formula
or equation tools
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
1
“Outline View” in Word offers a subset of the features of
OOo’s Navigator.
2
Requires an additional license for the the Multilingual User
Interface Pack.
Interoperability
|
Feature
|
OOo
|
MSO
|
WP
|
|
PDF
export capability
|
yes
|
yes1
|
yes
|
|
Flash
export capability
|
yes
|
no
|
yes
|
|
XML
export capability
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
|
OpenDocument
XML format
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
|
Import/Export
Microsoft Office files
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
|
Import
WordPerfect files
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
|
Import
Lotus 123 files
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
|
Connect
to external databases (MySQL, Oracle, Access, etc.)
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
|
Languages
available (localizations)
|
40+
|
35+
|
30
|
|
Supported
operating systems
|
Windows,
Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris
|
Windows
only2
|
Windows
only
|
|
Unicode
language support
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
1
Requires additional third-party software, such as PDF Writer
or PDF Converter.
2 Microsoft Office: Mac
is not feature compatible with Microsoft
Office 2003.
Programmability
Macros
are programs which automate tasks and can
be embedded in a document. The following table lists the languages
available for macro development in each office suite.
|
Language
|
OOo
|
MSO
|
WP
|
|
Basic-derived
language
|
OpenBasic
|
VBA
|
VBA
|
|
Beanshell
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
|
Java
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
|
JavaScript
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
|
Python
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
Beyond
simple macros, some office suites can be extended to include new
features. This capability usually takes the form of plug-ins. In the
case of OpenOffice.org, it can also be done through changes to the
source code.
|
Feature
|
OOo
|
MSO
|
WP
|
|
C
and C++
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
|
Java
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
|
Python
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
|
Source
code available!
|
yes
|
no
|
no
|
Security
|
Feature
|
OOo
|
MSO
|
WP
|
|
Digital
signatures
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
|
Strong
encryption
|
yes
|
yes
|
yes
|
|
Secure
paths for macro execution
|
yes
|
yes
|
no
|
New
features in version 2
OpenOffice.org 2.0
delivers hundreds of improvements and new features. Here are some of
the major enhancements.
Simplified
installation.
Installations are
now performed by platform-native installers with no need to
use command-line switches (or flags) for
multi-user installations. You can also specify which version of Java
(if any) is to be used by OOo from the installation
interface.
New
database component.
In the new stand-alone database component, you can
create forms, reports, queries, tables, views and relations. OOo now
includes HSQLDB, a small, fast, relational database engine that
supports a subset of ANSI-92 SQL, along with an easy to use
interface. Additionally, it is now easier than ever to use other
databases (dBASE, MySQL, Oracle, among others).
New
file format.
OOo 2.0 uses the new OpenDocument standard XML file
format (standardized by OASIS,
https://www.oasis-open.org/home/index.php)
as its default file format. This new file format is also used in
StarOffice, IBM Workspace and KOffice, and will be used by other
products in the future. OOo 2.0 can still read and save files in
formats previously supported by
OOo 1.x, including Microsoft
Office formats.
Native
system theme integration.
To further integrate OpenOffice.org with the
underlying operating system, all user interface elements (such as
buttons and scrollbars) have the same look as those used in other
native applications for each platform.
Digital
signatures.
Digital signatures provide
authentication of the true author or editor of a document. This
feature provides further security with running macros.
Enhanced
encryption. Implementation of the new XML (eXtensible
Markup Language) encryption algorithm offers additional document
security.
Usability
improvements.
Redesigned toolbars
are more usable, and display only selected default tools
and related options. The usability of the Menus
tab of the Tools
> Customize dialog has
been improved.
Several features have been renamed to
conform with common office suite terminology (for example,
“AutoPilot”
is now a “Wizard”).
Thumbnails.
The new plug-in for the the native file explorer
provides a thumbnail preview of an OOo file. Some of the more common
file system explorers that can use this new feature are Nautilus
(Gnome), Konqueror (KDE), and Microsoft Windows Explorer.
Import
and export filters
Improved
PDF export filter now includes PDF bookmarks, PDF notes, and more.
Import
and export of Microsoft Office 95 and Office 97 spin buttons and
scrollbars have been added to the Word filters.
The
import filter for Microsoft PowerPoint documents now creates text
objects having font-independent line spacing enabled.
Enhanced
export to HTML produces valid “XHTML 1.0 Strict” documents.
XHTML export has been enabled for Calc, Draw and Impress.
You
can now open Microsoft Office password-protected documents.
New
import filters for WordPerfect and Lotus 123.
Send
document as e-mail. OOo 2.0 makes it easier to use your
email client to send the active document as an attachment.
Enhanced
mail merge feature.
Enhancements include better management of databases
and saving into one single file.
Drag
and drop selections to create styles.
Drag and drop a text selection into the Styles and
Formatting window to create a new paragraph style or character
style.
Form
controls.
Form controls
can be embedded in all OOo documents that support a form layer.
New
keyboard shortcuts.
You can now use the keyboard to perform the actions
found under Edit > Paste
Special.
Multiple selected sheets in a spreadsheet can be
deselected using the keyboard.
Paragraph and other styles can be assigned to key
combinations.
Auto
recovery of files and the workspace environment.
The OOo Error Reporting
tool and the document recovery features have been combined. Now if
OOo crashes, the active documents are saved. You can recover the
documents, and send an error report.
Enhanced
features in Calc. These enhancements include improved
number recognition, an improved Hyperlink function, conditional
arrays, a greater selection of predefined headers and footers, more
options for defining how to print sheets, new options for the
DataPilot feature, and support for right-to-left languages.
Calc
row limit increased.
The number of spreadsheet rows has been increased to 65536, the same
number of rows as Microsoft Excel.
Enhanced
multimedia.
The
multimedia presentation model uses the W3C’s Synchronized
Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL)
standard. Now Impress can render nearly all of the Microsoft
PowerPoint animation effects. Two new task panels provide access to
shape and slide transition effects.
Programmatic
control of menu and toolbar items.
Third-party
developers can write plugins to manipulate
menu bar and toolbar layouts to their needs.
Developers can now insert, remove, and modify menu
items, context menus, and toolbar items at
runtime.
Scripting
framework.
The scripting framework allows you to write macros in
a number of languages other than OOo Basic. You can assign these
macros to menu items, keyboard combinations, application and
document events, form controls within documents, and various objects
within documents.
For
a complete, detailed listing, go to the OpenOffice.org 2.0 Office
Suite, Guide to New Features located at
https://marketing.openoffice.org/2.0/featureguide.html#enduser
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