# Open Office Premium is out there now



## ArmorOfGod (Sep 1, 2006)

I just found out that Open Office Premium is available now. It is free just like its predecessor, Open Office.
For you people who can't afford MS Office, it is a free version of a nearly identical program, which could save you college guys a few hundred dollars.
Here is the RealTechNews article about it (which has links to download Open office Premium):
http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3439

Here is the link to download the original Open Office.
http://download.openoffice.org/2.0.3/index.html

Has anyone here used it? I know its word processor files are compatible with the MS word processor, but I have never used it. Still, I think I am about to get a new computer and if it does not come bundled with MS Works or Office, I was going to dowload OOPremium.

AoG


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## Andrew Green (Sep 1, 2006)

I've been using OpenOffice for a while, I actually prefer working in it then in MS Office for the most part.

Download it and give it a try, it's free


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## Kacey (Sep 2, 2006)

I've heard good things about Open Office, but I've never used it... as a teacher, I bought a complete copy of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) for $10 through my district - I have to get _something_ for being a teacher!  Although I did have to sign a form that says that if I ever leave the district, I have to give the CDs back and quit using the programs.


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## Marvin (Sep 6, 2006)

I have open office on the computer I built, I like it well enough. I think it is perfect for someone who needs a w/p program but doesn't want to pay microsoft


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## FearlessFreep (Sep 6, 2006)

I'm using ooffice on my linux machine... I have an older version of StarOffice on my very old Win95 machine.  

I find office to be very good


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## digitalronin (Sep 6, 2006)

I went cold turkey with openoffice a while back and not returned to Microsoft.  MS has more advanced features but the average writter does not need them.  For students its perfect because they cannot argue that the software is beyond their budget.  The program comes with clones of powerpoint, access, excel, and a drawing program.  OO is part of the Free Software Movement (FOSS)

Check out www.sourceforge.net and the Open CD project for additional programs.  From a martial arts point of view 

Inkscape - A vector graphics program that will allow u to create drawings

Gimp - Allows you to edit images.

Scribus - Newsletters


Virtualdub - video capture


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## bignick (Sep 6, 2006)

OO is a lot better since 2.0 came out and used extensively for some pretty big projects like senior thesis and related presentations.   Nobody was the wiser that my "PowerPoint" presentation wasn't MS Office.

I had a couple instability issues because I was using 2.0 beta, but nothing auto save didn't fix.  And it really only happened once or twice.


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## digitalronin (Sep 7, 2006)

This openoffice.org premium seems to be a sister project created by fans of the program.  For the official and latest release of openoffice.org (2.03) visit the hompage

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060830-7627.html


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## shesulsa (Sep 7, 2006)

So has anyone tried file compatibility yet, e.g. opened Word documents in OOP and vice-versa?

How about virus/trojan vulnerability?


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## digitalronin (Sep 7, 2006)

the earlier version had more probs than the current one.  There really hasnt been any files that I couldnt open up under OO.  OO does export to word format if u need that feature.  According to reports MS has a greater number of macrovirus vulnerabilities, while OO has none (a proof of concept has been submitted).  Give it shot, the most u'll lose is time in intalling/unintalling the program.


http://www.heise.de/english/newsticker/news/74930


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## shesulsa (Sep 7, 2006)

What about opening OO files in Word?


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## digitalronin (Sep 7, 2006)

shesulsa said:


> What about opening OO files in Word?



There is no Native built in feature in Word to import OO files, but there is a downloadable 3d party extension available.


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## Jade Tigress (Sep 7, 2006)

ArmorOfGod said:


> I just found out that Open Office Premium is available now. It is free just like its predecessor, Open Office.
> For you people who can't afford MS Office, it is a free version of a nearly identical program, which could save you college guys a few hundred dollars.
> Here is the RealTechNews article about it (which has links to download Open office Premium):
> http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/3439
> ...



Wow! I've never heard of the program before now. I am going to download it. Thank you!


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## Andrew Green (Sep 7, 2006)

shesulsa said:


> So has anyone tried file compatibility yet, e.g. opened Word documents in OOP and vice-versa?



OO opens most MS files without trouble, sometimes little formatting errors occur in the transfer, but I've not had any major problems.

Where you will run into problems is if you have been using Macro's, which probably won't make the transfer.



> How about virus/trojan vulnerability?



So far all I know about is one proof of concept (not a actual virus. just proof that one is possible)

http://www.itnews.com.au/newsstory.aspx?CIaNID=33198

I imagine that hole has been fixed by now though.

Open source code in general tends to be more secure, added to the fact that most people still use MS Office, and that is where viruses will spread and be written for, OpenOffice is a pretty safe piece of software.


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## shesulsa (Sep 7, 2006)

My biggest issue right now is I don't wanna pay the $300+ for MO either, but everyone I know uses MO products.  When I type up something and send it to them they can't seem to open it.  I've tried using Microsoft Works (came with the machine) and I don't even use much formatting but they receive gibberish or can't open the file at all.

I wind up using WordPad alot but have actually had complaints about EVEN THAT.  I know enough about the Microsoft Office products to know that everyone should be able to open an .rtf file in Word.

So it's more the transfer from OO to MO that I'd be worried about.


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## Andrew Green (Sep 7, 2006)

ok, well, Openoffice has always served me well in exporting MS file formats.  Certainly better then Wordpad, and at times it seems better then one MS Office version to another.  It can export to Office's .doc format, as well as Office 2003's .xml format.


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## shesulsa (Sep 7, 2006)

That's what I wanted to know, Andrew, thanks.  I'm gonna give it a shot.

Oh, should I remove the Office trial package first?


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## bignick (Sep 7, 2006)

Don't know why you should.  I haven't had OO stomp on MS Office at all.


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## Andrew Green (Sep 7, 2006)

Nope, I got both MS Office and Open Office on my work computer.  They don't interfer with each other.


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