Open Office

[sirbleedsalot]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

I use it. Never had any compatibility problems with it. What made me try it was that you can save their version of Power-point (presentations) as a flash file. AFAIK that is a pricey addition to MS Office.

and it's FREE

I down loaded it today and tried to export a power point to swf, and it got about halfway done and then I get a blue screen so it is not error free, or I don't know what I am doing. But you can't beat the price that is for sure.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by sirbleedsalot

I down loaded it today and tried to export a power point to swf, and it got about halfway done and then I get a blue screen so it is not error free, or I don't know what I am doing. But you can't beat the price that is for sure.

Are you using the stable version or the beta version?

I only use open office.... also- people say that it doens't do everything office xp does, yet it does. The commands and accesses to those features are just poorly laid out, so not many people know how to find them...

Also, I'm a personal Evil Empire (microsoft) hater... so that adds to it.

[AIBob]

I've used it, but I have had a few compatability problems, and sometimes it just looks different even though it loads, so I personally like MS office

[CmptrGk]

The only problem that i have ever had with open office is when i loaded a powerpoint with links to pictures. the pictures never seemed to show up. it may have been a bad connection, or open office just didnt want to load the pictures.

[sirbleedsalot]

I am using version 1.1.4 I don't know if that is beta or not. I am running windows ME with 192 megs of ram, so that could be the problem too. The error code is OE : 0028 : C0058739 .

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by sirbleedsalot

I am running windows ME

Without a doubt, this is most likely your problem. Windows ME is just aweful. You should consider XP but since you are running free office software, maybe the relatively pricey XP upgrade is not within budget limitations.

[sirbleedsalot]

I know that ME is terrible I could not try to program at home because of it. But I will not be using this computer after this summer and after that it will be be Mom and Dads email and internet machine so I just try and keep it running.

[wk1989]

Check out the latest OpenOffice.Org beta, the interface has gotten a lot smoother, load time got better too. I'd pick openoffice or M$ Office, but I usually just use LATEX for everything.