Disappointed

[Joseph_N]

I run a professional services firm. All my colleagues and clients use Microsoft Office. Nevertheless, I have been waiting for OOo ver. 3, planning to begin a switch. I was--remain--motivated primarily to move to an XML file format, and I prefer ODF to OOXML for a number of reasons. Unfortunately, OO3, while a solid program, is still not ready to compete on the enterprise level with MS Office when the deciding factor is not free or public access.

1. OO3 still imports multi-level MS Word outlines incorrectly. This is inexcusable. A bug has been filed on this for a long time. Multi-level outlining is required for any high level organizational writing.

2. It is not possible, at least under Windows, to insert into the Save dialog box an entire path, including file name. Instead, one has to navigate to the correct folder, which can be a PITA, because the OOo dialog box does not recognize Windows shortcuts (or optionally hidden folders, even when those folders are made visible).

3. This might be operator error, but I have not found an equivalent to Microsoft's Style Separator. I don't have a lot of kind things to say about Word, but engineering the Style Separator is one of them. It is hugely useful for creating complex documents that will use built-in headings and have a TOC.

4. Not sure how to describe this, because I don't really understand why the problem occurs, but OOo will not launch from inside other programs under Windows, at least not from inside a large database set I use, which is built on a Clarion Topspeed platform, and from which every other type of file in my system launches when an associated icon is clicked. The failure occurs regardless of whether the Quickstarter is loaded.

So those are my disappointments, but the top two are the deal breakers.

[Bhikkhu Pesala]

1. OO3 still imports multi-level MS Word outlines incorrectly. This is inexcusable. A bug has been filed on this for a long time. Multi-level outlining is required for any high level organizational writing.

I don't get it. Why is this inexecusable? Multi-level outlining works fine in OpenOffice. Does Word import multi-level outlines from OpenOffice?

[TheGurkha]

I can navigate through short cuts and hidden folders in the Save and Save As dialogs, in Windows.

In Tools > Options > General there is an option that allows you to choose OOo or the OS OPen and Save dialgo styles. What is yours set to?

[Joseph_N]

I can navigate through short cuts and hidden folders in the Save and Save As dialogs, in Windows.
In Tools > Options > General there is an option that allows you to choose OOo or the OS OPen and Save dialgo styles. What is yours set to?

I had assumed it would be better for reasons beyond my ken to choose the OOo dialog, but I guess it works fine either way. Thank you! That resolved a major frustration.

[Joseph_N]

1. OO3 still imports multi-level MS Word outlines incorrectly. This is inexcusable. A bug has been filed on this for a long time. Multi-level outlining is required for any high level organizational writing.

I don't get it. Why is this inexecusable? Multi-level outlining works fine in OpenOffice. Does Word import multi-level outlines from OpenOffice?

Your answer gets to the heart of the underlying issue, but I think it's clear that Sun et al. have already chosen the direction of resolving it. The issue is whether to develop OOo only as its own program, with its own strengths and weaknesses, or to try to do that as well as develop and market OOo as something relatively interchangeable with MS Office, at least something giving the user the ability to interoperate with users of MS Office. Sun et al. have clearly chosen the latter route. The menus and development priorities are geared, in part, to lower the hurdle for switching or for working with those who won't switch. Look at all the developer posts about identifying and overcoming conversion problems, and the press about how well OOo does or does not do in converting different formats. The reality--whether you choose to acknowledge it or not, and whether any of us likes it or not--is that MS Office is, I really hate to say this, but a de facto standard. So OOo has to play nice with it in order to be adopted. The opposite is plainly not true. (I'm talking about production apps here, not file formats.) So, for OOo to work well, it has to work with MS Office. It might be able to generate multi-level outlines well; I haven't tried it. But it does not import them well. The fix is not a big deal, but it requires redefining each style; and, as we all know, it's impossible to get some people to understand or work with styles. MS Word does not have to import OOo in order for it to be viable or to achieve its mission (although, as time goes on, if ODF lives up to its potential that will change). Plus--and this is a point that cannot be ignored in the real world--if there is a conversion issue in any one area, like multi-level outlining, then a user will be concerned about how the reverse conversion looks on the recipient's desk: If I generate an outline in OOo and have to send it as a Word doc instead of a PDF, will it look right?

[PCgeek87]

Look onto the bright side OO ver 3 is FRE MOffice is NOT.

Anyways the OO ver 3 is good but obiously the one you have to pay is better most of the time.