Microsoft Office vs OpenOffice.org books

[Tony101]

Welcome beginner. What is your question or comment?
Please try to briefly and clearly tell us: What you want, What you tried, and What happened.
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I need to find out something - I saw an Excel for Dummies for version 5 book. I need to find out how compatible the program of Excel is with Open Office. If I buy this book, and I learn from it, am I going to have problems using the Open Office program? Do the programs use basically the same type of steps? Thanks.

[acknak]

They're very similar in concept, but many of the details are different. Many of the particular keyboard shortcuts are different, for example.

If you want to learn Calc, there are books available, and there is a free online user's Guide: OOo Guides. The Calc Guide is not 100% finished, but the basics are there.

Actually, the Dummies book might be a good place to get the concepts if you've never used a spreadsheet before, as long as you realize there are some details that are different in Calc.

[Tony101]

Thanks so much.

[lararefaeli]

Hi all

I want to give some difference between Microsoft and Open Office version.

Microsoft Word features and benefits that OpenOffice doesn't have:

First one is Grammar checking:- There is some Word's grammar checker, it seems to find our mistakes far more often than we find its mistakes. Writer does not come with a grammar checker, though a plug-in,LanguageTool, is available. LanguageTool, an independent open-source project, is an impressive accomplishment, but its usefulness does not come close to approaching the resources built into Word.

Second one is Animated Text:- Word can create animated text. Writer can't.

OpenOffice features and benefits that Microsoft Word doesn't have:

First one is Simplicity:- For those who feel that Word is overly complex, Writer offers all the basic and mid-level functions in an environment which feels familiar but simplified.

Second one is File Size:- Writer's native format generally creates smaller files than Microsoft Word's.

[aukejan]

I would not buy a book about Excel if you're going to use OOo Calc. If you are a beginner, things would be more confusing than they need be. Some functions have different names, some work slightly differently and others are exactly the same. If you wish to buy a Dummies book, there's one for OpenOffice.org as well: http://www.amazon.com/OpenOffice-org-Du ... 0764542222 .