Evaluating OOoWriter
So far I've only been looking at Writer, the equivalent of Microsoft Word, but OpenOffice includes the other standard office suite components as well: spreadsheets, presentations, drawing, and web publishing. It does not include a database, but it does include the ability to interact with a database such as MySQL.
My first impression is that if you have to share OOoWriter files with Microsoft Word users, you may run into conversion problems, depending on which Word features you've used. However, if conversion to and from Word isn't an issue, this is a great tool, with some features that Word doesn't have (but many Word users want) and some different ways of doing things that at first look seem like better ways. Some details are here:
NEW Here are some other evaluations, by Bruce Byfield (on the Techwhirl website):
- Opening Up to OpenOffice.org: Finding an Alternative to Microsoft Word
- Comparison of Adobe FrameMaker and OpenOffice.org
Here is some how-to information about using OOoWriter:
- NEW Creating cross-references between documents -- yes, it can be done!
- Completely revised How to start page numbering with a number greater than 1
- How to change all font sizes in a document at once
- Creating and using master documents using OOoWriter
- Comparison of ways to do things using Microsoft Word and OOoWriter
OpenOffice.org Writer: The Free Alternative to Microsoft Word, by Jean Hollis Weber, published July 2004 by O'Reilly Community Press, ISBN 0596008260. Order from Amazon.com, or from Amazon.co.uk, or directly from O'Reilly. (This book replaces Taming OpenOffice.org Writer 1.1.)