OpenOffice.org vs. Microsoft Office Career Day Presentation

The Obvious: Open Source vs. Proprietary

Comparing Open Source and Proprietary Software

● About equal ease of use ● Many of the same components ● Approximately the same features in the components that they share ● About the same installing, though OpenOffice is a bit slow ● Both are easy for beginners to learn Similarities

● OpenOffice's components are cross-linked, so if you are running Writer, making a new spreadsheet is as easy as clicking File-> New-> Spreadsheet. Microsoft Office often comes in entirely seperate packages... having Word does not guarantee you have Excel or Powerpoint. ● Files in OpenOffice format are highly compressed. ● OpenOffice has a drawing program that is absent in Microsoft Office. ● OpenOffice can export Adobe Acrobat files right out of the box. Microsoft Office requires an additional $300 program to do that. ● Once one of the OpenOffice programs has been openned, the rest will open almost instantly. ● No additional RAM is used to open any number of components at once. Microsoft Office requires an additional 8 MB of RAM for each open component (Word, Excel, Access, etc.) ● Seperate formula editor is included that is either missing or hard to find in most Microsoft Office packages. Why would OpenOffice be chosen over Microsoft Office?

● Can work with Microsoft Office files as well as many other formats to ensure compatibility with anyone, even if they are using a different Office Suite. ● Installation is simple. ● Performs as well if not better than its competitors and is much more stable. ● Available on almost any platform/OS, so switching from Windows to Mac or Linux etc. will not force you to switch Office Suites. ● System tray icon for faster Windows startup. ● OpenOffice comes prepared to do basic Web Design ● Has been said by many to “more than hold its own, and do so with less disk space on more operating systems for free”. Also called the “clear winner” among Office Suites. Why would OpenOffice be chosen over Microsoft Office? (continued)

● It is much more well known, few know any other exist. ● There is no database program in OpenOffice, and virtually no alternative for Windows is on the market. ● OpenOffice is slow to start on Windows if the System Tray icon is disabled, and on other platforms almost always. ● Embedded objects in OpenOffice sometimes become corrupted on their way to Microsoft Office. ● OpenOffice lacks in the area of fonts. ● Microsoft Support is much more centralized, so the user knows exactly where to look for help Why might Microsoft Office be chosen over OpenOffice?

OpenOffice System Tray...

Makes it easy and fast to launch OpenOffice.

Easily launch any OpenOffice component from within any other.

From Microsoft Word, the only new document you can get is another Microsoft Word document. :(

OpenOffice menu in Linux.

OpenOffice Math running in Linux.