I have been an OpenOffice.org user for years because I flat out refuse to pay hundreds of dollars for Microsoft Office, nor do I bother with a hacked/cracked copy of MS Office because since OpenOffice.org exists, there’s really no point to running a ‘broken’ version of MSO to begin with.
On Tuesday, LibreOffice 3.3 was officially launched. The same day, Openoffice.org 3.3 was released.
If you used both suites at the same time, this is what you’d think:
"Okay… the branding and icons are different.. the menus are the same.. both use the same file formats.. um.. what’s the difference here?"
In a nutshell, none; there is absolutely no significant advantage either offers over the other.
Which should you go with?
The deciding factor on which you should go with completely depends on something that has absolutely nothing to do with the software’s functionality at all:
Do you hate Oracle (the company)?
If the answer is yes, you use LibreOffice. If no, OpenOffice.org.
Yes, it does get that stupid.
There are those who are already saying that LO will at some point extend beyond what OO can do because of more open community involvement with the development of its future releases. Depending on your point of view, that will either be the kiss of death for LO right out of the gate, or it will result in something wonderful.
As for which I go with, it’s OpenOffice.org because I don’t care what it’s called, who makes it or how it’s made. All I want the stupid thing to do is work so I can work. OpenOffice.org works; that’s what I use.
OO 3.3 works great, by the way.
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I was hoping you would write an article about this xD As a user of an Ubuntu based distribution, I’ll end up using LibreOffice since they seem to be going in the direction of using it as the default office suite. If I am in a situation where I need either or, I’ll just go with OpenOffice.org until there is a clear reason to go with LibreOffice.
Still another free flavor of OpenOffice is IBM Lotus Symphony. It opens multiple documents (of differing types) in a single tabbed interface. Have played a bit, never have used it seriously, but thought some might find it interesting.
Still another free flavor of OpenOffice is IBM Lotus Symphony. It opens multiple documents (of differing types) in a single tabbed interface. Have played a bit, never have used it seriously, but thought some might find it interesting.
Right now, it’s too early to tell what’s going to happen with LO and OO. Since they’re currently branched off at the same point, for all intents and purposes, they’re nearly identical for the moment.