Why You Should Choose MS Office Over OO.org

sander writes "As noted on linxfr.org, Microsoft has published a competitive guide on OpenOffice.org 1.1 vs Microsoft Office. Some of the weirder things they claim in it is that by choosing MS Office over OpenOffice.org one is protected from the threat of viruses. But the giant seems to be sweating -- and with a good reason."

my reason

[maxbang]

I chose MS Office because I like throwing away my money. I am also a moron. That is why I have a chandelier hanging in my car.

Note the URL path

[GPLDAN]

The path is:
/partner/salesmarketing/opensource/discguides

Disc stands for "disinformation campaign"

Good point!

[thebra]

"by choosing MS Office over OpenOffice.org one is protected from the threat of viruses."

That is why any one uses Microsoft products, duh!

PDF

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

"Microsoft Office vs OpenOffice" document, published by Microsoft in ... PDF format.

Amusing...

Re:some stuff

[Anonymous Coward]

Slashdot should have posted another link to the english version- i don't think the majority of /. readers can read french fluently.

From what I've seen round here, the English version would be no more useful than a version in Klingon.

Naturally they EYODF

[JohnGrahamCumming]

Of course Microsoft would create this document using their own products, naturally, they are the big proponent of the "Eat Your Own Dog Food" methodology.

So why then when I click on Document Properties on this PDF do I see?

Creator: QuarkXpress 4.11
Producer: Acrobat Distiller 4.05 for Macintosh

Bill: while you're transferring this over to Microsoft Publisher perhaps you'd like to fix the typo on page 1: "rteam".

John.

Clippy!

[dswensen]

"B-but, Open Office doesn't have Clippy, the helpful paper clip. Or a wizard. Or a little Microsoft logo that tells you when you're writing a letter (because obviously, you don't know). We even have a helpful little puppy! You like puppies, don't you? Everybody likes puppies! Fine, go ahead and use Open Office, puppy killer!"

Re:Viruses!!

[grub]

Oo is vulnerable? lol

Maybe if they find a way to import Office macros..

Mod uberparent up!

[wzzrd]

Can someone give a +5 (thousand) to the MS guy who wrote the part about viruses!? Rolling on the floor from hysterical laughter!

Migration cost is the biggest

[bratgrrl]

M$ is right about one thing- migration is the most painful and expensive part. Unlike using M$ products, though, the pain stops afterwards.

Re:good logic

[Johnny_Law]

Some of the weirder things they claim in it is that by choosing MS Office over OpenOffice.org one is protected from the threat of viruses

Ohh.. That Microsoft is such a kidder. They had a great straight face for that one. They almost had me going there.

What you mean they were serious? Oh dear...

Spellcheck

[Student_Tech]

The spell checker must not work on that doc (or they didn't use it or they have some strange settings)

"support rteam."

Maybe others, but that one was glaring @ me (it is right beneath the 3. OpenOffice 1.1 is an Open Source alternative)

Also what is this OpenOffice they refer to? I know of an OpenOffice.Org and they mention that "OpenOffice" is a trademark owned by someone else.

The best part...

[Bishop, Martin]

The best part has to be "with an R&D budget of over $4.8 billion, Office is a core Microsoft business."

$4.8 billion, and it's not up to par, IMO, with OpenOffice

Thanx MS For Clearing That Up

[Anonymous Coward]

I was so confused but now I see the light, thanx Microsoft. I didn't realize that I needed to spend $500 bucks just to do basic word processing at home. But you showed me otherwise.

Re:3 Words

[midshipman_geek]

Death to Clippy

Somebody has to do it...

[AJWM]

Step 5 - Profit!

Re:Step 3

[Anonymous Coward]

I think it goes:

*) First, you quote Benjamin Franklin
*) Then, you quote Ghandi
*) ???
*) Profit!

Really, folks, famous quotations are no substitute for an original opinion.

Re:PDF

[igaborf]

I wonder if they produced the document in OpenOffice 1.1 so they could just click the "Export Directly as PDF" button?

Re:PDF

[Avtar]

Even better, it was created on a Mac...

Re:Hmm, very little is said about features...

[Ralph Wiggam]

"MS-Office was feature-complete as of Office 95"

They did add that wonderful feature that refuses to believe that you actually do want bullet points numbered 1,2,3,7, and 9.

-B

Microsoft Office has no threat of viral infection

[Skapare]

Microsoft Office has no threat of viral infection. That's because viral infection is very real. Hell, they ought to remove all doubt and just ship Microsoft Office pre-infected.

Re:some stuff

[NeoThermic]

tlhIngan mu' DichDaq SIq Dung SoH!!

[Note, google for online english to klingon translator and use the first link]

NeoThermic

Halloween XVCXXIXXCVIX

[rice_burners_suck]

From an email that went through the marketing offices of Microsoft headquarters:

Ten reasons

you should choose Microsoft Office Deluxe Professional Edition over OpenOffice.org:

1. It makes us more money.

Ok, so we're still about nine reasons short... Someone needs to conjure them up. -Bill.

Make of it what you will...

Re:Hmm, very little is said about features...

[cshark]

It's amazing.
The only office features I've ever used that oo doesn't have, are some of the useful security holes... eh, I mean collaboration features.

Why you shouldn't use Openoffice

[Anonymous Coward]

'Cause then you would be a girlie-man.

we're Hans und Franz and we're here to pump you up!

Re: unresolved bugs?

[Anonymous Coward]

See, now, whereas some may call this a bug, isn't it far more positive to characterize it as a commitment to tradition?
It's you humorless types that give /. such a negative reputation...

Re:Clippy!

[bryanthompson]

Every time you use MS Office god kills a kitten. Think of the kittens.

Re:some stuff

[Mad Marlin]

Where you will end up if you think Klingon is a real language [cnn.com].

Oh?

[pair-a-noyd]

Some of the weirder things they claim in it is that by choosing MS Office over OpenOffice.org one is protected from the threat of viruses

Bill, give Darl his crack pipe back...

Re:Unresolved bugs.

[Drathus]

...

But stainless steel is silv... Oh.

too early for april fools day

[natefanaro]

You're a week off!

strange

[Anonymous Coward]

an PDF pushing Microsoft Office made on a Mac using Quark

Re:some stuff

[blackmonday]

Where's the Klingon version? It's the only way i communicate on Thursdays ...oops.

Re:PDF

[Anonymous Coward]

...which is dying, last I heard...

Re:good logic

[eofpi]

Indeed. I can barely believe they touted having Outlook as part of MSOffice as a feature.

Re:some stuff

[Anonymous Coward]

They are likely afraid of "meta data" if they posted in .doc format :)

Re:Hmm, very little is said about features...

[coupland]

Ahh yes, the paperclip. Otherwise known as the productivity police. "Productivity detected! BINK! BINK! Now interrupting with inane and irrelevant suggestion"

Re: unresolved bugs?

[CatGrep]

But if they fix it then a lot of Word users would have to be retrained and M$ says retraining is expensive.

Re:The number one reason NOT to use MS Office...

[rbolkey]

Bah features. MS Office looks prettier every release. That's why I upgrade.

Re:Unresolved bugs.

[Doesn't_Comment_Code]

I'm torn...

I can't decide which is worse:
groping through Knowledge Base documents and being put on hold for hours calling Microsoft

OR

reading outdated man pages then being cussed out by an experience, yet socially inept user, for asking a question on a discussion board

When it all comes down to it (MS or OO), I just end up entering the error message into Google anyway.

PDF Created On A Mac

[macdaddy]

Microsoft believes in their own products so much that they didn't use any of their own products to create this document. They may as well have created it in OO.

From the Document Properties for OpenOffice.pdf:

Description

Title: competitive OpenOffice.qxd
Author: Gravity
Subject:
Keywords:
Created: 9/11/2003 10:05:53 AM
Modified: 9/11/2003 5:06:03 PM
Application: QuarkXPress(tm) 4.11

PDF Information

PDF Producer: Acrobat Distiller 4.05 for Macintosh

PDF Version: 1.2 (Acrobat 3.x)
Path:
File Size: 53.96 KB (55,259 Bytes)
Page Size: 11 x 8.5 in
Tagged PDF: No
Number of Pages: 2
Fast Web View: Yes

Re:My experience with OO.o

[jfengel]

If you want real layout you have to use something like Pagemaker or Framemaker or Quark XPress, which are designed for it. Word tries, and OOo does pretty much what Word does.

But I don't think Word tries hard enough. The layout has been pretty much the same for as long as I can remember, which is a pretty damn long time. Meanwhile they're busily adding blinking text (for the blinking toner in my laser printer). For all OOo's faults, at least it hasn't had those faults for years running.

Re:some stuff

[criscooil]

while () { drink_guinness(); }

Shouldnt that be:

while (!unconcious()) { drink_guinness(); }

Re:Support Team

[lewp]

Your country is stupid.

What OpenOffice _does_ have

[Anonymous Coward]

"OpenOffice does not have a dedicated development or
support rteam."

But it _does_ have a working spell checker!

Re:some stuff

[motorsabbath]

Good question, I was wondering if anyone would catch it. I watch people around me brawl with Excel and Word version conflicts all day. I hear people cursing both applications all day. Sounds like crap to me. It's crap to me as a non-user because it's (1) expensive, (2) inescapable by the average joe, (3) the product of a monpolist (it is unethical to support the activities of a monopolist) and (4) the cause of a great deal of woe for anybody that refuses to use it yet must interoperate with the rest of the world.

I don't care if it actually is the best set of apps since the Big Bang - for all the reasons above, it's crap. Period. Once I am installed as Supreme Intergalactic Emperor it's use will be punishable by death, and those bastards who've created it will be the first ones up against the wall...;-)

Re:Unresolved bugs.

[Anonymous Coward]

My wife uses it to exchange letters in Russian with her father.

You didnt by chance get her from http://www.russianbrides.com [russianbrides.com].?

Re:some stuff

[Wog]

I never said that it couldn't get you anywhere, I said it would never get you anywhere *worth going to.*

Re:Trademark issues

[cubic6]

They should rename it Firebird.

Re:My experience with OO.o

[aralin]

Hmm, I made my wife compare the two office suites and then asked her which ones is better. And she said flat out that MS Office is better and more convenient to her as well since she used to use it at work.

Then I told her that she can either pay $500 and I will install MS Office for her or she can have OpenOffice for free. Guess what? She opted for OpenOffice and bunch of shoes and dresses :)

I'd say, the OpenOffice is definitely ready for market.

Re:some stuff

[phoenix_rizzen]

Haven't tried it yet, but The Kompany just released their GUI/RAD database tool as open source. Don't recall the name of it, but it's listed on their products page, and slashdot ran a story about it a few months back.

Re:some stuff

[netsharc]

It's funny, considering Point no. 5:

Seamless Information Exchange
There are over 300 million users of Office worldwide who can seamlessly exchange documents without concerns for loss of data or formatting errors. Third-party studies show that competitive office suites retain only 75% accuracy (data and formatting) when receiving documents from Office users. See Summary eTesting Labs: Microsoft Windows XP/Office XP versus Red Hat Linux/StarOffice Migration Study

Hey MS, If you weren't afraid of formatting losses, why did you choose PDF? And how did you get your nice Office suite to create PDFs? Oh did you have to pay someone else for that feature? *snigger*

System req. and TCO

[dr. electron]

I wonder why they left out the system req. for Office, since that is actually a BIG factor in the "Total cost of ownership" they talk about.

I'm Convinced

[jeddak]

I'm ready to switch. OpenOffice doesn't have all the wonderful nifty features that MS Office has, and I'm tired of explaining my use of this obscure piece of software to my friends and family...

So. Tell me - where do I buy MS Office for FreeBSD?

No?

Linux?

Solaris?

Oh.

Re:Step 3

[Ashe Tyrael]

In Soviet Russia, the famous people quote YOU.

Re:Unresolved bugs.

[Anonymous Coward]

You don't get out much, do you ?

Found a typo.

[XChilde]

Look carefully in the "OpenOffice 1.1 is an open source alternative" section: "...development or support rteam..." It should be "team", no "r". I've noticed that this document is typesetted in QuarkXPress. But I think they type the text content in their valuable MS Word, and they do have a commercial spell checker. Or may be they don't treat this document seriously (They should publish it later, e.g. April 1st). BTW: Why they typeset this little document in the infamous Microsoft Office Publisher?

Rewriting macro's

[nl69959]

"Document conversion and rewriting macros (OpenOffice does not support Office macros)"

My company just did a Windows NT -> Windows XP and Office 97 -> Office XP upgrade and hired an external company to rewrite all the macro's.

Now that's an advantage.