[OPLINTECH] Open Office Software

[Chad Neeper (list)]

The learning curve between OOo v2.x and MS Office versions prior to 2007 
is negligible, in my opinion. It would be considerably easier to move 
from an earlier version of MS Office to OOo than it would be to move 
from an earlier version of MS Office to MS Office 2007. MS Office 2007 
is its own beast, however, and is different all across the board.

As for pure market share of OOo versus MS Office in the business world, 
I expect MS Office is dominant. Going forward, is OOo gaining market 
share against Office? Probably. Will that market share increase as more 
and more companies adopt linux at the desktop? Probably. Is MS Office 
"what they're using in the real world?" Yes. But so is OOo.

Will non-savvy people melt down if their new employer's word processor 
is Word instead of OOo? Depends on the non-savvy person, I guess! 
Consider that a "non-savvy person" would be using just the most basic 
features, then they would have a fairly small learning curve. The more 
features they use, the bigger learning curve they have.

Throw in the question of how many businesses have actually moved to the 
latest version of MS Office and I'm beginning to come to the conclusion 
that your questions are unanswerable except in the most general sense. 
With three and a half major players in the office suite arena, maybe 
it's best to simply let the patron decide or to gain skills in one suite 
expecting that the skills will translate to the others in some degree. 
(The three and a half major players I'm thinking are: MS Office 
pre-2007, MS Office 2007, OpenOffice, and Corel Office as the half.) 
Personally, I feel that if a person has skills in one, they should be 
able to translate those skills to another, even if there is a bit of a 
learning curve.

Any other opinions out there?

Chad

-----------------------
Chad Neeper
Senior Systems Engineer

Level 9 Networks
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)

--   Full LAN/WAN consulting services   --
-- Specialized in libraries and schools --



Shane Ian Hoffman wrote:
> How much is business adopting it?  It's been slightly addressed in some
> previous posts, but my concern has been:
>
> I'm trying to make sure my patrons have the skills they need to get a job,
> go to college, whatever.  Are the skills picked up by using OO.org going to
> transfer?  I have a lot of non-savvy people who come through my doors
> wanting to learn.  Those that ask questions invariably ask, "Is this what
> they're using in the real world?".
>
> I guess my question is, will my non-savvy people melt down the second they
> open their word processor or spreadsheet at their new job and it's WORD
> instead of OO?
>
> Shane
>
> Shane Ian Hoffman
> IT Coordinator
> Pickaway County District Public Libraries
> 1160 North Court Street
> Circleville, OH  43113
> phone - 740.477.1644 ext. 232
> fax - 740.474.2855
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: oplintech-bounces at oplin.org [mailto:oplintech-bounces at oplin.org] On
> Behalf Of shivelri at oplin.org
> Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 11:12 AM
> To: oplintech at oplin.org
> Subject: [OPLINTECH] Open Office Software
>
> Hello, I am the IT Specialist at Greenville Public Library and we have 
> started to use OO for some of our patron and staff computers. I was 
> curious as to how many other libraries are using OO and what their 
> experience has been with it? Do the patrons get along fine with it? Does 
> the staff?
>
>   

-- 

-----------------------
Chad Neeper
Senior Systems Engineer

Level 9 Networks
740-548-8070 (voice)
866-214-6607 (fax)

--   Full LAN/WAN consulting services   --
-- Specialized in libraries and schools --