Open Office
From LiteracyTentWiki
1) In September [2005] the State of Massachusetts announced that it plans to move to OpenDocument 1.0 as the standard for all office documents by January 2007.
2) Google and Sun Announce a Joint Agreement http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/05/technology/05google.html
What is Open Office and OpenDocument? Well its software developed in the Open Source Community. This means in some fashion it's community owned. The advantage of Open Source is that usually products are made with functionality and inter-operability as the primary focus. Less interest is placed on marketing or money making potential.
For example, Microsoft makes Office, its suite of office productivity software. The standard documents created with this software are proprietary, meaning they are in a format that is a trade secret of Microsoft's. This means that Microsoft has some sort of control over whether you can continue to read documents made with its software. You can do a "Save As" though into an open format like .rtf or .txt though. <More on this later>
The two news notices above reflect a trend toward making documents that are "open" and therefore more stable in terms of their inter-accessibility between different computers and operating systems and more independent from one vendor or another.
Also it's free ! Your students can download it, and it will interoperate with present MS Office applications.
Download Open Office at http://openoffice.org I've tried it and it looks very promising.
Read Steve Linberg's take on it here http://silicongoblin.com/presentations/2005_ez_institute/ about 3/4 of the way down under software.
Akira Kamiya
Post to TCBoston Electronic List
October 5, 2005.
From: djrosen@comcast.net
Subject: [Technology 316] Open Office
Date: April 1, 2006 12:15:25 PM EST
To: Technology@nifl.gov
Technology Colleagues,
Open Office is a sophisticated, free office software program.
Steve Linberg, owner of the Literacy Tent, and occasional contributor to discussions here, summarizes its pros and cons in an article entitled "EZ Institute technical training" at http:// silicongoblin.com/presentations/2005_ez_institute/ . I have copied this section of Steve's terrific page of advice for not-for-profits below. I would be interested in hearing from people on the Technology list who are _using_ Open Office. What do you see as its benefits and drawbacks? Does anyone use it as their main office software program? If so, do you find that others can always open documents you send them?
David J. Rosen
newsomeassociates.com
djrosen@comcast.net
OpenOffice
OpenOffice is a free, open-source alternative to Microsoft Office and other commercial office suites. It is still in active development in the spring of 2005, but is very useable as it stands and in many cases it can function quite acceptably as a replacement for Office.
It may be downloaded at: http://www.openoffice.org/
Pros:
- Free. Like the Linux operating system (above), OpenOffice is completely free. It may be downloaded for nothing and used without restriction. Especially for a large-scale installation, this can produce dramatic savings compared to commercial alternatives.
- Excellent compatibility with MS-office. Although Microsoft's document formats are proprietary trade secrets, as discussed above, OpenOffice does a very good job handling all but the most extremely complex Office documents. OpenOffice can read and write Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents with very few problems; it even allows documents to be saved back as Office document formats (although it also has its own native and open formats as well). For most uses, OpenOffice can be used as a complete replacement for Microsoft Office and handle all Microsoft formats just fine.
- Open document formats OpenOffice can read and write to most of the major proprietary formats, but it also has its own internal format that it uses if compatibility with Office is not a priority, and this format is openly documented by Sun and released to the public. This means there is no danger of "vendor lock-in" because it will always be possible for programmers to write perfect translators from the OpenOffice format in the unlikely event that something prevented its use in the future. Additionally, in May of 2005 it was announced that OpenOffice will support the emerging OASIS OpenDocument format, being urged all around the world as a shared, non-proprietary format, beginning in version 2.0 (which is in development now and slated for release in the summer of 2005). See: http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=office
- Runs on Windows, Macintosh and Linux. OpenOffice runs on all major computing platforms and is free on all. This helps ensure a high degree of interoperability.
Cons:
- Install can be complicated. For novice computer users, downloading and installing OpenOffice can be a little complicated. It requires the Java language, which is preinstalled on Macintosh systems and usually installed on Windows, but if it isn't it might need to be downloaded and installed itself before OpenOffice will run. OpenOffice is a large download and will require many hours over a dial-up line if broadband is not available. Windows users might want to visit the following page, which will detect whether Java is properly installed and offer to install it if it isn't: http://www.java.com/en/download/windows_automatic.jsp CD-ROMs of OpenOffice can be ordered from a variety of vendors; see the page below and scroll down to the "United States of America" listing for links in the U.S. http://distribution.openoffice.org/cdrom/sellers.html
- Not quite as "polished". OpenOffice has made extraordinary progress in polish and usability since its inception, and the user interface resembles Microsoft Office to such a high degree that it can sometimes be difficult to tell them apart. Nonetheless, it is still an application under active development, and as such it may have occasional bugs and areas that lack the "polish" of a finished commercial product. These are being addressed as development continues.
In summary, OpenOffice can be an excellent alternative for people concerned with the costs or risks of using proprietary office software; it can co-exist perfectly well with Office or other software also installed, and since it is free, there is no reason not to try it and evaluate it for yourself.
written by Steve Linberg
http://silicongoblin.com/presentations/2005_ez_institute
From: pshapiro@his.com
Subject: [Technology 316] Re: Open Office
Date: April 3, 2006 10:17:09 AM EDT
To: technology@nifl.gov
thanks for asking. my co-workers and i are using the openoffice draw program to add amusing speech bubbles to animals photos from the internet. see http://shukotalkinganimals.blogspot.com/ and http://wiraphon.blogspot.com/
this can be a fun computer literacy/brainstorming activity for adult learners. (i.e. a group brainstorming activity -- "what are these animals saying?")
i like the conversations that ensue from this kind of activity -- such as why the rent is different for the seals in the above photo. (answer: crowding.)
literacy learners could also use speech bubbles and photos to satirize (in a friendly) way their teachers and tutors.
playing and learning reside within the same part of the brain. and laughter boosts the immune system.
http://digg.com/science/Expectation_of_laughter_boosts_endorphines_27_human_growth_hormones_87_
or
you're not going to see an article about this in the new york times, but we can use free software to boost people's health. i'm hoping siobhan black-champwell might blog about this sometime. she is someone who gets it.
http://www.digitaldivide.net/profile/siobhanchamp-blackwell
phil shapiro
washington dc
From: gails@advocap.org
Subject: [Technology 317] Re: Open Office
Date: April 3, 2006 12:00:34 PM EDT
To: technology@nifl.gov
Our agency, ADVOCAP, is a non-profit CBO that addresses issues contributing to poverty. ADVOCAP Literacy Services is one of 13 departments of the agency. The agency director has a real bee in his bonnet about Microsoft in general, and the entire agency (6 offices in a 3-county area) runs on Linux. OpenOffice has been the agency-wide standard for about 4 years. I also use it under Windows XP on my computer at home. I use the word processor and spreadsheet on a regular basis. I have tried a few things in the presentation program, but ended up going back to PowerPoint because I didn't have the time to learn the nuances of Impress. I have done nothing with the database.
OpenOffice Writer and Calc will open Word and Excel (respectively) documents with no problem. You can set it as the default program for opening .doc and .xls files during installation if you wish. You can also save in MS Office formats. Usually, this works just fine, but other users who open these files in the Microsoft apps may see minor formatting issues from time to time.
Overall, there are some things I like better about the OpenOffice apps and some features I like better with the MS apps. (Actually, my weapons of choice are WordPerfect and Quattro Pro, but let's not go there today.) OpenOffice is updated on a fairly regular basis - at least once a year. The current version is 2.0, which I have not yet installed, because ADVOCAP's IT manager is not planning on updating the network until summer.
Benefits - highly usable and free. Drawbacks - moderate learning curve and occasional formatting issues saving in MS formats.
Gail Schroeder, Data Manager
ADVOCAP Literacy Services/Even Start
Markesan, Wisconsin
From: nancy.mckeand@gmail.com
Subject: [Technology 319] Re: Open Office
Date: April 3, 2006 5:22:30 PM EDT
To: technology@nifl.gov
I have used OpenOffice exclusively for several years now and love it. I don't see any disadvantages. I use the word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation programs regularly.
As for others being able to open my documents... This is the only possible difficulty. I don't always remember to save it as a word/excel/poewerpoint document. Then, of course, others are not likely to be able to open it -- except for others using OpneOffice. So the problem is me, not OpenOffice!
Of course, I can open any Microsoft document that comes my way. That is wonderful!
Download and installation has gotten to be so easy that I can't think it would be a problem for much of anyone anymore. If you can install any software program, you can install OpenOffice. The new version 2.0.2 asks about Java before you download it. That is it. From then on you just click continue, for the most part.
Another great thing is that OpenOffice has great user forums. When I have had questions, I have always been able to find the answer there.
And it's free!!!
Nancy McKeand
