Not a problem, just a question. I was updating JAVA recently and was offered the FREE DOWNLOAD of OpenOffice.org. The literature says it is compatable with Microsoft Office and it does appear to have the same basic layout of Word, Power Point, Excel, etc. Apparently it is interchangable (?).

I have Microsoft Office Professional already installed and was wondering if there are any advantages to installing the Java product. Does any one out there have any experience with this program? Could it cause any problems with my Office program already installed? Thanks for any enlightenment.

Shado,
I have both installed on my pc. I have an old copy of Office Professional (the 2000 version) & can't/won't afford the latest version of it, so downloaded open office. No problems at all but, be careful on installation. Open Office asks a "Do you want all your Microsoft Office documents converted to Open Office Documents" I said NO to this, because you can convert 1 at a time if you need to in the future.
In my case the advantage is that sooner or later Microsoft will stop supporting my version of Office. Plus Open Office is "open architecture" and they have a pretty good forum/area to help solve issues you have - I mean "how can I do" isues as well as technical ones.
Open Office also comes with a database equivalent to Access - something you have to pay Microsoft extra for.
I can't say that I have used it extensively, but have "played around" in all the elements & it is as near to Microsoft as makes no difference.
Finally, it is a pretty dam big file to download!!!!

Thanks BobHelm,

That is exactly the kind of feed-back I was hoping for! The little nugget about converting all of my Microsoft Office documents to Open Office Documents is very good advice. I will also say no to this option. In looking at OpenOffice, it seemed to be a pretty good fall-back program to have on the computer even if only used occasionally. I also believe you are correct about the Microsoft support of older versions of Office.

I really appreciate your input. Thanks again.

Bob, do you know or have any experience with the Excel equivalent, particularly in relation to large spreadsheet files?

A number of my currency spreadsheets in Excel (2002/XP version) are over 20MB and I'm beginning to have occasional faults with them - the only response I ever get from Microsoft is a recommendation to upgrade

As I've already bought three versions of Office Professional over the years for my own use (my earliest version was on about 30 floppy discs) I don't really want to buy another.

I have never tried a spreadsheet of that size Jimbo.
I believe that the restrictions on Calc (the Open Office equivalent of Excel) are about the same as Excel.
To be honest it sounds (to me) that this is of the size where it is really more suitable to a database rather than a spreadsheet. With, maybe, just a bit of manipulation in a spreadsheet.
If you want my e-mail address I will be happy to PM it to you.
If you sent me a sample of the spreadsheet data & explained what you wanted to do with it (if it was something over & above what appeared as formula on the spreadsheet). I would be happy to have ago at knocking up a database for you - Access or Open Office, your choice...

Thanks Bob, I've tried fiddling around in Access, but never found it as rapid and user friedly as Excel for what I'm doing.

Mentally I'm probably a bit stuck in spreadsheet mode as I used to do a lot with it, have fond memories of Lotus 123 which was a far superior product but eventually was forced to switch to Excel

Haven't tried Access for anything new for a while, previously when I've experimented with it the resulting files sizes always seemed to be larger than Excel and somewhat fiddlier to update.

Another minor problem I might have are the multiple charts I have embedded and linked directly to the data in Excel which I can quickly & easily adjust- I've never tried charting in Access.

Hopefully we can meet up for a lemonade as I should be back in Udon fairly shortly and will have some of my files with me on a USB memory drive which you are welcome to copy.

Sounds like a good plan Jimbo, although I am not sure about "lemonade" - depends on the time of day...
Access isn't the best when it comes to charting, although it will do some basic stuff.
It is possible to have tables in Access that are actually just linked Excel spreadsheets (when you change that data it is automatically changed in Access)- equally you can output data from Access as a Excel Spreadsheet, rather than as a "document". So, if, for example you have a chart in a spreadsheet linked to data (either in that spreadsheet, or another) you can get Access to update the data & the chart will be updated automatically.
Where Access scores over Excel is its speed of calculation & the ability to select, group, sort & calculate new fields "on the fly". Plus you can actually automate the complete process - so just opening the database will make it do any selected actions (in sequence) with you doing nothing but looking at the results...

Well, I have just had my first problem with open office.
Yesterday it just stopped working - all of it. I could try and open documents, or the base programs and nothing happened. I mean NOTHING as if I had not tried to run the program at all.
So I used CCleaner & deleted the core programs, leaving any documents untouched. I then re-installed open office (I had kept the downloaded files, so didn't have to re-download).
Woking fine again now, very strange I don't think I have ever had that happen before with any program. Error messages, yes, hard disk whirling away for ages & nothing happening, yes, but my pc just seemed to ignore completely any action I tried to take with it....

Just noticed this thread...and how strange i downloaded open office 3.0 as it came with a recent java download, only as MS office word is now locked out as i never registered it...anyway installed it yesterday and will keep a check on it.

Bob, do you know if Open Office will work in Thai script?

Didn't see any option for Thai script when setting it up and can't see any option for Thai script after setting up westers.

beer monkey wrote:Didn't see any option for Thai script when setting it up and can't see any option for Thai script after setting up westers.

Yeah, I had a look on the website and it looks as though there's a Thai language project being worked on but nothing in the programme. Thanks anyway.

would be good if you could type in Engrish and it 'automatically' comes on the screen as Thai.....or just hit a box and translates it all.

can you do that somewhere already..?

BobHelm wrote:Well, I have just had my first problem with open office.
Yesterday it just stopped working - all of it. I could try and open documents, or the base programs and nothing happened. I mean NOTHING as if I had not tried to run the program at all.

Bob, this sounds exactly like the problem I used to have with my teen-aged boys...

Paka, Yeah been there done that as well However I can assure you that this is just a 'time delay' program. When they hit 20 all that "pushing of keys" suddenly takes effect & you have a pleasant human being - as long as you remembered to carry on hitting the right buttons during the program delay of the teens that is....

As far as I am aware you cannot do "automatic translations into Thai" in open office. I have not tried to use a Thai version - I get easily confused with English
I do know that you can do the following in Microsoft Office (as I have done so) but haven't tried it with Open Office. Have two different User Accounts on the PC. Have one where the language is English & one where it is Thai. A bit of manipulation in Microsoft Office with language. When you sign into the English Account Office is in English, when you sign into the Thai account Office is all in Thai - but I never tried to "cut & paste" from, for example, English Word to Thai Word - I do not believe that if you did it would translate it.