Chances are you are using Microsoft Office. Chances are you haven’t heard of OpenOffice. If that is the case, take the time to read on, it will be worth your time.
First off a definition of NeoOffice is in order. From the NeoOffice web page:
NeoOffice is a full-featured set of office applications (including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing, and database programs) for Mac OS X. Based on the OpenOffice.org office suite, NeoOffice has integrated dozens of native Mac features and can import, edit, and exchange files with other popular office programs such as Microsoft Office.
Yes, it is true. Microsoft Office isn’t the only office suite out there. Being open source NeoOffice is free to download from the Internet. It doesn’t cost you a dime and provides you with 90% of the functionality of Microsoft Office.
The COEHD Laptop program from here on out will be using NeoOffice at the default word processor. There are many reasons for this change, but one is that it will save the students money and hassles with getting the new Microsoft Office format to work with other peoples computers. They will still have the option of purchasing MS Office, however they will no longer be required to do so.
Below are the top five features to be concerned with.
- Open Source
- Free
- Reads and writes to all Microsoft Office formats including OOXML. This means you don’t need a forced upgrade to Office 2008.
- Support for the open format ODF. If you don’t know what ODF is you can learn about it here.
- Works on OS X, Windows, and Linux
In later posts we will be going a little further into NeoOffice/OpenOffice.org. We will be looking at the word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation tools and how to do certain things in each. This post is just to make you aware of the program and what it can do for you. I am going to be making a push for a greater adoption of open source software at the college. Consider this my first step.
Posted by harttml 