OFFICE SOFTWARE – THE OPEN SOURCE SOLUTION ?

I’ve used Open Office for years, since it was called Star Office, and was supported from Germany. I like it, it’s not as complex as Word / Excel and is fully compatible. But its only one package of many open source applications which are available as alternatives to the leading packages.

I’ve deliberately tried to use open source and cross platform software on my systems and also on my new systems builds. So that’s why we have Open Office, AVG7, The Gimp, NVU, Firefox, Thunderbird, GAIM, and others freely installed on the PCs I build and repair. The only thing missing is Evolution, which is the Novell equivalent of MS Outlook, and has Mail, Contacts, Diary, Tasks and is compatible with MS Exchange servers. I like Evolution. It works well, and also can integrate with my Palm handheld.

However, much as I would like to see open source become the norm, the opposition is well entrenched. In my daily work I use MS Office XP - in fact I use Excel a whole lot, to create business activity monitoring dashboards with graphics. I'm also looking at introducing a degree of interactivity by using Powerpoint as well. The downside is that these applications are expensive for a user to buy, for a corporate it is a legitimate business overhead. But we users sometimes like to work from home,so it is useful to have the software where & when we need it. Its called DEDICATION. The MS Office files are also HUGE, unwieldy data monsters, which block mailboxes etc. So I have had a look around for the open source solution to suit MY REQUIREMENTS. Bad news, it doesn't exist. Simle stuff like creating formula and graphics is OK. Its when you come to modify & manipulate the data that you strike problems. Open Office files are just not compatible. My Powerpoint wireframe template with hyperlinks to other slides etc looks like the PC has lost its video card. Graphics and text overlaid all over the place. Crap.

What I really require is an open source Windows & Linux compatible application which is simple to use and can display information from a spreadsheet or a database, and be interactive. Am I asking too much ? Yes I think so, at least at this moment. So its back to Excel and Powerpoint in the meantime.