Last week, IBM unveiled the first version of their OpenOffice.org offshoot, Lotus Symphony. Symphony is aimed at professional users in a corporate environment, but brings to OpenOffice.org many UI enhancements in an attractive, single tabbed interface. Symphony 1.0 runs on Windows and Linux; while the site used to suggest a Mac version was forthcoming, there is currently no reference to a Mac native version of Symphony. The Lotus Symphony website has been updated to reflect the recent release, however, downloads are very slow at the moment "due to high demand." 
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Member since:2006-01-26
So have you tried passing around Writer-documents between Linux and windows? OO2.2 and OO2.4? It's not a smooth ride. Blank pages appear from nowhere, equations and illustrations move around.
As a little plus, Open Office also lacks support for the Star Office-formats that I used some eight or ten years ago. Word at least still is able to read Office 97-files.
PDF is still the only way to pass around formatted documents, and pure text remains the only completely smooth way to exchange data when on different platforms and/or program versions.
Member since:2005-07-06
That may be so, but it is less costly to upgrade everybody to the same version than it is to upgrade everybody to the same version of MS-Office. Besides, OOo is very good at saving to PDF.
Member since:2007-12-04
Member since:2005-11-02
As a little plus, Open Office also lacks support for the Star Office-formats that I used some eight or ten years ago. Word at least still is able to read Office 97-files.
You are wrong about the Star Office format support. I just searched my hard drive and found a 2001 writer document saved as a .sdw. It opened perfectly in OOo 2.4. IBM has dropped the support for the old StarOffice formats in Symphony but OOo keeps supporting them right back to StarOffice 1.0 formats.
With regard to the transfer of writer documents between Linux and Windows (and vice versa). Are you using the MS core fonts in the documents created using Linux (do you have them installed)? If you don't then you will have font conversion problems that could effect formating.
Member since:2006-05-11
"...it's frustrating to support many different versions of MS Office that don't completely play nice with each other. it absolutely sucks to have to explain to my boss why our consultants' copies of Office can't read the files he creates on his brand-new laptop. explaining file formats over and over is a waste of my time, quite frankly. and, it'll be very pricey to get everybody on the same version."
Yes, you're right. I was just about to start complaining about OOo / Symphony's poor MS Office import performance. But MS Office's compatibility within different versions of its own software leaves a lot to be desired, and creates a lot of frustration among uninformed users.
Edited 2008-06-03 12:45 UTC
Member since:2005-07-20
Member since:2005-07-12
I feel your pain in this, as I have experienced it before. One thing going for working in a large corporation: PC banding. IE: we all run the same operating system, the same office suite, the same email client and web browser.
Some of the other "associates" are getting new laptops. I've only had mine for a year, so unless it breaks, I'm stuck with it for a while longer. Anyway, these new laptops (Dell, can't remember the model) all come with Vista pre-installed, but since our corporation has an XP site license, they get re-imaged with XP and which ever MS Office suite we're currently using.
Everybody in the entire corporation uses the same software, including consultants. I have to say, it makes life a lot easier for everyone.
Member since:
2007-06-28
Shouldn't you be helping your office run as smoothly as possible, instead of pushing your personal political agenda?
what in comment said anything about personal politics? this is a thread about alternative office suites, in case you hadn't noticed.
and, since you questioned my intentions, it's frustrating to support many different versions of MS Office that don't completely play nice with each other. it absolutely sucks to have to explain to my boss why our consultants' copies of Office can't read the files he creates on his brand-new laptop. explaining file formats over and over is a waste of my time, quite frankly. and, it'll be very pricey to get everybody on the same version.
i think those reasons alone completely justify what i said. nothing political. don't get me wrong, i've got plenty of personal opinions regarding microsoft's product lineup. but that has nothing to do with what happens in my office. and, ultimately, if i can get all of my users on a single version of a single platform for little or no capital, that's a plus. especially if the conversion doesn't break compatibility with legacy file formats.
i feel so abused. le sigh.