Open Office as Excel alternative

[Richard Schollar]

I have just installed Openoffice onto my PC to check it out - I was pleasantly surprised to see how similar it looked to Excel (I haven't delved at all deeply though - just touched the surface). Would anyone care to share their own experiences of using OO - I would be especially interested to hear from people who write their own macro code, especially JavaScript or Python coding.

Thanks

Richard

 

[Norie]

Richard

I've also got OpenOffice installed on my PC.


But I've never really used it, it takes about 5 minutes to load up any of the applications.

That could be an issue with my ageing hardware though.

As to using OO, do you mean Object Oriented?

If you do I don't know if the 2 languages mentioned fully qualify as OO languages.

I've used JavaScript in the past for web stuff and I've seen Python but never used it.

What are you actually wanting to do/know?

 

[Richard Schollar]

Hey Norie

Sorry - I was just referring to Open Office by OO

It loads as quickly as Excel does on my system, so I think you could be well advised to invest in some new hardware!

I'm just after other users' experiences with using it - I love Excel, but I would also like to be capable at using OpenOffice applications too (you never know when it might come in handy) and the one big difference between the two did seem to be in the macro language (at least from my first view).

Richard

 

[Richard Schollar]

Having searched around, I came across a useful website which contains some useful stuff to assist with writing macros in non-Basic languages:

OOOMacros

Hope this may also assist someone else!

Richard

 

[riaz]

Richard, this may dredge up old memories or even be obsolete, but did you persist with Open Office? I see version 3 is out now and we are seriously considering switching to that to replace Office. The reason is that we use Office 2002, and cannot find Office 2003 for love nor money. We are reluctant to go to 2007 with all the training that will be needed to 20+ staff, and someone mentioned Open Office as an alternative.

My specific question, obviously, is Excel related. Do you (or anyone else on this Board please) have any views on functionality and compatibility? We use Excel more heavily than Word, will probably retain Outlook as the mail client, but will probably switch word process and spreadsheet if the general consensus appears to be in favour.

I would rather come to the people on this Board than go to magazine reviews, as I have come to trust the knowledge and expertise of people here. After all, if you can teach an old dog like me new tricks, you all must be good!!

 

[Greg Truby]

Riaz,

What is OpenOffice's development strategy? Do they intend to continue development that will yield advancements in their spreadsheet's power but do so using the old interface? In which case over the years you will drift farther and farther from Excel (your call on whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. )

Or will they, at some point, end up doing their own version of the ribbon? In which case you have simply postponed the inevitable.

 

[Richard Schollar]

I suspect that assuming you don't use your spreadsheets to interface with the other office programs (eg Excel/Access linking) then Open Office would be a reasonable alternative. I don't use Open Office but from what I've seen the functionality is pretty similar in many respects.

I understand what you mean about the training in regards to Office2007. I am using Excel 2007 more as time goes on and this is making me more comfortable with it. I positively like Word 2007 and Access 2007, but I don't use either a great deal. Outlook 2007 is my mail program of choice (it's very good).

 

[SydneyGeek]

My understanding is that the basic spreadsheet functions are similar (formulas etc) with some training and conversion required -- but the conversion is handled pretty well by the Open Office suite anyway.

However, if any of your spreadsheets rely on VBA you need to take that into account. OO does not support VBA (and, I assume, will not run VBA macros) so you could be up for a lot of development time and expense.

So, horses for courses. If you don't use VBA extensively, try OO. If you rely on VBA and have a large installed base of VBA workbooks/code, Office 2007 is a better option. Just stay away from Vista if you can.

Denis

 

[riaz]

Riaz,

What is OpenOffice's development strategy? Do they intend to continue development that will yield advancements in their spreadsheet's power but do so using the old interface?

Greg, I have a very small knowledge from what I have read (only given the assignment yesterday), but I do believe there is a commitment to continue to develop it, much like Firefox. If they do go ribbon and more training required, then it will be up to the powers to be to then decide whether to go back to MS or stay with OO.

I suspect that assuming you don't use your spreadsheets to interface with the other office programs (eg Excel/Access linking) then Open Office would be a reasonable alternative. I don't use Open Office but from what I've seen the functionality is pretty similar in many respects.

I understand what you mean about the training in regards to Office2007. I am using Excel 2007 more as time goes on and this is making me more comfortable with it. I positively like Word 2007 and Access 2007, but I don't use either a great deal. Outlook 2007 is my mail program of choice (it's very good).

Richard, the only interface is an occasional mailmerge in Word, drawing data from Excel. Other than that, there is no interface. We do not use Access at all.

However, if any of your spreadsheets rely on VBA you need to take that into account. OO does not support VBA (and, I assume, will not run VBA macros) so you could be up for a lot of development time and expense.

Sydney, there is only one particular file that uses VBA, which I wrote after learning from here. Of course, as time goes on, I would be trying out more and more VBA stuff after learning from this Board, but if we go OO, then my visits here would be for personal learning. So while no VBA may not be a great loss at work, it would be for me. But hey, I have Excel at home, so you won't get rid of me so easily.

My main concern is compatibility with formulas and functions in Excel. The reason I am pressing to go to Excel 2003 if for ONE particular function which is not in 2002, and that is SUBTOTAL(109). Other than that, there is nothing that 2002 cannot cope with, so if OO does not have that, I would see no reason to change right away.

I will go and do a search for what functions and formulas OO has, then come back and hassle you guys again. (Watch this space )

In the meantime, as always, thank you for the prompt and very informative feedback.

 

[SydneyGeek]

Riaz, try this link...

http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/How_Tos/Calc:_Functions_listed_by_category

As for the 109 argument in SUBTOTAL, I don't know for sure but I think that's Office 2007. From the documentation, 109 ignores hidden values where 9 includes them. But I've used 9 as the argument in earlier versions to only sum visible rows.

Denis