Hayward
K A R - 1 2 0 C
Premium
join:2000-07-13
Key West, FL
edit:
April 26th, @04:20AM
| OK trying to convince a complete NEWBE for a PC
Wants me to find them something in a capable laptop.
My suggestion would be just what I have the LINUX Dell Insprion 1525N....basic just web and email
BUT What they are hung up on is how M$ Office file compatible is Open Office????
I am not sure of that factor/ver currency...read/write/modify compatibility.
They really don't need a WIN machine, but for that BS
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»haywardm.com (Hayward's Key West)
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pablo2525
join:2003-06-23
edit:
April 26th, @06:46AM
| Open Office is okay, not great. Microsoft Office is still far better.
For my Office needs, I virtualize them using »www.virtualbox.org This allows me to have Linux as my host O/S.
Cheers,
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pablo
openSUSE 10.3/KDE
ISP: TekSavvy DSL; backhauled via a 6KM wireless link |
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Hayward
K A R - 1 2 0 C
Premium
join:2000-07-13
Key West, FL
edit:
April 26th, @07:09AM
| Well again for their purposes not really which is better just basic functionality can OO deal with, edit and resave MO files pretty transparently/compatibly? (And all text not graphic intensive ones... invoices and like etc)
So far I have only used it casually, not with any biz document/important consideration
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»haywardm.com (Hayward's Key West)
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chrisretusn
Retired
Premium
join:2007-08-13
Philippines
edit:
April 26th, @07:53AM
| I use Open Office at home. I use Office as part of being membership officer at a club I belong to. I do all of my documents in Open Office and save them in Word format. There are occasional format differences but unless the docs are very complex there is not any real noticeable problems. At least that is my experience.
On the spreadsheet front, I do the same, save in Excel format. So far I have had only minor problems, again some formating. There are a few compatibility problems with formulas but not in the most commonly used formulas.
I have had very little problem working between Office and Open Office.
Can't say much about presentation or that database side. I do suspect that on the database side it shouldn't be to hard to go back and forth unless some heavy program is involved. I say that as someone who have a lot of experience wworking with various database. This many not be the case with your friend. |
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pablo2525
join:2003-06-23
edit:
April 26th, @08:14AM
| reply to Hayward
I believe Chrisretusn is alluding to what I am saying. If your use of Office is light, OO works fine. In a business environment I would not use OO (and I do not).
My use of my machines (both Linux based; laptop and desktop) are in a business setting therefore I need to virtualize my MO needs.
btw, you can create a real lean VM for this purpose: 256MB of RAM, setup a share between Linux and it to ease working between the both, etc.
Cheers,
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pablo
openSUSE 10.3/KDE
ISP: TekSavvy DSL; backhauled via a 6KM wireless link |
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chrisretusn
Retired
Premium
join:2007-08-13
Philippines
| Open Office is perfectly suitable in a business environment. It is just a functional as Office. The problems occur when switching back and forth between them. Thus far with some exceptions I have not had a problem doing so. There was a time were I did prefer Office, especially Excel but now I have little problem switching back and forth. |
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pablo2525
join:2003-06-23
| said by chrisretusn  :Open Office is perfectly suitable in a business environment. It is just a functional as Office. I disagree. I have had issues between PPT, Word and Excel. This was with Office 2000 and OO 2.3.
It will largely depend on the complexity of the objects you are dealing with: simple, not an issue; more complex, more likely to run into issues.
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pablo
openSUSE 10.3/KDE
ISP: TekSavvy DSL; backhauled via a 6KM wireless link |
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Hayward
K A R - 1 2 0 C
Premium
join:2000-07-13
Key West, FL
| said by pablo2525 :said by chrisretusn :Open Office is perfectly suitable in a business environment. It is just a functional as Office. I disagree. I have had issues between PPT, Word and Excel. This was with Office 2000 and OO 2.3. It will largely depend on the complexity of the objects you are dealing with: simple, not an issue; more complex, more likely to run into issues. Thanks folks... again, pretty simple stuff involved here, basic WP, handling/generating invoices, email, web and stuff, Wife does the heavy duty database stuff on a WIN machine. And no real need of the presentation side at all.
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»haywardm.com (Hayward's Key West)
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chrisretusn
Retired
Premium
join:2007-08-13
Philippines | Your welcome Hayward. I enjoy using Open Office and with the basic WP and stuff it works just fine. |
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Hayward
K A R - 1 2 0 C
Premium
join:2000-07-13
Key West, FL
| Well now a moot question... they were in Miami and went to Best Buy or somewhere and bought another bloated DOZE machine. 
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»haywardm.com (Hayward's Key West)
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chrisretusn
Retired
Premium
join:2007-08-13
Philippines | Awe man, what a shame.
Vista, with Office? |
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Eatmeingreek
Gentard
join:2001-06-29
San Francisco, CA | Let me know if you find a machine without Vista at any price in any bricks-and-mortar store. |
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No_Strings
Premium,Mod
join:2001-11-22
The OC
Host:
Wireless Networking
All Things Unix
D-Link
| It's even difficult to do online. My wife's PC, the innards of which were my old, old cast-offs (anyone remember Rambus?), went TU the other day and I didn't have time to build a proper one. Ordered a cheap Dell and couldn't get one with XP.
So far, my impressions of Vista are mixed. Mostly, it's like making love to an alien - all the same parts, just in different places. |
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Hayward
K A R - 1 2 0 C
Premium
join:2000-07-13
Key West, FL
edit:
May 5th, @01:38AM
| reply to Eatmeingreek
Actually Dell is one of the few building ground up Linux machines... and so far very few.... Insperon 1525 N is the laptop version. Hopefully though it will catch on, and they will offer more diversity.
As they build their own machines vs some others that just stip (you are still paying for) WIN, and installing Linux.
The Ubuntu 1525N was a good $150 cheaper than the equivalently equipent WIN machine, plus no BS (nearly all TRIAL, not real) crapware, AOhelL, etc., just rock solid upper end euiv aps like GIMP, Open Office, and of course be what you want Firefox, not what THEY want INTERNET EXPLODER, etc.
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»haywardm.com (Hayward's Key West)
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Eatmeingreek
Gentard
join:2001-06-29
San Francisco, CA
| said by Hayward :Actually Dell is one of the few building ground up Linux machines... I know. I'm writing this on an Insipidron 1505N. That's why I specified "bricks-and-mortar store."
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"Be safe be suspicious" |
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