[K12OSN] OT: any OpenOffice vs. MS Office studies/cases out there?

[Rob Owens]

Quick anecdote:

I introduced OpenOffice to a company I used to work for.  Both the R&D Engineer and the VP of Manfacturing claimed they could not "figure it out".  The machinists all used it with no problems.  

Same story with Linux in general.  Office staff did not want to even try it.  I put it in the cafeteria for the assembly workers to use during break, gave them no instruction, and they used it just fine (they never asked me for help -- not once).

-Rob

On Sat, Feb 21, 2009 at 09:40:44AM -0600, Barry R Cisna wrote:
> Hi Alan,
> 
> This is always an ongoing struggle,as has been discussed here several
> times before. I do not have any good links to compare OOo to M$ Off in a
> school setting.You are on the right track though. I have pitched OOo
> here to the powers that be. Bottom line I try and tell them ' what are
> the disadvantages of OOo"? One big selling point to me is the fact that
> any format of OOo that is used can be transparently saved as a PDF that
> gives a more finished/professional look right out of the box.Its not
> rocket science for say the secretaries, or anyone for that matter to do
> this. If nothing else OOo is worth more than M$Off in this regard.
> I have found that without a doubt people that has been in teaching 'are
> set in their ways' ,period! You are asking the world for them to step
> out of their comfort zone,even if something as menial as what we are
> discussing here. Second downfall is that the higher ups are
> impressed,,when things cost lots of money versus free.Never could figure
> that one out,other than they are pretty simple minded:(.
> Example: We have to have M$Off+ $$ for licenses,then we buy Adobe CS3 or
> whatever the topend bulk package is for major $$$$ ++ so much for
> license for this as well to be able to convert MS docs to pdf's. Really
> impressive?
> Does it make you wonder why all state agencies across the country
> continually operate in the red,,,except for the state of North Dakota>
> Maybe they are a little too practical!
> OK I m done b___ch___.
> 
> Take Care
> Barry Cisna
> 
> 
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