Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: Writer and Word compatibility question

On 05/27/2016 11:29 PM, Ken Springer wrote:
> On 5/27/16 6:40 PM, Tim---Kracked_P_P---webmaster wrote:
> > I have been using LibreOffice since its first version.
> >
> > I do not use many of its options either.
> >
> >
> > Why save the file to .odt instead of .doc or .docx?
>
> I'm looking for ways to have people be inclusive rather than 
> exclusive. IOW,  you can have people be able to share files, and not 
> force anyone to use a particular word processor.  If you want LO, Mary 
> wants Word, Sam wants Word Perfect, Joe wants Pages, Esther wants 
> Nisus (Mac), everyone can work on the project yet each use the word 
> processor of their choice.
>
> This can be done if you're willing to work with PDF files, but people 
> seem to dislike the idea.  I'm beginning to suspect people don't know 
> how to annotate a PDF file rather than directly editing the file.
>
> > I deal with many folks that use MS Office - state agencies require it.
> > So you can make LibreOffice default to the Word file formats.  I would
> > prefer the .doc format, since each version of MS Office since 2007 were
> > using a different version of the .docx format and not comply compatible
> > with each other.
>
> That compatibility issue is what I'm talking about, and want to avoid.
>
> 3 or 4 years ago, a friend of mine had a new job, and initially had to 
> use her own computer.  All she had was Open Office XXXX. But she would 
> save them either .doc or .docx format.  I would open them in Word 
> 2007, and it wasn't right.  I would fix them in 2007 and send them 
> back.  And as you probably expect, OOo wouldn't open them correctly.
>
> The company has now provided a company owned computer with 2010 so 
> that issue no longer exists.
>
> She still has OOo on her personal computer.  I've tried with no 
> success to get her to try LO, but with no success.  For that matter, I 
> haven't been able to get her to try anything else either.
>
> Myself, I like Softmaker Office Free, and am considering purchasing 
> the paid version.
>
> Being free is simply not the best reason to chose a piece of software.
>
> > Actually, the last version of MS Office [not trial] I used was MSO 2003.
>
> 2007, here, which I'm using for a document at work.  A coworker things 
> Word is the greatest thing since sliced bread.  We're using the 
> tracking and changes features of Word, and I'm beginning to remember 
> why I hated the feature.  I tried to get him to do it using PDF, but 
> that was a no go.  My suspicion is the only way he knows to deal with 
> PDFs is with a browser.
>
> > I started using OpenOffice.org since before it was able to read/write
> > the .doc format.  Then I switched to LO after I waited over a year for a
> > new version of OOo.  I have not gone back.  When I had to use MSO 2007
> > on a computer center system, I did not like all of the changes to the
> > interface or all the newer options.  I do remember in the 1990 era of MS
> > Office where I read an advertisement touting that MS added over 500 new
> > functions and options added to the new version over the previous one.
> > Back then is seemed to me that MS wanted Word to be both a word
> > processor and a spreadsheet package, along with other non word
> > processing options.  Back in the early/mid 2000's software companies
> > started to require a gig of disk space for default installation on the
> > "new affordable" hard drive sizes more than 20 gig of storage. All of
> > the added options/functions of MS Office and Adobe packages started to
> > need more than 40% of the free space after a fresh MS Windows XP 
> > install.
> >
> > Still MS Office keeps adding more and more functions/options to each
> > package, like World or Excel, where you need to be a "advanced
> > specialist" to know how to use even half of all of the functions/options
> > in Word or Excel alone, let alone of the whole Office suite.
>
> Way too many options for most people.  I think it's an effort to be 
> everything to everybody.  As a result, lots of features are just 
> mediocre.  My philosophy is do a few things well, let someone else do 
> the other things.
>
> My friend I mentioned above had to do some wall displays/posters and 
> tried to do them in OOo.  I kept telling her she needed a page layout 
> program.  "Oh, no, OOo will do it."  Serif had a sale on PagePlus X6 
> just before they released X7.  $25/copy.  I bought us each a copy, and 
> once she started using it, she now won't use anything else.  It is 
> terribly easy to use.
>
> Almost every word processor offers compatibility, but ability to 
> follow through varies.  But if you use PDF, there shouldn't be any 
> problem.
>
> > LibreOffice does add new options/functions but not as many as MSO does
> > for each version/line.
>
> And those plethora of features can be daunting, some people are 
> totally baffled by all of them in any program.  I met a senior citizen 
> who wanted to write a book and had a really nice Windows laptop.  
> Every one told her she needed Word, yet she hardly knew how to the 
> mouse.  :-(  I turned her on to WordPad, and she was off and running.  
> I told her when she discovered there were things she wanted to do that 
> WordPad couldn't do, get with me and we'd get her a next level up word 
> processor.

You do not need Word for writing books.  You just need to provide the 
book in the format that the editor/publisher requires - after you finish 
your work.

There is a really prolific author - Piers Anthony - who went to Linux 
and OOo years ago.  I believe he is now using LO.  He wrote macros and 
uses a non-standard keyboard.  He use to write 3 to 5 books a year.  Now 
that he is in the late 70's he has slowed down a lot.  He use to have 
author's notes at the end of his books, but now does most of it in a 
blog.  After reading he used OOo on his old Windows system, I started 
using it.  Then a few years later he moved to Linux for writing while 
his wife used Windows - no dial-up modem support for Linux in the 
forested area of Florida he lived in.

> > On 05/27/2016 03:53 PM, Ken Springer wrote:
> > > I've not use LO for a long time.  Quite frankly, it's way too
> > > sophisticated for my uses.  Read that as too many features I have no
> > > use for.
> > >
> > > The same applies for Word.
> > >
> > > Regarding the .odt file format...
> > >
> > > If you are working in Word, and have a lot of tracking changes going
> > > on, and you save the file in Word as an .odt file, are those tracking
> > > changes and such carried over when you open the file in LO?


--
To unsubscribe e-mail to: users+unsubscribe@global.libreoffice.org
Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/
Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/
All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted