- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista
- Date added: August 30, 2009
- Total Downloads: 2,256,620
- Downloads last week: 12,502
- See full specifications
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 1191 votes
See all user reviews -
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: CNET Staff
A credible rival to MS Office, OpenOffice.org includes powerful applications for making text documents, spreadsheets, presentations, diagrams, and databases, as well as HTML and XML documents. Not only does it let you edit basic documents, such as letters and faxes, it also handles equations and complex and multipart documents with bibliographies, reference tables, and indexes.
The interface is similar to that of MS Office, and even advanced Office users will find almost everything they're used to: templates, collaborative features (versions, recording changes), macros, and even a programming language. OOo, as it's known, lets you open and save documents in formats as diverse as MS Office formats, PDF, HTML, and XML. It can also import files from those formats, as well as WordPerfect and others. However, it normally saves files in the open-standard Oasis OpenDocument XML format, for maximum compatibility with other applications.
The latest versions of OpenOffice have seen a spurt of growth in the extensions available for the program. These include templates for professional writers, an export tool for bidirectional functionality with Google Docs, blog publishing, and others. Blog publishing assistance especially strikes us as a natural area for word processing to grow toward.
We were pleased to find that stability has improved too. No doubt about it, the multilingual and crossplatform OpenOffice.org is a compelling option for anyone in search of an alternative office suite.
Watch the CNET video review of OpenOffice.org:
Publisher's description
From OpenOffice.org :OpenOffice.org is both an open-source product and a project. The product is a multiplatform office productivity suite. It includes desktop applications such as a word processor, a spreadsheet program, a presentation manager, and a drawing program, with a user interface and feature set similar to those of other office suites. OpenOffice.org also works transparently with a variety of file formats, including those of Microsoft Office. Localizations of OpenOffice.org are available in 27 languages, with more being constantly added by the community. OpenOffice.org runs on Solaris, Linux (including PPC Linux), and Windows. Written in C++ and with documented APIs licensed under the LGPL and SISSL open-source protocols, OpenOffice.org allows any knowledgeable developer to benefit from the source.
What's new in this version:
Version 3.1.1 fixes Framework showstopper and includes some enhancements.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 4.4 stars out of 1191 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 5 of 103 user reviewsSee all 103 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
Version: OpenOffice.org 3.1.1
"Does what the name brand does, and it's free."
Pros: Handles e-mail attachments adroitly . . . for FREE!
Cons: Seldom upgrades with patches -- only with the whole shebang; even with cable, that's a sizable chunk of download time.
Summary: For those of us with restricted incomes, or for those who insist on paying as little as possible to the MS empire, Open Office is the answer. Not many e-mail attachments remain enigmas when Open Office is around.
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Version: OpenOffice.org 3.1.1
"A good substitute for Microsoft Office 2007"
Pros: The user interface is much more like that of Office 2003--much easier to use than the extremely counter-intuitive menu of Word 2007, in which the Table commands for Insert are not under the Insert tab; I have to ask Help every time to find it.
Cons: Not much. It does have some wierd file extensions, however.
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Version: OpenOffice.org 3.1.1
Pros: Does all I need
Cons: None for me
Summary: Great -- price is right, allows me to do everything I need in a suite and updates are free as well. After using Word and the various suite iterations since 1.0, I am more than glad to relegate it and them to where they belong -- where someone else i... read more >>
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: OpenOffice.org 3.1.1
Pros: I like it very much, all applications are very understandable and reasonable to use. To compare the microsoft office with OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 I must say that microsoft office is a little bit complicated.
Cons: There is nothing wrong with this software
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
Version: OpenOffice.org 3.1.1
"Wonderful software, does everything MS does and more."
Pros: I talk to writers and tell them to use Open Office. It's a smaller file than MS and very flexible. I do everything I need to do in OO. I have two new authors I'm working with who now use OO exclusively. Yea!
Cons: Everyone doesn't have it, so I have to go through the extra step of making a MS Doc and sending it, then opening up the return doc and saving as an Open Office. Luckily, I have that capability. Everyone should have OO, life would be easier.
Summary: We should all use OO and let MS write notes to each other. When I upgraded my computer, my MS wouldn't work anymore. the new computer came with a teaser that would cost me as much as the computer. Fooey! I want my Open Office!
- See all 103 user reviews Write review
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