INTERNET EXPLORER SECURITY ALERT

[mr Mag00]

where oh where did that come from?

 

[tyred]

I set my PC up to dual boot Windows and Xandros. I genuinely can't remember the last time I booted it MS mode. At the start, I did use Windows fairly regularily as I got used to the Linux but I gradually used Linux more and more often until I stopped using the MS option altogether for two simple reasons. The Linux system is more stable and faster. And it cost nothing...

 

[barq]

if there would be compatibility issues with people emailing me Word docs or my kids being able to do their homework on the PC then take the files on memory sticks to school only to find the files cant be read at school and stuff like that.

I have some experience of that. Sometimes when I have created very complicated Word documents in terms of layout there have been minor issues importing them into OpenOffice. The new MS Office format (OOXML) is also well supported in new versions of OpenOffice.

Excel is mostly fine with functions converting well. PowerPoint is fine for ordinary text, graphics and transitions but I've had some issues with embedded video files. Then again OpenOffice will create PDF and Flash files which are very portable. So really it has its own strengths and weaknesses.

 

[Carwash]

Excel is mostly fine with functions converting well.

For Excel stuff, I can't recommend Gnumeric highly enough. It's what Excel ought to be. (Of course it reads and writes .xls files too!)

 

[barq]

For Excel stuff, I can't recommend Gnumeric highly enough. It's what Excel ought to be. (Of course it reads and writes .xls files too!)

That looks quite decent. Surprised I haven't encountered it before.

While we are on the matter of good free/open source software, VLC deserves another mention. In case anyone hasn't heard, it is a great media player and will handle almost anything you throw at it. I've lost count of the number of times only VLC would play some obscure file correctly. Available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

 

[User482]

I use star office at work and home, which is based on open office. I have to say I prefer MS Office - it's more intuitive to use and Excel is much better at handling large and complicated spreadsheets.

 

[beanzontoast]

That looks quite decent. Surprised I haven't encountered it before.

While we are on the matter of good free/open source software, VLC deserves another mention. In case anyone hasn't heard, it is a great media player and will handle almost anything you throw at it. I've lost count of the number of times only VLC would play some obscure file correctly. Available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

VLC is great - much more straightforward to use IMO.

 

[Mr Pig]

My son did a project in Open Office the other week and on my PC Office 2007 wouldn't open it. I assumed they were not compatible.

 

[Nortones2]

MS Office X for Mac, which works fine, has all the stuff like Word, Excel and Powerpoint. IE simply unnecessary - and no longer supported on Mac anyway.

 

[BigonaBianchi]

I tried firefox for a while but IE 7 or whatever it is is just as good

 

[beanzontoast]

There's an awful lot of people out there using IE simply because it came with their computer and they've never bothered to look for an alternative.

 

[tdr1nka]

I'm another Mac user on Firefox.
Miss tdr1nka's school is Mac based also, so no homework probs there.

 

[barq]

My son did a project in Open Office the other week and on my PC Office 2007 wouldn't open it. I assumed they were not compatible.

Ah well you have to 'Save As' and then pick the Microsoft Word (or whatever) format. As you discovered, the OpenOffice format doesn't work with MS Office.

To make that the default setting go to Tools | Options | Load/Save | General and you can change the default format for each document type. i.e. set Text Document as 'Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP'.

 

[mickle]

What in god's name are you all talking about????

 

[Night Train]

I've stayed with MS office products only because I do a lot of presentations and file sharing for work. Open source is good but I have seen too many annoying failures of compatibility to risk hours of work not working when it is most needed. The worst are PP slides that don't format correctly in front of an audience.