Finally, 3 years after Microsoft Office 2007 hit the shelves, Open Office v3.2 has been released, which supports the .docx and .xlsx file types produced by the MS package. The conversion process still isn’t pixel-perfect, but it works out of the box, and will do the job in 99% of cases. Apparently, the only issues may be where there exist particularly complex formulae in Excel Spreadsheets, or complex formatting in Word (but of course, even Word itself tends to freak out there.)
Open Source fanatics will often tell businesses to eschew expensive MS products, and use Open Office instead, but when the OO versions lag three years behind MS, is it really a good idea? A large number of the people that you do business with will now have the 2007 versions, and may not understand that you struggle to open them, and when asked to save in an older version, will either not know how to do it, or simply refuse in some cases.
But is it fair to attack an Open Source package for lagging behind? MS released the new file formats (in part) to specifically make life hard for the Open Office developers, and to ensure MS’s top spot in the office applications chart. Interestingly, Office 2010 supports use of .odf files – those produced by Open Office, indicating that MS believe Open Office to be a significant part of the application landscape now and in the future.
File format compatibility isn’t the whole picture behind the new OO version, however. It also boasts considerably faster startup times, and is somewhat snappier in general use.
The purchase of Sun Microsystems by Oracle will inevitably lead to some changes in the development of Open Office. We know Oracle are to launch an Office “cloud” application, which may lead to decreased investment in the standard OO package. It also, however, may lead to an eventual MS Office killer, if Oracle offer a true, connect-anywhere, edit-anywhere office suite. Time will tell.
