[Publib] Open Office

[Chris Ely]

At 01:08 PM 7/30/2008, Margaret Neill wrote:
>We don't use it here, but I do use it myself and one of the cons I 
>can think of is that it has a slightly different look from the 
>Microsoft products and that tends to freak people out.

I think that would probably be the biggest hurdle, especially if 
you're already dealing with users who aren't very computer literate. 
If anything looks slightly different, they're totally lost. I changed 
the wallpaper on the public computers ages ago to include basic 
computer use rules, and I had a few who were afraid to click anything 
simply because the screen looked different.

I've been using it at home for years with no problems. I plan to 
install it on staff machines eventually, mostly as an emergency 
convertor for whenever someone brings in a file that's not an Office format.

I'd say put OO on some or all computers with Office also loaded and 
see how it goes. For those still using Office 2000 (which I am), I'd 
say it's worth it to try before paying for Office 2007.

Chris Ely

=====================
Whitewright Public Library, Whitewright, Texas
www.whitewright.lib.tx.us  <librarian at whitewright.lib.tx.us>

"Pathetic human race. Arranging their knowledge by category just made 
it easier to absorb. Dewey, you fool, your decimal system has played 
right into my hands." Futurama