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OpenOffice.org V3.0 Sets Download Record, 80% Windows
Posted by
timothy
on Sun Oct 26, 2008 02:31 PM
from the constant-companion dept.
from the constant-companion dept.
thefickler writes "The newest version of OpenOffice, version 3.0, has set a download record in its first week of availability. Most surprising is the fact that over 80% of downloads were from Windows users. As one commentator noted, when it comes to a choice between almost identical software (e.g. Microsoft Office and OpenOffice), price is the determining factor."
Related Stories
[+]
Open Office Plans To Party Like It's Version 3.0 396 comments
penguin_dance writes "The Register reports that 'OpenOffice.org is throwing a launch party in Paris on 13 October' to celebrate eight years, and hopefully announce the release of version 3.0. Some notes: [OpenOffice.org 3.0] will support the OpenDocument Format 1.2 standard, and be able to open files created by MS Office 2007 and Office 2008 for Mac OS X." As maj_id10t notes, though the OO.o site does not yet carry an announcement, "Lifehacker has posted an entry stating the final release of OpenOffice 3.0 is available for download via their distribution mirrors."
[+]
OpenOffice.org 3.0 Is Officially Here 284 comments
SNate writes "After a grinding three-year development cycle, the OpenOffice.org team has finally squeezed out a new release. New features include support for the controversial Microsoft OOXML file format, multi-page views in Writer, and PDF import via an extension. Linux Format has an overview of the new release, asking the question: is it really worth the 3.0 label?"
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Package Managers? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Package Managers? (Score:5, Informative)
while gentoo may have an openoffice 'overlay'(not a gentoo user so that may be the wrong term) most ubuntu users will have to download the deb manually (either from here [openoffice.org] or a third party repo (cant think of any for ubuntu) or wait for 9.04
oh and from TFA
Only 221,000 downloads by Linux users were recorded, leading John McCreesh, head of marketing for OpenOffice.org, to suggest a massive undercount. McCreesh said 90% of Linux users traditionally receive OpenOffice.org updates straight from their Linux distribution's vendor, which would explain the relatively low Linux count.
but that would still give windows >66% (assuming os x makes up 0%, which is possible due to neo office)
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Re:Package Managers? (Score:5, Informative)
Semi-offical PPA for intrepid: https://launchpad.net/~openoffice-pkgs/+archive [launchpad.net]
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Re:Package Managers? (Score:5, Interesting)
(assuming os x makes up 0%, which is possible due to neo office)
Now that OpenOffice has native support for OS X, I switched from NeoOffice to OpenOffice 3. I don't see the need anymore for an extra layer above the original software, and releases which lag behind those of OpenOfiice. I suspect a lot of Mac users are doing the same.
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Re:Package Managers? (Score:5, Insightful)
McCreesh said 90% of Linux users traditionally receive OpenOffice.org updates straight from their Linux distribution's vendor
but that would still give windows >66% (assuming os x makes up 0%, which is possible due to neo office
Let's do the math. The official site sees (scaled down) 2 linux downloads and 8 windows downloads. For every 1 of these linux downloads, there's 9 downloading from the distro archives instead of the official site.
That gives us 20 linux downloads, 8 windows downloads. Or just above 25%. How did you come up with 66%?
Even if it's just 25%, that's a fair slice; this means that the plan of moving people over to open-source apps first and moving the OS out under them later has not been shown to be infeasible: windows users are moving to the open-source apps.
Only 221,000 downloads by Linux users were recorded
So just shy of 900,000 windows downloads? That's quite good.
I won't say "we're winning!!one!11ty", but some cautious optimism is probably in order.
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Re:Package Managers? (Score:4, Informative)
Uh, the gentoo ebuilds almost always download from gentoo mirrors. The only common exceptions are:
1. Non-free software with restrictions on distribution (java used to fall into this category).
2. Files downloaded REALLY soon after the ebuild is made. The gentoo mirrors are updated automatically but it can take a few hours before they all notice the new package in the portage tree. So, if you fetch the files quickly enough you might beat the mirrors, in which case the ebuild will eventually fall back to the upstream repository.
Go ahead and try fetching the openoffice source now - you'll find that it uses your gentoo mirrors. The gentoo mirroring system is fairly impressive - as soon as an ebuild goes into the tree the mirrors start noticing and begin retrieving the distribution files. When an ebuild leaves the tree the mirrors notice and purge the distribution files (probably after some delay). The gentoo mirrors also handle files that are manually pushed out.
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Re:Package Managers? (Score:5, Informative)
Your question is answered in the link, which says the numbers are skewed. Thus, this announcement is a bit of misleading marketing on the part of OpenOffice.
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Re:Package Managers? (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Package Managers? (Score:5, Funny)
It's in Gentoo; I have been compiling it for a few days...
There, fixed it for you
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Re:Package Managers? (Score:5, Funny)
nonsense. there is no such thing as binary packages for gentoo... it's a myth and you know it. i'll have you stop perpetuating those lies right away if you please.
porl
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Re:Package Managers? (Score:5, Funny)
hrm...2hrs for a 2 yo laptop
so, I guess 1hr for a 1 yo laptop
I see a pattern :)
If I buy a brand new laptop, it'll be compiled instantly, right?
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80% (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:80% (Score:5, Insightful)
In fact, I think 80% is surprisingly low.
First off, we really shouldn't count Macs as part of the equation. I haven't checked recently, but for a long time, OOo's support for MacOS X lagged way, way behind. It was essentially unusable.
So of OOo's potential audience, I would guess 99% would be Windows users, 1% Linux users. I would therefore expect 99% of OOo downloads to be the Windows version. Not only that, but a lot of Linux users probably aren't going to download it from the OOo web site, they're going to get it when it becomes the default through their distro's packaging infrastructure, and therefore they presumably won't be counted in this statistic. Let's guess (pulling numbers out of my rear end, I admit) that 90% of Linux desktop users won't downloaad directly, and will get it via their distro. So based on these factors, I would have expected the percentages to be more like 99.9% Windows and 0.1% Linux, a ratio of 1000 to 1.
It's actually pretty darn depressing that the Windows figure is as low as 80%. That's a 4:1 ratio rather than the 1000:1 ratio I would have expected. That suggests that the Windows market for OOo is hundreds of times smaller than it would be based merely on the market share of the operating systems. Some possible interpretations, none of which are pretty:
I wouldn't be surprised of #3 captured the essential truth of the situation. OOo is one of the worst pieces of OSS I use. I've searched systematically for something better, and haven't found it. At this point, I feel like OOo was a dead end that had the unfortunate effect of killing off interest in competing OSS office software.
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Re:80% (Score:5, Informative)
First off, we really shouldn't count Macs as part of the equation. I haven't checked recently, but for a long time, OOo's support for MacOS X lagged way, way behind. It was essentially unusable.
No, we have to count Macs. One of the big bullet points on the OpenOffice 3 release notes was its new native Aqua support on OS X.
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Re:Something better than OOo (Score:5, Funny)
That's better than the WYSIWTF that Frontpage managed...
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Re:80% (Score:5, Insightful)
I doubt OOo3 was downloaded by the majority of Windows users.
And I doubt that it was downloaded by the majority of Linux users also.
Most Linux users prefer to upgrade software using the channels for their distrobution. None of my 3 systems have been upgraded to OOo3 yet, but they will be, as soon as it shows up in the repos.
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Price a determinating factor? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Price a determinating factor? (Score:5, Interesting)
That's EXACTLY why I downloaded OOo 3, and use it at home. I was so pissed off that market dominance made me switch from WP to Word, and that the time I spent learning Word has been wasted, since MS changed almost everything around. My desktop at work still has an older version of Word, but my home machine, a company-supplied laptop, has 2007 installed.
I know I am preached to the converted, but that was the worst marketing decision they could possibly make, imho.
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There can be major differences between them. (Score:4, Informative)
Some differences between Word and WordPerfect:
1. Word handles word count differently to WordPerfect. WordPerfect counts all words, even those in footnotes. Word didn't for a long time (I think they might have fixed that now).
Word was unwelcome as a format in many legal courts in the US, because some types of filing have word count limits and users or Word consistently over-ran, thus filing documents that the court could not accept.
2. Word has a paragraph-based formatting engine, which is very different to the stream based one in WordPerfect. That's a huge difference - it's like saying that Word is a bitmap painting package, and WordPerfect is a vector one.
Those are two differences off the top of my head. I'd say that switching from WordPerfect to Word could well require training, especially if these kinds of differences were ones you used a lot in your work.
Here's one practical example I found many years ago:
Word has no concept of right-justification within a line unless you use tabs. WordPerfect does. If you right-justify in WordPerfect and then change your margins, paper size or paper orientation then WordPerfect just handles it for you - the text snaps to the new margin with no effort required on your part.
When I had to use Word, I had to learn the tab-based workaround. And I had to change the formatting of some kinds of documents I produced, as switching from portrait to landscape meant much more extra work as I then had to change all the tab stops on those pages too.
(I eventually solved this by creating styles with the tab stops in them, one for each page orientation. But that solution took time to arrive at.)
Whether your word processor is Word, WordPerfect, OpenOffice.org's Writer, AbiWord, or something else - any heavy use will likely expose you to some feature that either has no direct analogue in other products, or that works differently in them.
If all you ever do is write one-page letters with no real formatting beyond basic text appearance, right-justifying paragraphs and indenting text, then what I've written means nothing to you. You're in the 80% of people who use only 20% of the features. (Possibly even 90%/10% these days.)
For the other 20%, switching word processors will always mean retraining to some degree, as they find these differences by trail and error.
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"Almost Identical"? (Score:5, Insightful)
Is that like saying a cordless phone and a cell phone is *almost* identical because they both make phone calls?
Or did I just get trolled by the summary?
Re:"Almost Identical"? (Score:5, Interesting)
You have a point. I would conjecture that the dissimilarities of OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office 2007 are one of the driving factors in OpenOffice.org's adoption.
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Re:"Almost Identical"? (Score:5, Interesting)
.
MS Office 2007 has been doing quite well in the real world:
The Microsoft business division, which includes the Office suite of software, grew 20% to $4.95 billion. Microsoft's Profit Rises, But Outlook Is Damped [wsj.com] [October 24]
20% growth in one quarter. If the tech sector as a whole is in the ICU with double pneumonia, Microsoft has a case of the sniffles.
Microsoft Office 2007/8 holds 4 of top 25 slots in software sales at Amazon.com.
In the retail market, Microsoft Office is bigger than games.
It is bigger than anything.
"Here's the really interesting statistic," said Chris Swenson, NPD's director of Software Industry Analysis. "Over two-thirds of the dollar volume growth in the U.S. retail PC software market in 2007 can be attributed to Microsoft Office. The ratio of Office dollar growth to total PC software growth is 67 percent." The Year of Office 2007 [microsoft-watch.com]
The geek tends to quote the max price for the retail box that he can find - and it can be useful to insert a correction.
Office Home & Student is about $100 at Amazon.com, with a three seat license.
The price of four ink jet cartridges - and if you can't afford the consumables, you can't afford the office suite, at any price.
The direct sale academic price for Office Ultimate is $60. The Ultimate Steal [microsoft.com] If your employer has a volume licensing agreement with Microsoft, Office for home use is the price of the media plus S&H. Home Use Program [microsoft.com]
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Re:"Almost Identical"? (Score:4, Informative)
I never said anything about how Microsoft Office 2007 was doing. I was only speculating that a significant amount of new OpenOffice.org users switched to OpenOffice.org because of Microsoft's UI overhaul.
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Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
It depends on what you are doing. If you just want to make a phone call, then you don't really care if the phone is cordless or cellular - just so it works.
Similarly, unless you are using some particular feature found in MS Office but not in OO.org, then you won't really care which one you use.
If you just want to hammer out a memo or make a crappy-looking presentation, OO.org is just as capable as MS Office.
Re:"Almost Identical"? (Score:4, Interesting)
"You must be new here."
For the majority of users, OOo is roughly equivalent to Office. The only cases where I've run into trouble are with funky formatting and hardcore formulas/macros, which is pretty much power user territory. Most people either don't do complex operations, or do them by trial and error which works just as well under OOo as Office.
Also I suspect that most people still have/use the copy of Works/Office that came with their computer, which is probably also running Windows XP and is up to seven (7) years old. Their choice is: use the same old software, pay to upgrade (a much higher price than the OEM got it), or download free OOo. It might not be as good, but it's new and shiny and they didn't have to pay for it.
Obsessive compulsive upgrade disorder just bit MS in the arse.
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I haven't got it yet, not in repository yet. (Score:5, Interesting)
OpenOffice.org 3 sounds like it's going to be great. And I'll start using it as soon as it shows up in the Ubuntu repository and I get prompted to update. Until then, I guess I won't. I guess that a lot of other people are having similar thoughts. (Not to mention, consider the number of MS Windows users compared to all non-MS Windows users, of course the majority of downloads are going to be for MS Windows.)
As for price, price is not a factor in me not using MS Windows (I just don't like it compared to GNOME, etc.). However, given the choice between MS Office and OpenOffice.org, it is.
However, it isn't the only thing, I just prefer OOo. I've been using it for a good number of years (and the only thing that used to piss me off was not being able to word count selections, they fixed that), and I've gotten used to the little quirks.
It also does things simply better! Take creating a business card, MS Word doesn't even come with a template for that job! (Not that OOo makes it easy... Why no bottom and right margin setting?)
Re:I haven't got it yet, not in repository yet. (Score:5, Informative)
You'll be waiting a while. Ubuntu won't have OO.o 3 until next April. [tectonic.co.za]
Long story short: upstream delays made it miss the Intrepid feature freeze.
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Re:I haven't got it yet, not in repository yet. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:I haven't got it yet, not in repository yet. (Score:4, Informative)
It will probably be available in the backports repo for 8.04 and 8.10. And there is a semi-official ppa repo for 8.10 now (google for it).
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PPC-based Mac users have to wait too (Score:5, Informative)
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Almost identical? (Score:5, Interesting)
The functionality, features and ease of use of MSOffice (as compared to Open Office) still make it far superior.
Particularly, the new interface of MSOffice makes it much easier and intuitive to use (for most users) compared to any other office automation software.
Re:Almost identical? (Score:5, Insightful)
Unless you are a veteran user of the 97-2003 line who used the suite for basic stuff. Then OpenOffice.org looks far more attractive.
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Re:Almost identical? (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly. I have used Word and Excel for ~15 years. I'm not what I'd consider a "power user," but I've grown comfortable with the UI and basic features over this time. Since approximately version 2.0 or 2.1, I haven't felt the need to use the real Word or Excel even once. The Oo equivalents have been able to replicate the functionality of Word/Excel without fail to the point that I don't even bother installing Office anymore. I have also switched over various family members and a few small businesses (sub-50 employees) with nary a complain about missing functionality.
I'm sure there are folks out there that can point to some obscure features of M$ Office products that they rely on, but I think the vast majority of us fit into the mold of users that just use the basic features. I can't imagine needing or wanting to spring for another M$ Office license again.
Cheers,
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Re:Almost identical? (Score:4, Interesting)
Particularly, the new interface of MSOffice makes it much easier and intuitive to use (for most users) compared to any other office automation software.
If by "most users" you mean:
* People who have never used MSOffice sometime in the last 14 years.
* Excel power-users who have never used the chart wizard.
* Mac users who have never needed to interoperate with Windows MSOffice users who have VBA macros in their documents/spreadsheets.
* People who have never gotten used to applications that use menus to organize major features.
For everyone else, the new MSOffice is very intuitive.
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Re:Almost identical? (Score:4, Interesting)
What "functionality and features" are you referring to that MS Office has and OO doesn't? The majority of users just want to write a letter, pretty it up a bit, and send it off. Or make a spreadsheet, add some columns, multiply some others, and be done with it. OO handles all of this and anything else Joe User would ever want to do, as far as I can tell. If you've got counterexamples let's hear 'em, but my guess is you're going to have to dig pretty deep for some obscure stuff that hardly anyone ever needs or wants.
And, as mentioned above, "ease of use" is pretty subjective. I find Office 2007 to be a horrendous UI disaster, and have heard others voice the same opinion. Other people like it fine, or -- as is usually the case -- just don't care one way or the other.
As far as users are concerned it IS almost identical software -- it lets them make spreadhseets, type up reports, and make their stupid presentations no one will remember after the meeting is over. 99% of the rest of the "features" are just bloat added in, occasionally used by a few people from time to time, and ignored by everyone else. And odds are OO does most of those "features" just fine.
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OpenOffice.org vs Office 2007 (Score:4, Interesting)
I think a lot of people might be looking at OOo because it is the only still-supported Office workalike that works mostly like MSOffice 97/XP/2003. For those of us forced to use MSOffice 2007 it's a no-brainer. Plus OOo can be installed alongside MSOffice 2007 with no problems.
Re:OpenOffice.org vs Office 2007 (Score:4, Informative)
That is one big advantage. Being able to export to PDF without spending a buttload of money on Adobe Acrobat or spending a lot of time to find a good Windows freeware print-to-PDF program is another advantage of OOo, and OOo 3.0 can also open and edit PDFs to some degree with the Sun PDF plugin, which is a huge feature. One last thing I have heard quite a few others praise is the ability to open almost any document file type out there right out of the box, now that OOo 3.0 has Office 2007 XML support.
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From the article (Score:4, Informative)
Most Linux users get their software from their distro, so that's the reason for the predominance of Windows in the downloads. However, the conclusion reached by the author is arbitrary. There is nothing here showing that Office is "loosing" market dominance. All you have are OpenOffice download numbers, which don't prove anything about market dominance. Office isn't even available for Linux, so how is its market dominance changing from what it was before?
Awesome website (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm not a huge fan of OpenOffice (which I refuse to call 'OpenOffice.org, because it's an office suite, not a webserver), but I'll say one thing - their main page is exactly right.
Go to www.openoffice.org and take a look. What do you see? A list of things to do, in big text, impossible to miss. I wanted to download. Normally I hunt for a link. Now, it takes me 5 seconds to grab what I want.
No wonder they got so many downloads - they didn't hide them three pages deep.
Apathy trumps price for most users (Score:5, Interesting)
when it comes to a choice between almost identical software (e.g. Microsoft Office and OpenOffice), price is the determining factor.
Actually, I'm currently doing my Master's thesis on this exact topic, namely the switching barriers between Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org. I'll post a summary of the full empirically assessed results to Slashdot when the study is complete. Currently, however, it looks like that Apathy is a much stronger factor than price. In fact, the author of the article hints at this:
In the past, it's always been included on my computers which is fine
Another important factor which I have hypothesized (and the literature suggests is accurate) trumps price is user inconvenience. Most users will pay to avoid hassle of any sorts. Further, most users will pay to avoid PERCEIVED inconvenience, even if, in reality, there would be no inconvenience. The FEAR of inconvenience is enough to make them continue to pay.
If you would like more details about my empirical research on this subject, feel free to contact me. A paper on the subject will be published by the Open Source Business Resource [www.osbr.ca] in the spring.
Re:Apathy trumps price for most users (Score:4, Informative)
Sounds like a more formalised version of this comment:
http://linux.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=219158&cid=17788090 [slashdot.org] [slashdot.org]
Somewhat, but with more of a focus on the consumer marketing approach. Think customer preference between Pepsi and Coke. Less technical focus. Less objective.
This approach recognizes that often the decisions of consumers are not based on logic, or on the best features, performance, price, etc. There are other factors that matter to them, that they rationalize in their heads that have a real world impact. I'm trying to quantify these factors for this specific case. The results should be the best estimation of real-world barriers between the two. Most current assessments simply compare the technical features, which, while useful for some classes of users, doesn't speak to a larger class of users who are more affected by other factors.
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Insensitive clods (Score:5, Interesting)
Spam sites already (Score:4, Informative)
Check out the number of spam sites already, google for openoffice (http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=openoffice), and you get sponsored links like these -
# OpenOffice.org 3 www.office-soft.net Get the Free OpenOffice Download the latest Version |
# OpenOffice 2008 - Free OpenOffice.org-Suite.com OpenOffice Latest Version. Fast & Easy - 100% Guaranteed.
This one is quite nasty http://www.office-soft.net/uk/ [office-soft.net]
Click the link "You must accept the terms and conditions to download any program"
PRELIMINARY WARNING:
THE COST OF EACH SMS FROM THE USER'S MOBILE PHONE IS 1.5 POUNDS (VAT INCLUDED). UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED, THE DOWNLOAD COST SHALL BE FOUR SMS.
Please read these USAGE CONDITIONS carefully and, if appropriate, use the download service which shall imply the express and complete acceptance of each and every one of these USAGE CONDITIONS. Otherwise, please close this website.
ONE. PREMIUM SERVICE DESCRIPTION
1.1. Through this website (hereinafter the Website), users can download executables that contain the selected computer program from our servers to their hard drive (the SOFTWARE).
1.2. Netlink Network Corp. offers a PREMIUM high speed download service that is efficient and virus free. In exchange, the user shall first send three SMS under the conditions specified in clause 2.2 that defines the commercial conditions of the service.
TWO. USE OF THE PREMIUM SERVICE
2.1. In order to access the PREMIUM service, the user shall first send three SMS to 88889 as per the detailed instructions provided at all times in the download section of the Website.
2.2. The cost of each SMS sent by the user to said number is 1.50 pounds + VAT; therefore the total cost of access to the PREMIUM service shall be 3.60 Euros + VAT.
2.3. After sending the three SMS, and always in accordance with the detailed instructions provided in the download section, the user shall receive a code that will enable him to perform the high speed download through the PREMIUM service.
etc. The others are similar scams, they want you to give your email address, sent them money by credit card, or by SMS, and have bogus stamps of officialdom and verisign secured etc.
Of course, when the scammers want in, it means the project is a success.
Re:Does this beat Firefox's record (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Almost identical? Not quite. (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Almost identical? Not quite. (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh I'd love to, with something with spikes on it. They just match up keywords in return for 10% of your starting salary. If they're looking for MS-SQL and you've only put down SQL Server experience you're not qualified. If you've got 10 years experience and know Perl and Python you're a worse candidate for a Ruby job than some guy fresh out of college who once wrote a 100 line Ruby script. Because, you know, he knows Ruby and you don't.
I only ever hear bad things about recruitment agents. I really don't know why more companies don't advertise directly. It can't be that much hassle to take a few phone calls and read a few emails.
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Re:Almost identical? Not quite. (Score:4, Insightful)
Why on earth would you send someone an electronic copy of your resume in a *any* editable word processor format? Especially when different wrd processors, or even different versions of the same word processor will render the same document in completely different ways.
PDF would be the way to go, regardless of the tool you originally use to enter it.
I assume you don't work in the systems administration field, or IT security. If you do I feel sorry for whatever company hired you (both due to the idiocy in accepting such a format, and because they've hired someone incompetent enough to send it that way in the first place)
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Re:Almost identical? Not quite. (MOD PARENT UP) (Score:5, Insightful)
People are going to flame you and call you stupid, so let me just head off some of their inevitable criticisms:
You should have checked!
No, you shouldn't have had to have checked. Besides, this assumes that you still have to have MS Office and OO.o, and isn't the whole point of this bru-ha-ha to say that you don't need MS Office if you have the free and wonderful OO.o? No, Word did not screw up your CV. OO.o does not export to Word correctly. It's OO.o's responsibility to properly support the de facto industry standard.
You should have sent a PDF!
Okay, smart guys, you try sending PDFs instead of Word documents. There are still lots of moronic HR departments (well, are there any other kind?) who don't even know what they are. The first time I started sending those, I got a call back from an angry HR person saying "We don't take scanned CVs!" I was honestly confused. "I'm sorry, but that is just a PDF of my CV. It's not scanned." "We have to be able to search the text. Please send us the original Word document."
Well you know, and I know that you can very well search the text of a PDF, but that isn't the point; the point is whether HR knows, and, as I think I've already established, those people are borderline retarded.
Also, a lot of places actually request .docs. If OO.o can't produce them correctly, then you look like an idiot. In my case in the above story, where I was requested to send a .doc? It meant I had to get ahold of MS Office, because I'd been using (and liking) OO.o for a year.
Hell, the next problem I had was that I had my "letterhead" in my header in Word, and an HR guy called me complaining that I'd used a "gray font," and that it was no wonder I didn't have a job if I didn't know how to format a Word document correctly. "It's conventional to make your name and address legibile to the person looking at your CV," he said. So I went back and reformatted all of that stuff by hand, like an idiot who can't use software.
In all of these cases, I did the right thing. In none of these cases was the company itself really to blame. They might have been nice places to work. But when you're applying for a job, you first have to get through the imbeciles in HR who stand guard at the gate. Anything that they don't understand--and that's a lot, it turns out--is going to get your CV tossed in the bin.
Why would you want to work somewhere that wants .docs and doesn't worship at the throne of OSS???
Because he needs a job so he can, you know, eat.
OO.o is damn nice for being free, and I really liked some of its features that are missing in Office. But, in all honestly, Office does more better and is the industry standard.
And finally, to all the people going on about having to pay for PDF export? Um, sourceforge up yourself some PDFcreator. It's free. I've been using it for years without issue.
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Meh. (Score:4, Informative)
If you are a dedicated ms-office user, and you really need 100% of the functionality of ms-office; then get ms-office - don't even think about anything else.
But, if you are like most of the population, and you just need a good office product, that is basically compatible with standard file formats, then openoffice does the trick.
JMHO.
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Re:Probably because of java (Score:4, Informative)
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