Do OpenOffice Users Save In Microsoft Format?

superglaze writes "Looking through an article on the smartphone office suite Quickoffice, I noted a claim by a company executive that OpenOffice users usually save their documents in a Microsoft format, e.g. .doc. Hence the company has no plans to support .odf. I guess I can see the rationale for this — it helps if you're sending a document to an MS-using company — but what's this community's general experience of saving in .odf vs. .doc format?"

I save in ODF

[denisbergeron]

If the receiver don't know how to handle this, I send them in PDF, and if they want a editable format, I point them on OpenOffice.org web site and call them to install it. If they incist for .doc document, I tell them that this format have too much security problem and I can't send them in this format, and since I'm working in Computer Security Management, they believe me :-).

Re:Count at least ONE who doesnt.

[calebt3]

It's "Digg"

Re:Count at least ONE who doesnt.

[Daniel Phillips]

I save in .doc only if I got the document in .doc, and then not always. Any new document I save in .odf. I normally send .odf documents by email, and when somebody tells me "I can't open it" I send them this link. [openoffice.org]

Re:Count at least ONE who doesnt.

[Skevin]

I use .odf when I'm feeling vindictive. Sometimes, a company will send me an email, whose entire body is otherwise stored in a .doc file, when it could have otherwise fit in just the regular body. I re-save the document as an .odf, make my changes or answer their questions, and then send it back to them.

S.

Re:Count Two

[yarbelk]

Good thing I'm a physicist, the format for journals is LaTeX.

Re:Count at least ONE who doesnt.

[SgtChaireBourne]

I do'em one better. I grab the beginning of the binary file and use dd to fill the rest with 'data' from /dev/random or /dev/urandom, then I send the modified attachment back complain that it won't open to please send another format, usually PDF.

Re:Count Two

[Anonymous Coward]

Good thing I'm a proctologist, the format for tests is a brown probe.

That's great news!

[jfbilodeau]

"IF you abuse your position to have people install redundant software, you probably won't be in that position for very long."

Good! Does that mean that MS is on the way out?

Re:Count at least ONE who doesnt.

[jimicus]

From personal experience, most people pay so little attention to email you send them that it wouldn't matter too much if you were able to send an email that magically turned their computer into a dancing ferret wearing top hat and tails, they wouldn't open it anyway.

Not unless the subject line was britney_spears_naked, anyway.

Re:Count Two

[xSauronx]

Good thing Im unemployed and don't have to deal with silly things like "communicating with humans"

Re:Count at least ONE who doesnt.

[Anonymous Coward]

Here you go.

http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3841342/Microsoft_Office_2007___Serial [thepiratebay.org]

Re:Don't give in!

[MightyYar]

I'm so glad that you told me that - it always drove me nuts. I think a TIFF pasted into word will be my next resume format for the recruiters!

Re:Count Two

[Anonymous Coward]

Thanks for the head's-up. Now we'll block those attachments too...

Re:Count Two

[Matt Perry]

Good thing I'm a physicist, the format for journals is LaTeX.

What is it with you physicists with your whips and chains and LaTeX?

Re:Count Two

[cp.tar]

Good thing I'm a proctologist, the format for tests is a brown probe.

And if the Goatse guy comes to see you, you actually don't have to do anything.

...

Goatse guy coming to see you... with his business end... yes, I knew there was a reason I didn't go to study medicine.

Re:Count at least ONE who doesnt.

[ignavus]

"DOC if I need hell to freeze over."

So what you are saying is, saving files in .DOC format helps fight global warming?

A new advertising angle for Microsoft's marketroids.

Re:I beliefe .rtf got its start elsewhere.

[DaedalusHKX]

I'll defer to the wisdom of wikipedia. Its infallibility crushes any vague memory I might have.

Cheers. Good show bud.

Re:Count Two

[DaedalusHKX]

The beauty of things is that I seek to mostly simplify my life. Compiling kernels and patching my own scripts is the extent of complexity I desire. (I like building my own software from source or with a text editor and a compiler when I so desire and have the time), however I have not one damn thing that requires more than a couple of simple formulas, not even my book keeping. That's the irony.

For others who want to do the MS thing, I fully enforce it. Then I let them screw it up, so they pay MORE. It suits me fine, when they're ready to stop the pain, I help them, if they don't I am only too happy to receive their hard earned cash for the advanced features.

Make no mistake about it, the customer is ALWAYS right. If they want to pay ten times more to make their lives difficult, I am ALL for it. If I can sell them Quickbooks, Quicken, ten different versions of antivirus, and 3 different versions of a buggy OS... and show up to patch it once every 3 months as per contract, damn straight I will. Their money is worth a lot more to me than giving myself a headache to "save" them. I save myself and those willing, everyone else can keep paying, and I'll be glad to be the payee!

Re:Missing the point

[Trogre]

What's sluggish? I read this claim over and over again. In my experience, the only thing vaguely resembling sluggish is the nominally slower load. Please, provide more details.

I find the nail-growing load/save times intensely frustrating, to say nothing of the glacial start-up time.

Compared to MS Office, which goes like a road-runner in comparison. Of course, that would be a road-runner that slams into brick walls from time to time and doesn't know how to pick itself up again. But I've carried that analogy too far.

(Note: I use OpenOffice.org 99% of the time and save in ODF, except when I know the recipient doesn't have OOo and can't be bothered coaching them through the import process)

Re:Count Two

[dotancohen]

You are too pessimistic. I had a period where I was only sending odfs, with an explanation, and I found that people were very receptive. I should probably go back to that policy.

Here's an idea. The wife has her circle of friends that send each other docs and ppts all day. I should convert them to odf and send them along with an explanation. Might help get the word out (pun intended).