OpenOffice Vs. Google Apps 336
jammag writes "Both OpenOffice and Google Apps are free, so the choice is purely down to which is better. Bruce Byfield, after looking at both, concluded, 'comparing Google Apps to OpenOffice.org is like clubbing a staked-out bunny — Google Apps is so far behind that the whole exercise seems like an exercise in pointless cruelty.' Ouch, that hurts."
Why the Vs? (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't generally use Google Docs, because... (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, also, I use a translation suite (Heartsome) that can't deal with any online docs. The document has to be reformatted to XLF format for use in the suite. Once complete, I convert it back to either ODF or doc format, and then I suppose I could use GDocs as storage. But there are a million online storage options out there now, some offering dav access.
Office apts of declining importance? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is it just me or are office apps becoming increasingly unimportant.
Ten years ago I spent most of my computing time in some kind of office app. Now I rarely use them. And I receive fewer office documents via email.
Perhaps the office app is just dying? Are they just transition applications between a paper based office and a paperless one anyway?
Re:Depends.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why the Vs? (Score:3, Interesting)
"think MSOffice is better,"
upgrade to Office 2007, that will change your mind.
The BEST office suite ever made was office 2000. I wish that OO.o would strive for speed and performance instead of ooooh shiney like everyone else does.
Re:Depends.. (Score:3, Interesting)
I think the last missing link in OOo's suite of tools is an answer to MS Office's SharePoint server.
I know people who use Wiki specifically for the reason.
It has lots of unexpected features for collaboration e.g. RSS feeds for new pages and category updates.
P.S.
Personally, I don't use Google apps, as a JavaScript implementation of notepad.exe doesn't come close to satisfying my document management needs, and I can't imagine any serious business would disagree.
Well, I can't believe that somebody was fooled by Google's pitch.
Google Doc thingy is fine for simple documents but falls flat for any serious purposes like e.g. specification or protocol.
To the OOo team: Give us an answer to SharePoint! (Please).
For that, I would expect sooner KOffice/Kolab integration, rather than something from OO.o.
On other side, Sun is still backs StarOffice, so they as server company might introduce another Java monstrosity as SharePoint analogue.
Re:Depends.. (Score:4, Interesting)
True enough. I can't access Google Docs from work, for instance:
Your request was denied because of its content categorization: "Personal Network Storage;Interactive Web Applications"
Re:Depends.. (Score:3, Interesting)
maybe not in business, but as a college tool, I like Google Appsz's potential. The semester before it came out, I was working on a research report with in a 3 person group. We kept emailing snippets back and forth, renaming word docs to track versions, and additions, trying to keep track via track changes. It wasn't until the project was over that I really started looking for some collaborative, wiki-like document tool. I had seen writely, et al, but never had the chance to dive into one.
A year later I had another class with a small team. We had a semester project broken into small milestones. the first one was a concise 1 page plan. We made a private Google group for messages, posting PDF's of useful references, etc. We did that first assignment as a Google Doc. it worked fine for that, until we went to print it out. I can't recall what, but something just wouldn't come out right. Then, milestone two was a ~10 page report, we needed figures, references, and equations. Started a google doc, used it to make the outline. THen, very quickly, we all just took our respective sections and did them separately as word docs. One person compiled the parts, and we took turns doing separate editing. I.e., right back to where we were before. If either OO.o or Google Apps fit the collaborative useful tool bill, we would have stuck with it.
font choices & UI (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd tried using Google Apps for some stuff in my HOA (Home Owners Association) to make up flyers to hand out and stuff like that. I can tell OpenOffice I want a 50 point font size for a big headline. I can't make a really large font size in Google Apps. Google Apps does not seem to have a WYSIWYG editing environment, so it's hard to tell if I'm fitting into a single page, into a single half-page, or what amount of space it's taking up. I have to keep telling it to "print" which then gives me a pdf dump that I can see in Acrobat to see my real-life formatting. It's a huge pain in the ass.
I ended up typing it up in OpenOffice and then uploading it to Google Apps for access by other HOA board members and shared storage. Weird, as uploading docs, it preserves the large font sizes that it does not allow me to choose during document creation directly on their site. I've ended up considering Google Apps to be an online storage area only, and not as a functional office tool.
And my biggest annoyance is just using the Google Apps tools. The user interface for spreadsheet is extremely different than the user interface for their "word processor". There's really no commonality in the user interface at all between tools. That annoys me. I'd like a little consistency, but Google doesn't seem interested in that at all.
One of these days I'll take some time to check out Adobe's online office tools. They can't be any less useful than Google Apps are.
Re:Depends.. (Score:3, Interesting)
> Given the extremely rudimentary functionality of Google Apps, I can't for the life of
> me figure out how there's even a discussion around it's potential use in business.
I use it all the time to read Word documents that are e-mailed to me, when I'm on a non-Windows machine (no wordpad.exe) and I don't feel like downloading OOo just to read a three-page memo.
The fact that my email all arrives by Gmail makes this incredibly convenient.
That'd be great if Google didn't re-format (Score:4, Interesting)
I created a resume in OpenOffice, and saved it to a USB flash drive. I forgot to export the file to PDF or .doc after saving, and as I don't have a printer at home, I took my thumb drive into the library at my University to print the resume. Unfortunately, the Univ has MS Office on everything, without the necessary plugins to load .odt files, and I can't install anything on the Uni computers.
I then remembered that Google docs lets you upload and open ODF files, so that's what I did. I *was* able to open the resume and print it, but unfortunately Google messed up some of the spacing and margins, so that the resume didn't quite look right when opened in Google. A resume that doesn't look right isn't worth the paper it's printed on, because it will just make potential employers think you're incompetent or just don't care.
Luckily, this was just for a class, and was just the first draft, so it didn't hurt me this time. It'd be great if Google really could flawlessy open ODF docs. Until that time, you're idea of using Open office to create the docs, then store and use it with Google Apps/Google Docs, is a non-starter.
Re:Depends.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Considering that Google Apps has had offline connectivity [google.com] for a while, it seems like your talking out of your ass. Look up Google Gears for more info.
Collaboration (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:This is pointless (Score:2, Interesting)
Yeah, TFA misses the entire point of Web apps as I see it - COLLABORATION.
My company is small, but we have people in 3 different cities, what should we do mail flash drives back and forth to share documents?
We use Google documents, and collaborate in real time, and use their built in revision system to access changes made by each user etc.
Re:Depends.. (Score:3, Interesting)
So when my network connection drops at my site, how exactly do I get onto this "net access is everywhere" connection from my desktop PC that doesn't include a wireless card? I'm sure the IT folks here would also agree that allowing desktop users to change their network settings is a good thing and the help desk folks won't mind the extra phone calls. Networks do occasionally have outages.
Then dealing with the outage problems would seem to me to be a better way to do things. A network that has unscheduled outages is a failure.
That said, Google Apps works offline too, with Gears.
A good use case for Google Apps (Score:1, Interesting)
My wife manages her entire teaching business using her iPhone and Google Docs. She creates schedules using Google Spreadsheets and can email them from her iPhone. If someone calls or needs scheduling changes, she can be anywhere, and change the schedule because of Google docs. If she needs a better UI then she uses Google docs from her laptop.
The downside is the total cost of ownership of the iPhone. It also requires MobileME to attach URL based documents from the iPhone when using Google Docs. That last point is dirty if you ask me. Apple shouldn't be charging for that; it should be complimentary; like a bag of peanuts on a flight.
Re:Depends.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Agreed. And I make a living writing AJAX-type apps. I think the technology is just fabulous, when used for the right things. Office apps? Not the right use of the technology. I look at Google Office apps as more of a proof-of-concept, anyhow. No way would I even consider using them for any serious work.
Re:Depends.. (Score:3, Interesting)
"I would say a good F/OSS alternative to SharePoint would be great"
http://www.knowledgetree.com/ [knowledgetree.com] ?
Comment removed (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Why the Vs? (Score:4, Interesting)
Ever tried expressing a liking for two supposedly opposing products in a room full of geeks, or here?
As someone who uses both emacs and vi on a daily basis, that's a solid yuppers! :D
In fact, I don't bother with OpenOffice or Google Apps, because I already have both emacs and vim! :)
Re:It's a no brainer... (Score:1, Interesting)
That's exactly the point of the SAS70 auditing standard [sas70.com]. Companies outsource all sorts of data all the time, and there is an auditing standard for how that data is treated.
Google Apps has satisfactorily completed a SAS 70 Type II audit [blogspot.com], so it's means that the company has met a rigorous level of standards in controls and safeguards necessary to host or process data belonging to their customers.
Re:Tune in next week... (Score:1, Interesting)
Only until some nitwit publishes a novel in text message format. Oh wait... http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2007-01-24-textmessagenovel_x.htm
It's Not What OOO Does Better (Score:3, Interesting)
Please spare me your "they ought tos......"* It happens and when it does those who were using google apps, lose little or no data.
Then there is the online collaboration stuff between teachers and staff from different schools who need to work together and whose IT departments don't.
Then there is the storage space that is far greater than any IT department has quota'd(sp?) before so we can share those large image files.
It's not about what OOO does better, which is most everything. It's about what Google apps does that no one else does. The technical superiority of OOO and MS Office are things that can be picked up later as Google improves the product. I for one can't think of anything MSOffice has done to improve my Word or Excel functionality since Office 95 so the gap on useful features is closing fast.
*unless you can tell me how to get autosave to save to a network drive if you haven't saved your work initially in Vista
Re:Depends.. (Score:3, Interesting)
It already exists with Alfresco. The 3.x version just coming out of beta about now is a reasonable alternative and has the advantage of actually interoperating with SharePoint and MS Office via the new specification, CMIS which MS has signed on to. There are interfaces to Alfresco for both MS Office and OOo. MS Office just thinks its talking to SharePoint.
Re:An answer to SharePoint! (Score:4, Interesting)
Have you tried Plone? http://plone.org/ [plone.org]
What about OFFLINE Google Docs (Score:2, Interesting)
That's right... I'm surprised that no one has referred to it.
If the convenience, simplicity, and collaboration features of Google Docs were not enough, there's also something for those too afraid to be caught in a google-down situation ("OMG, but I need that sheet/doc/presentation NOW...")
Google Docs HAS offline capabilities! See here: http://docs.google.com/offlinehelp?hl=en_US [google.com]
Although they are not fully implemented -- stress BETA here -- they already fix one of the major fears of web apps: the web itself is down... well, not anymore!
Now, if only they would fix the PRIVACY (should I say confidence) problems... that would be nirvana :)
Re:Accessibility (Score:3, Interesting)
I like cloud computing, but only if it is on my cloud, not someone elses. ... sort of)
My oldest server is a 1.8GHz box with 2GB RAM, running VMWare Server, a Novell iFolder VM appliance for file storage and sync, my mail server (Suse 10.2 appliance configured with cyrus(iMAP), and fetchmail(download mail from my pop mailbox at my ISP) allows CalDAV and iMAP for mail and calender sync. I have port open for web/java based VNC client to a locked down tiny linux desktop with mail and OpenOffice if I don't have my own netbook or iPhone with me.
My domainname is provided by dynDNS, and I use a small script to keep my ever changing IP address up to date.
All of this is "Free" software adhering to common standards (apart form iFolder, but it does run under Apache and Tomcat so that makes it OK
I do however use Google Calender sync to keep my work calender Outlook 2003 on exchange)synched to a read only calender in iCAL on my Mac at home as Apple don't seem to think you want to synch an iPhone with two machines at once, damn them.
Oh, and I also use Jinzora, a PHP based web application to stream music from home to anywhere I am.
I love living with the cloud, but it is my cloud.
Re:An answer to SharePoint! (Score:2, Interesting)
Have you tried Plone?
Yes. Spent 4 years with Zope and Plone. Know both: old Zope 2 (still alive) and new Zope 3. All designed to suck hard. Tried it, used it, supported at production and never never never never ever will do this again. Ever.
Re:Apples and Oranges, people... (Score:1, Interesting)
Apples and Oranges indeed. Now what I want to see is a comparison between GoogleDocs and Zoho [zoho.com].
Open Office is slow ! (Score:2, Interesting)
Don't forget that this is a forum full of geeks.
The vast majority of users would be better off with a simple text editor and a table manager.
I'd recommend Google docs for the following reasons:
- No worries about backup
- No client install required, no upgrades
- Documents available from anywhere. No need to set up VPN etc.
- Good collaboration and integration
Frankly, if you are considering the (very slow) open office, I would suggest an old version MS Office instead. It is much faster, everyone knows how to use it, simple deployment and same functionality. You might save a few sheckles on cost, but you will spend more money looking after it. And of course (in my expereince) it isn't that reliable.