#20 Reader Response to Open Office

STRAIGHTSHOOTINCOMPUTIN
by Jeff Smith

This week I thought I'd let you read a response I received to my article last week on Open Office. John Moss lives in Fredericksburg, VA and receives the paper via mail and is also on my list of people who receive my article in their email. He's written to me numerous times responding to different articles that I've written, and I thought I'd share an excerpt from one of his most recent letters.

He writes:
I am not only surprised but impressed with the Open Office program. Wow!!!! That's saying something since I'm an old guy that has seen a lot of programs come and go over the years and it takes a lot to impress us. Downloaded the Open Office program with the BitTorrent program. Worked with the program for a while this afternoon and later this evening and got a new and finished manuscript almost ready for publication in a matter of hours. This is a new book that I have been pulling my hair out trying to get Microsoft Word to format and number the pages correctly along with the headers. In fact, publication has been put off over and over again while I look for someone who can help me that doesn't cost a fortune. With Open Office the manuscript is almost done and I learned a lot that can be used with the other programs. Looks like the MSWorks is going into the drawer along with the WP X3. Working on a new book now (almost half done) and I'm going to convert it to Open Office tomorrow sometime.

So, you have a convert and this experience makes me take a harder look at getting an operating system that isn't pouring good money after bad into MS's pocket. I have also cancelled upgrading to Vista. I'm going to put the money into a used or new box.

Thanks again for [the] generous wealth of information.

Thanks go out to John for being such an avid reader and for being willing to try something new. Open Office goes a long way to prove the point that just because something is free, does not mean that it is inferior.

If you have any questions or comments about any of my articles, or would like some advice on a computer problem or purchase, feel free to write.

straightshootincomputin@yahoo.com