[tdf-discuss] Returning to OpenOffice

First of all -  I'm no developer, but I've been using word processing and
spreadsheets for just about twenty-five years.  Over that time, I've seen
some really ill-conceived software (some of which was more focused on glitz
than functionality).

Over the last five years or so, since the demise of AppleWorks, I've tried
NeoOffice, Lotus Symphony, OpenOffice and LibreOffice.  At times I've
switched just to see if there's an improvement.  Other times, I've made the
change due to outright frustration.  That's the case this time.  After using
LibreOffice for two years or more, I've gone back to OpenOffice.

Why, you ask?

I'm working with one fairly large spreadsheet of 126 KB (well, it isn't
really THAT large).  It contains no formulas or macros, just about 24
columns and 2500 rows, plus six more small spreadsheets.  Many cells have
nothing in them.  I did a direct comparison of OpenOffice and LibreOffice,
and found that the latest Mac versions vary substantially.  I turned off
everything I could (such as Java runtime) in both.  OpenOffice opened the
file quite a bit more slowly (3 mins., 45 secs.) compared with LibreOffice's
2 mins.

However, I realized that I don't care that much that it's slow to open in
OpenOffice, as the file gets used all day.  But I find that OpenOffice seems
MUCH more stable, and doesn't tie up my RAM nearly as much as LibreOffice
for the same file.  (That's really why I dropped LibreOffice.)  Could it be
related to the constantly increasing size of LibreOffice?

I also realized that I don't really care that OpenOffice doesn't yet save
files as docx or xlsx.  I just want stability from the software.

Of course, OpenOffice is also lagging behind Microsoft Office.  I'm also
aware that Munich and Freiburg recently returned to Microsoft after having
made a real commitment to open-source software.

As I'm planning to move into the publishing field, I may yet need to use
Microsoft Office.  But as long as possible, I will use OpenOffice, and
perhaps it will catch up to Microsoft, especially now that IBM is throwing
its support to Apache OO.

Also -  it may seem like a little thing, but I reported a bug some time ago. 
It was related to your "find" field not allowing anything to be copied into
it.  LibreOffice didn't seem able to fix it, and OpenOffice's find field
works much better  -  and that's another reason to return to it.



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