After my recent post about opening docx files in OpenOffice, I received some interesting feedback on how I was dumb for using OpenOffice.  Also that anybody running a business should just drop the money on Microsoft Office, because a real business would not use an open source office suite. There is definitely a core group of business people out there who feel like anything that you don’t pay for is not worth using. While I can sometimes take the stance that you get what you pay for, quality open source applications have a great ROI. I can think of several reasons why I prefer OpenOffice over Microsoft Office.

Good Product

I find that many people who bash OpenOffice have never really given it a chance.  I first tried it when it was still StarOffice. It was an okay product back then, but not a real competitor to Microsoft Office.  I used it in parallel for about a month, then deleted it from my computer. When Open Office can in to being around 2002 if memory serves me, I tried it again.  I was impressed, but still stuck to Microsoft.  I kept it installed though. As version 2 came in to being, I tried once again.  This time I kept it. The latest releases are good products. Fully functioning office suites that offer no degradation in function in my mind. When I purchased by current laptop I just went with an OpenOffice only solution.

Philosophy

The open source philosophy is something I can embrace. I’m not an open source zealot, but I have no issue giving positive reviews. My former employer (a quasi-government agency) was dead set against open source at the time — refusing to even use Apache as a web server because they did not have to pay for it. I thought it was crazy, and argue that anyone running IIS because they have to pay for it over Apache is crazy.  Choosing software based on the payment methodology over functionality is just counter intuitive to me.

Price

Okay, I must admit that to me the price of a comparable version of Microsoft Office is a buzz-kill for me. I’m willing to pay good money for software that I feel is superior.  I had no problem dropping $650 for Adobe Photoshop CS3 — it’s a good product that is just superior in many ways to open source options in my mind. Microsoft Office is expensive for the benefit to me.  I have an installed copy on a laptop that I passed on to my wife.  It’s a good product, but I can get everything I need out of OpenOffice.

So I guess my point is that just because you dropped a few hundred dollars on an office suite from Microsoft, don’t assume you got a far superior product. It is a good product, but there are alternatives that are quite good.