I have however started using Chrome more regularly. Typically I will use it when I want to view a site that I have an account on as if I were an un-authenticated user.  Why? You might be surprised at how many sites you thought you have follow links from that really are nofollowed when the site can’t tell who you are (ie basically how Google will see your link).

I also stuck to Firefox because of the plug-ins that I like to use.

That has made a little switch lately. I have found some great Chrome extensions that will make it a more useful tool for me. Of course I can take credit and say that I found all of these extensions myself.  That would be a lie. I found several of these extensions via a great post on Chrome extensions.  17 Google Chrome Extensions for Web Designers and Developers is a post that lays out (you guessed it) 17 great Chrome extensions that are perfect for what I need.

I’m still not a Chrome-only user, but I have already started using it at least once a day. We’ll see if it becomes a bigger part of my browsing day!

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.