NOTES FOR FARADAY TALK APRIL 20TH ON UNIX OFFICE APPLICATIONS: [Todo: Find out how to do an OO progress bar / car.] TITLE: Open Source Office Tools... Breaking The Windows Habit. ===================================================================== - Self Introduction of Astrid ===================================================================== - Intro jokes: ( Office applications, a major pain in the neck :-) Basic needs of industrial life. Saw my ENT doctor using SUSE Linux the other day - medicine, the most conservative profession! City of Munich.) "I don't really need hold a full talk here. All I need to say is - go and try out OpneOffice, and see how you like it. But that leaves me with 9 minutes and 45 seconds to spare. So I would like to mention a few aspects of this collection of office tools." ===================================================================== - Talk Overview LEVEL: Dead Easy Overview of the OpenOffice Suite http://www.openoffice.org/ ===================================================================== - Presentation System: FreeBSD 6.2, KDE[], OpenOffice 2.0.4 ===================================================================== No need to be afraid of text-based editing (mention editor vi and document markup / typesetting with LaTeX). These powerful tools for special needs. But even scary typesetting with LaTeX has started to go graphical these days. My company is a completely Unix-based shop I started working there 2 years ago, and the company already was using OpenOffice (in this case version 1.x) for word processing, especially for non-technical people or for document exchange with outside companies. OpenOffice.org is based on StarOffice. The source code of the suite was released in July 2000 with the aim of reducing the dominant market share of Microsoft Office by providing a free, open and high-quality alternative. OpenOffice.org is free software, available under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). ======================================================== - Pros and Cons of Unix-Based Office Tools: Three reasons for using Unix based office applicaions: 1. Religious: Because it's Open Source :-). Large community, group feeling, idealism, free support. Unfortunately, this might not convince managers and financial controllers. 2. Security: no hidden shit in files. hidden info in files. previous prices. look at every character in .sxw files. 3. Money: - Cost of Windows and MS Office licences. And support. And updates. And time needed when Patch Day comes around.... - Fewer admins are needed. Our Unix-based company of 80 employees has two admins (plus a little part-time help), who not just do Unix administration. They also do user support, set up and run the company telephone system, keep the SAP system running, and test our various products. That's a lot of productivity. - Longer useful hardware life by not installing resource hogs. It almost is a running joke in the industry that the nice, fast and well-equipped machines do not go to the technical department, but to sales and marketing people to make sure their spreadsheets and presentations run smoothly... I installed FreeBSD and OO on a P3 550 MHZ, 126 MB RAM. Slow, but works :-) Downsides: 1.Constant upgrading (to follow latest MS format changes, same headache as with MS itself) 2. Compatibility issues. Microsoft makes all sorts of secret changes to file formats etc. in each new version of their products, creating what some people call "shifting standards". This forces MS users to constantly upgrade, and OpenOffice constantly needs to follow. BUT: OpenOffice RUNS ON WINDOWS!!! So even a mixed Unix/ Windows industrial environment does not need to have all this compatibility pain. 3. Different kind of admin needed, but juniors are cheap and plentiful these days, due to widespread acceptance of Linux. ===================================================================== - OpenOffice: FreeBSD package name: openoffice.org-2.0.4 Integrated wordprocessor/dbase/spreadsheet/drawing/chart/browser(release branch) Uses Java. History: 1999: Sun Microsystems buy Star Division 2000: Star Office 5.2 code open-sourced under LGPL license. (GNU Lesser General Public License) Components: Impress: a presentation program similar to Microsoft PowerPoint. Base: a database program similar to Microsoft Access. Calc: a spreadsheet similar to Microsoft Excel with a roughly equivalent range of features. Calc is also capable of writing spreadsheets directly as a PDF file. Draw: a vector graphics editor comparable in features to CorelDRAW. Math: a tool for creating and editing mathematical formulae, similar to Microsoft Equation Editor. Writer: a word processor similar in look and feel to Microsoft Word and offering a comparable range of functions and tools. It also includes the ability to export Portable Document Format (PDF) files with no additional software, and can also function as a WYSIWYG editor for creating and editing web pages. Due to time constraints, I shall only touch on a few major aspects: Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Presentations. ===================================================================== - Word Processing with Open Office: [show some GeNUA document]. All the usual gimmicks known from Word: -- Spell checking Spellcheckers: ISpell (included in OpenOffice). aspell (based on ispell, better suggestion logic), MySpell (extra package, based on ispell, faster format). -- Inline Graphics XXX -- Conversion, Editing and Export of Word Documents Latest MS version: Microsoft Office Word 2007. Let's have a look: [Open Word File, edit, write. Open on my Windows laptop!] A Word Of Wisdom: As with Word, I would not recommend writing large professional books with this application. It still is wiser to use a real typesetting / layout design application for that (LaTeX, QuarkXPress, InDesign, FrameMaker) ===================================================================== - Spreadsheets: Very similar to MS Excel in appearance and features Opens, edits, writes Excel files (formulae!) OpenOffice Calc handles various formats: OpenOffice 1.0 Spreadsheet (.sxc) Open Document Spreadsheet (.ods) MS Excel 5.0 / 95 / 97 / 2000 / XP (.xls) Dbase (.dbf) HTML Text CSV (.csv) PDF export. Formulas and all the works...Let's have a look: [open tmvmoney.xls, copy year 4, paste as years 5 and 6, bingo, show incremented results, so the formulas still work.] ===================================================================== - Presentations: The presentation you are looking at was written in OpenOffice 2.0.4! I personally have no great experience in writing presentations. I had a half-day course at work, and basically have clicked my way through OpenOffice Impress to write this, using standard templates, effects, fonts etc. Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP presentations can be be opened by OpenOffice 2. Let's have a look: [Demonstrate this.] (Note: To be honest, occasional formatting booboos are possible). To start writing a new presentation, click on "File", "New", "Presentation" and follow the road signs :-) Let's have a look: [Demonstrate this.] [Create: "Astrid Jekat, How To Find A Dream Home, ...and do it right" :-)] [Save as .ppt and .odp, maybe transfer to Windows laptop if I can find PP.] Presentations can be saved in various formats: OpenOffice 1.0 Presentation (.sxi) OpenDocument Presentation (.odp = Open Office 2) Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP (.ppt) Or as templates: OpenOffice 1.0 Presentation Template (.sti) OpenDocument Presentation Template(.otp) Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP Template (.pot) Positive security aspect: Interestingly, an .sxi / .odp document basically is a compressed XML file (Zip archive data). It can be inflated (to XML and picture files) and opened to actually look at the document itself, character for character. In the days of macro viruses and evil hidden JavaScript in documents, calling for their "sanitization", this does inspire additional confidence in the document :-) Let's have a look: [Demonstrate this, unzip it and show in less.] ===================================================================== - Further Unix Alternatives for Office Tools: koffice kpresenter MagicPoint (Julian's intro) LaTeX(PDF) with \documentclass-es slides and prosper S5 (browser-based, http://meyerweb.com/eric/tools/s5/) ===================================================================== - Conclusions: Open source office tools with graphical interfaces are widely available. Migration to open source office tools is doable :-) Migration to mixed Unix / Windows or Unix-only office environments are professionally feasible. A migration to: A) open source office tools (regardless of operating system) and / or B) to a Unix office environment is perfectly feasible nowadays without prohibitive costs or excessive user pain. ====================================================== TANSTAAFL = There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch. (Robert A. Heinlein, 1966, "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress"). Bear in mind: - Carefully choosing the tools to use is a must. Think for yourself. Do not immediately believe anybody, not even me :-) - Changes always cause some sort of disruption. Not changing things, too, only differently. - Be aware that no matter what you do or do not do (i.e., migrate or not), somebody always will complain. But Open Source can bring you a little closer :-) ===================================================================== Sources: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org "How to Impress with OpenOffice", Sebastian Henning, GeNUA mbH