I am a happy user of OpenOffice on most of my home PCs but the one from my employer comes with Microsoft bloatware so there was no real need to install another office suite. I do have to work with OpenOffice documents occasionally but I simply used another PC to do so.That changed today when I wanted to rework some really quite old documents that I had produced with Lotus SmartSuite, i.e. Freelance (prz) and WordPro (lwp) files.
I heard about IBM Lotus Symphony when it was launched at the end of last year so I guessed that it would be worth investigating. And it was. One simple install later and now I can manipulate my Lotus SmartSuite, OpenOffice and Microsoft Office documents with one piece of software and can change formats as required.
Like OpenOffice, Lotus Symphony is free so now there is even less reason to fund Bill Gates' early retirement.
Hi Matthew - This sounds most interesting. Although I don't run an office or use my PC professionally, it sounds like a good option. Can Microsoft Office still read and use a doc used or created by Lotus Symph or has it been "lost" to Microsoft Office once it has been "Lotused"? I still use Word 2002 since I have read reviews of 2007, which everybody seems to hate.
ReplyDeleteAnders, both Lotus Symphony and OpenOffice can save files in MS Office format if that is required. This makes them both ideal choices for home users who have to buy their own software, and corporates are increasingly seeing the value of the free option too.
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