OpenOffice Emulates MS Office--and It’s Free

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Microsoft Corp. should feel supremely complimented by the OpenOffice.org suite of software. And, perhaps, just a tad worried.

OpenOffice’s sleek word processor, spreadsheet and presentation programs capture Microsoft Office’s look and some of the most popular features without the $479 price tag and anti-piracy measures.

OpenOffice is free. The 50-megabyte download costs nothing. Unlike most other “free” programs, it doesn’t require an advanced degree to fathom.

More important--since Microsoft has more than 90% of the productivity software market--OpenOffice reads documents that originally were created with Microsoft’s programs and can save in those formats as well.

So what’s the catch?

There are some rough edges and a few omissions, notably a calendar program, an e-mail application and a database. They’ll be missed mainly by power users and businesses.

There’s also no tech support by phone and no printed manuals, unless you print them yourself. That’s not to say no help is available. Each program has built-in assistance, and much more can be found on the OpenOffice.org Web site.

And anyone who wants a more powerful suite without paying Microsoft’s prices still could shell out $76 and buy StarOffice, on which OpenOffice is based.

Sun Microsystems Inc., which sells StarOffice, has released most of the code to a community of programmers who work on developing OpenOffice in their spare time. Besides fee-based tech support, StarOffice also includes a grammar checker, a database, additional filters and some fonts that Sun licensed from other vendors.

Why is Sun doing this? Besides selling servers and workstations, Sun also is in the anti-Microsoft business. Alternative software is a key component, as is litigation.

Until now, Microsoft had nothing to fear from StarOffice, which Sun formerly gave away. The previous version was difficult and disappointing.

But that’s not the case with OpenOffice, a surprising fact given the reputation most open-source software has for being buggy and targeted to gearheads. Such is true with most programs written for Linux.

Besides the look of Microsoft Office, OpenOffice incorporates many of the same shortcuts. Want to create a new file? Hit Control-N. Want to run the spell checker? Press the F7 key.

It’s consistent throughout the entire suite.

The program also is available for operating systems other than Windows, including Linux and Unix. The Mac OS X version still is under development. A recently released “developer” version has just implemented printing functions.

OpenOffice does have some problems, however.

Some complex Word documents, especially those with embedded graphics, are mis-formatted in OpenOffice’s Writer. Occasionally, fonts are incorrect.

OpenOffice’s spreadsheet program, Calc, is confused by commas placed within cells when text files are imported. And macros developed in Microsoft Office don’t work at all.

In one case, I opened a news release that a company spokesman originally had saved in Microsoft Office. It appeared mangled in OpenOffice but revealed details that were hidden in Word, such as talking points and a long list on which various managers made comments and signed off.

Still, OpenOffice handles with aplomb most everyday jobs, such as composing a letter, a school report or a household budget. More complex tasks might take some extra time but are manageable.

The headaches are relatively small compared with shelling out hundreds of dollars for each copy of Microsoft Office and then “activating” the program so Microsoft knows you have not installed it on more than one computer.

I’d expect more cost-aware businesses to look closely at OpenOffice now that Microsoft is bumping up the price of its volume-licensing scheme.

And for households annoyed by the lack of a family discount for a shared copy of Microsoft Office, OpenOffice is a fine option.