[plug] OpenOffice and MS Office

[Craig Ringer]

> I have been asked to set up a Linux box for my sister for when she 
> starts Uni this year. Our biggest concern is compatibility with other 
> people, the markers computer and MS Office. I currently only have OO 1.0 
> not 1.0.1 and from what my dad has seen he is concerned. When OO opens a 
> word document that had a table in it, it lost the table. And opening a 
> MS Excel document with charts in them opened fine except you couldn't 
> select the chart to change it and changing the data didn't effect the 
> chart. Even after inserting a chart we couldn't select it. Any advice on 
> this would be appreciated.

I've never seen vanishing tables, but I'm not at all surprised that you 
can't edit charts. While oo.o is very compatable its far from perfect, 
so if you need to edit very complex documents MS Office is still the 
only /safe/ bet. Consider investigating crossover office, I've heard 
good things about it, though I've never personally used it.

Craig