Openoffice.Org for Dummies [With CDROM]

by Ellen Finkelstein, Gurdy Leete, Mary Leete

Uses the straightforward For Dummies style to show Linux and Windows users how to use the OpenOffice.org desktop productivity suite OpenOffice.org has a user interface and feature set similar to that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764542222
• ISBN13: 9780764542220
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: For Dummies
• Length: 359 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Helpful

Best book on the subject but spends a lot of time on stuff 90% of us will never use.

good book

Pretty much of a getting started but does talk about many important points. Though I am very skilled in Excel, Open office is still irritating. I would buy it again.

Very good, but not as in depth as I would like.

The book covers the major aspects of the software suite, but it really doesn't get into the details of the programs. For that, I recommend a Dummies book on the Microsoft version, since they don't have an in-depth book on the OpenOffice.org version of the software applications. For what it is, an overview of the suite, it is very good. I highly recommend it as a fantastic starting point. I paid a paltry $7 for the book, delivered. How can you go wrong with a price like that? Truth be told, I believe it would have been worth the cover price of $24.99. It is an excellent book to start with, but you'll want to dig deeper after you make it through this book. I hope the authors will consider making full-blown Dummies books for Impress/Presentation, and Calc/Spreadsheet, and the Writer/Text Document applications, too. I highly recommend OpenOffice.org to all non-profit organizations, as well as for-profit companies: save yourselves $200-$500, per computer, along with the upgrade/compatibility issues, and dump Microsoft. You will be glad you did. Cheers!

great book and a terrific resource for our organization

We are a company that pride our selves on being cutting edge, if not bleeding edge with open source software solutions. We had used MS office for years but as OOo has gotten more advanced westarted migrating over to it as a great alternative.One of my main job duties here is actually the OOo expert. I field any questions, do training, and I am basically the PR front for our now 800 users. I just ordered 20 copies of your book so I can lend them out to users with concerns and questions. It is a great book and a terrific resource for our organization.

I tried it and liked it.

I'm an attorney who uses OpenOffice.org (OOo) every day in his law practice. I don't usually read a user manual like one would read a novel, but I actually read OOo for Dummies cover to cover because 1) the book is readable, 2) I learned how to use features that I didn't even know existed in OOo. For example, I'm going to travel to Oregon for business, and learned that I could put a map in a background for a spreadsheet to coordinate my travels there, after reading in OOo for Dummies that such was possible. I never would have thought of that. :-) This Dummies book also gives simple, easy step by step instructions for doing stuff. There are several books on OpenOffice.org, and I have bought them all. Each of them has a different use, so you really are not wasting your money if you buy all of them. However, if you don't want to buy them all, OOo for Dummies is good for any user who wants ideas as to how they could use OOo, and it's good for users who really need a clear step-by-step explanation of how to do stuff. Even though it is a "Dummies" book, this book is also good for intermediate users who knew how to do stuff and forgot. This book is also a good way for users (like me) who can't figure out how to download the program from http://www.openoffice.org and who need to get software on CDs, as a CD is included with the book. If you haven't used open source software before, OOo and this Dummies book is a good way to try it. Also, I think that you will be really surprised how powerful this free software program is. You can do some very sophisticated stuff with it, such as graphics, web pages, drawings, etc. I was using another major office suite before I began using OOo, and I found that I could do everthing I wanted with OOo.