(based on 422 reviews)

OpenOffice.org 3.2.1

Rated 50/50 by roj at Jan 15, 2009

I love this suite but it has one Most Moronic oversight: Why the hell can't I clear the Recently used Documents list without jumping through hoops (shutting the app and the loader down and editing the text file MANUALLY)? Why doesn't it check to see if the document is there and if it isn't, do something truly revolutionary like Remove It Automatically From The List??? Furthermore, why isn't there an OPTION to clear the list if I see fit? DUHHHH!!!!! FIVE stars and a slap across the back of the head to the twit who overlooked this most obvious of usability features.

Rated 50/50 by Stingray57 at Jan 15, 2009

Consistently impressive. A marvel of open source effort and execution. Although it lacks a 'Outlook' it's a direct competitor to Microsoft office and it's bloated code. [Windows] Evolution could fix that real easy. I love the portable version and the use of extensions now. Being able to post directly to WORDPRESS/BLOG from OO Write is nice. I agree with a patching system, 140mb downloads get old, but as long as you've a hs connection, it's not that bad. Well worth it. Can't beat the price...

Rated 40/50 by Jaz-M-Taz at Jan 18, 2009

3.0.1 RC2 Great suite, and I've used it for many years now. This release however, is corrupting my files with tables when I save in .doc format for Word. Apparent when I open them in actual Word.

Rated 50/50 by Mystiqq at Feb 11, 2009

Amazing free software but the following should have been caught in the "possible causes for crash by user error". Following thing i managed to do accidentally while doing things in a hurry... CTRL+C, CTRL+A and CTRL+V = "program is not responding"

Rated 10/50 by Ian C. at Feb 14, 2009

Spell check doesn't work, don't know if the dictionary is missing or what. Spell check is a critical feature, it should be working immediately after install without having to mess with settings.

Rated 50/50 by sn0wflake at Mar 4, 2009

I rarely have to open/edit Office documents but when I have to this does the job. Also includes excellent support for saving documents in PDF format which I prefer. Dropped Microsoft Office many years ago.

Rated 30/50 by myboy at Mar 30, 2009

Okay for routine work, but useless for dealing with complex/large projects. The database module in particular is a disaster; it might as well be just a sql command line prompt. I also HATE how OO launches whatever module IT thinks is appropriate for a file, no matter what you intend. Transferring/importing/embedding data between word processor and spreadsheet is so irritating it is better to simply cut & paste. Better than msworks but nowhere as complete as msoffice.

Rated 40/50 by Infidelus at Apr 6, 2009

While OOo is a nice product for basic usage (I only really use the Writer component regularly, and occasionally Calc), I find it fails quite badly when trying to work with more complicated Word documents. For example, I downloaded an application form for a job which had various tables and tickboxes. Not only did OOo not display the page correctly, it also made some of the boxes untickable and worse still, after saving the document, it lost a whole load of free text that had been typed by me. If you opened the saved document in Notepad or Wordpad, you could see that the text was actually there, but for whatever reason OOo refused to display it again. Now there may well be settings somewhere hidden in the options that make all these things work, but after searching high and low and failing to find them, combined with the fact that they work 'out of the box' in MS Word, it makes it exremely difficult to give up using the commercial product.

Rated 50/50 by gcaleval at Apr 6, 2009

For production work I use the stable release which is 3.01. I used Open Office to produce a 48 page Policy Manual and the exercise was much smoother than when I had used Word for the same purposes. If this does not quality as a "big/complex project" I don't know what does. The spreadsheet and word processor are stand out quality. The database is not effective for significant databases and can very slow at performing relatively basic queries on more than a few thousand records. But remember that Access is not part of the core MS Office suite and big bucks need to be spent to get access to Access. OOo should consider carving the database off to have it focus on being a great interface to MySql which users would have to install separately. I have also noted that the entire OOo suite operates orders of magnitude faster on Ubuntu than on XP or Vista. It loads almost instantaneously on Ubunut running on an old 486 box, but takes a few moments getting going on the Windows platforms with the newest hardware.

Rated 30/50 by netean at Apr 28, 2009

well, it's ok.. It's a terrific feat of programming to create an office suit of this complexity and for FREE it's superb, the best free office suite there is (sort of) Sadly, on Windows, it's a bit second rate (it's much much much better in linux) - its' slow to load, it's a huge application to download - particularly if you don't want the whole suite, (you still can't simply download the components you need/want) Nor can you update easily, you have to download and install the whole suite again! Furthermore, it's fine if you're using Ooo to create a document from scratch, and it works fine with long documents, but if you're editing a document that's already been written with MS Office, or even worse, swapping back and forth between Openoffice and MS Office, it's a bit of a nightmare, it doesn't work well with long MS office Documents (I'm talking about the writer component) The presentation component, is... well it's OK, it's like using Powerpoint from about 5 years ago, gets the job done, but it's slowly and certainly without any pleasure. That's the sad things about openoffice, it looks old-fashioned and rather ghastly (again, it looks better in linux) and just isn't very enjoyable to use, it's functional, but not pleasurable. I think IBM have done a good job with Openoffice by morphing it into Symphony, sure that has its own problems but it's much prettier, friendlier and much more usable (ifor the most part)

Rated 30/50 by coover at May 4, 2009

This is a good example of an inexpensive product vs. an expensive one. This one has all the qualities of the inexpensive one. It will do the job ... but you won't be as happy with it as you would with the expensive product. However, Open Office is free (as long as the time to download it is not costly to you), so it is better than "inexpensive". To make the comparison between the expensive product and Open Office fair, you have to factor in it's actual cost .. zip, nada, nothing, freeeeeeeeeeeee! It all depends on what YOU can afford. If you can afford the expensive product, I suggest you purchase it. You will be happier with it. But if you simply don't have the money, Open Office will do the job. There is nothing wrong with Open Office. It isn't dangerous, it won't introduce malware, and if you wish to share Office files, it won't easily give away to the folks with which you share that you are so poor (or cheap) that you use something other than the expensive product (as long as you use the right file extensions). So if you need it, get it. it is worth every penny you pay for it (and more).

Rated 50/50 by MCHAL at May 5, 2009

Yes, OpenOffice is really great! I love it! But apparently there are good paid alternatives out there, such as Softmaker Office. So could any of you visiting guys make an "expert" review or the like about this shareware product? Thanks!

Rated 50/50 by irateman at May 5, 2009

There a few things about OO that just make sense : 1) install on just about any system 2) no cost 3) standard, open and compatible 4) easy installation of add-ons even in OS of different languages I must admit that there a few things that I cannot do with OO that can be done with Framemaker, like preceding and following text or graphics for paragraph styles, but that could be implemented with an add-on. Compared to MS Office, its performance is pretty much the same. I cannot see why anyone would pay for Office 2007. Besides, I cannot stand the interface. I have worked with documents over a 150 pages with graphics, columns, indexes, tables etc. and have had no problems. If you use the paragraph styles, everything flows nicely.

Rated 40/50 by mjm01010101 at May 20, 2009

Crashes at the "welcome to OpenOffice" screen if you update the one extension available. repeatable. Otherwise works fine.

Rated 50/50 by SteveLBWarren at Jul 2, 2009

"GREAT!!!!!!!!" Easy!!!!!!!!!!!! None/cant wipe my ass?? Great software.....thank you cnet.....your the best ass always!!!

Rated 50/50 by MutatedGamer at Jul 8, 2009

Easy to use, good, free, spell check, just AWESOME! screw Microsoft office! nothing, doesn't let you live forever?? this is a awesome product. i use this in replace of microsoft office and i am very pleased. it has spell check, so you can use to for school reports, and it has drawing tools, so you can goof off. i recommend this for anyone who wants something like microsoft office and doesn't want to pay. this is AWESOME!

Rated 50/50 by rlkelm at Jul 13, 2009

"I totally love the whole package! Have used from first." It is very powerful yet straight forward and easy to use. I have used O.O.O. since the beginning. It has been continually improved ever since. I have always admired and been greatly impressed by the very talented and generous people who work on it. Any and all of the problems I have had, have been due exclusively to "Pilot Error", because I did not read the [extensive] manual first.

Rated 50/50 by combs0417 at Jul 16, 2009

"This is a great free version similar to ms office." I think it works great so far. I haven't had a chance to use it much since I got it, but I'm sure I will enjoy it. Like Office, some of the features I'm not even sure how to use. I would recommend this for any one who can't afford office but needs the programs it offers.

Rated 50/50 by roxyboy3 at Jul 22, 2009

"Better than some of the software products I tried." Easy to work with and follows most of the familiar software I've used. Not much that I can say. I am still finding out about its inner machinations.

Rated 50/50 by Thachosenone at Jul 26, 2009

"Why do people even bother buying MS Office?" Astounded by how this can replace Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Best part is it can default save its files as .doc, .ppt, and . Slightly slower than MS Office If you don't feel like paying for MS Office, download this.