Adrian Try has launched a new blog, Using a Different Office, to document his experiences with new office suite options, particularly focused on OpenOffice.org and Google Docs.

On using both OOo and Google Docs, Try describes his typical use pattern:

“At this point in time there is definitely a place for both installed and online office suites. I use both OpenOffice.org and Google Docs on a daily basis.

“Whenever I am creating a document that will ultimately be printed, I tend to use OpenOffice.org. Especially if the formatting is tricky or complicated…

“I use Google mainly for documents that are for information and reference. Its excellent search is very suitable for finding information stored in reference documents. I also use it for documents that are going to be used in email newsletters, web pages and blog posts (like this one). And I definitely use Google Docs whenever I want to collaborate with others on a document. I think this is Google Docs’ greatest strength.

“I often move the information I have been storing for reference into OpenOffice.org for consolidating, formatting and printing. I find by doing this I am helping me develop the valuable habit of separating content from formatting.”

In another interesting anecdote, Try describes how he migrated a small business from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org in one day without any advanced planning. It was a risky approach, but he was constrained when he learned the company already was running more copies of MS Office than they owned in licenses, and the management wanted to resolve that issue pronto:

“Despite the uncertainty of using unfamiliar software, and being thrown in the deep end, the staff handled the change well. Much better than I expected. On the second day one of the staff had a question about something that worked a little differently. The question was easily answered, and there were no more questions. Some staff preferred some of the differences.”

This entry was posted on Monday, November 10th, 2008 at 10:43 am and is filed under Open Source, OpenOffice.org. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.