Open Office vs MS Word

Laura14 · ‎06-09-2014

Asking for another blessing from the experts here.

I need a word processing program for personal use not business. Just looking to do a lot of personal writing that I can save to my laptop and I am having a hard time giving over my hard earned money to MS every single year for the privilege of using only 1 out of 5 of their personal 365 suite.

I don't want to get into Google Drive because the whole purpose of the laptop was to save my work privately on the machine and not in a cloud. I know that's ridiculous in this day and age but it's what I want. Plus I don't want to eventually get into storage issues and then I'm back in a payment situation there too.

I really miss the days of a typewriter sometimes.

Heard good things about Open Office which is free and supposedly close to the same thing as MS Word. Would that be a yay or nay? Is it a good substitute for Word that would serve my purpose or is there something else you can suggest out there?

jackthebear · ‎03-11-2010

I used open office briefly

looks very similar to MS Word

why don't you download and try it

I wouldn't pay for a years' license either

Laura14 · ‎06-09-2014

@jackthebear Thanks! I was going to do just that tonight unless someone screamed and told me not to. Appreciate it.

jackthebear · ‎03-11-2010

@Laura14 wrote:
@jackthebear Thanks! I was going to do just that tonight unless someone screamed and told me not to. Appreciate it.

lol

can always delete

Zhills · ‎11-15-2011

Have you looked at WordPad? It is already on your Windows computer under "Accessories."

It is compatible with MSWord.

Most people have never looked at Accessories to see what is there. Interesting!

glb613 · ‎03-09-2010

@Zhills wrote:
Have you looked at WordPad? It is already on your Windows computer under "Accessories."

Most people have never looked at Accessories to see what is there. Interesting!

Don't use wordpad. It's not compatible with anything. I'm surprised Microsoft still includes it.

Laura14 · ‎06-09-2014

@glb613 @Zhills I have heard both of these things about Wordpad. I will check it out and see if it is something I can use. Thanks!

Nightowlz · ‎03-11-2010

I would try Open Office. DH put it on my sisters laptop because she cannot afford MS Office.

I would not pay the price they want to use MS Office either.

DH can buy it thru work for $10 or $20 cannot remember. It's one price to just download with key or another price where you also get the disc which DH always wants. He uses the disc so he can put MS Office on the desktop & 3 laptops we have. We don't have to pay anything for it yearly.

Laura14 · ‎06-09-2014

Thanks @Nightowlz ! I was looking for the disc at Amazon as I don't mind a one time buy in but I don't think they sell it anymore or if they do I think someone told me they no longer security update that version.

I'll go check again although it sounds like open office will suit me just fine for free. Thank you for letting me know someone has good experience with it.

Zhills · ‎11-15-2011

@glb613 wrote:
@Zhills wrote:
Have you looked at WordPad? It is already on your Windows computer under "Accessories."

Most people have never looked at Accessories to see what is there. Interesting!
Don't use wordpad. It's not compatible with anything. I'm surprised Microsoft still includes it.

I just typed a page in WordPad, saved it and opened it in MSWord.

Also opened a MSWord Document in WordPad.

Works for me!