I have always been interested in trying new software, specifically free software. One of the most well known pieces out there is OpenOffice. I normally use Microsoft Office, but have tried OpenOffice limitedly. Well, in order to give it a fair shake, I have made the decision to try it full time for a month.

I know what it is capable of and have tried using it before the current release of version 2.0 but found it took forever to load compared to Office. Well, this week I have downloaded the latest release candidate of OpenOffice and will force myself to use it for a month. What did it take for me to do this? I had to rethink my entire process of doing things.

I found that pushing myself to enter self employment required a large financial investment that I did not have the time to make. I wanted to get off and running as fast as possible while maintaining a professional work environment. What this took was some serious looking at my personal work flow processes. I finally sat myself down to see what it was I truly needed to make this work and a $400 piece of software was not in the cards. Sure, I am familiar with them, but as an IT professional, I should be able to easily move to any commonly used software. With this in mind, I looked at what I really needed to use and found that for what is included with Office and what I use, I don’t need it. I just do basic word processing, basic spreadsheets, and tinkering with databases. I may need an occasional presentation, but nothing fancy. With that in mind, OpenOffice filled all my needs. I will still need Publisher to create my own letterhead and envelopes since I am basing my professional paperwork off their templates, but that is a mere drop in the bucket for what I need.

I will give you an update on how I am doing with the test over the upcoming weeks. Also, if you know of any good OpenOffice template sites, let me know and I will pass the word.

[Michael Merry]

Tags: microsoft office, openoffice, publisher, michael merry, template