Each year, more OpenOffice.org books hit the market, with nearly a dozen easily available in US bookstores today. They include very technical references, very basic introductions, and books that focus like a laser on just a small portion of the software’s capabilities. The small publishing company Hentzenwerke focuses their books on two areas: the migration from Windows to Linux, and OpenOffice.org. They have already published three books on OOo, and are becoming the go-to publisher for OOo information. One of their recent books, “The Tiny Guide to OpenOffice.org” by Benjamin Horst, seeks to act as the glue connecting all other resources on OpenOffice.org together.

Horst’s book has two major audiences: the technical users who simply need a pocket reference for quick access, and the friend or family member of those technical users, whom they are working to convert to open source software through the OpenOffice route. The Tiny Guide is small and cheap enough that you can buy a copy for each one of your friends, to act as a constant reminder of the software they ought to be using for their productivity needs.

Written for version 1.1.x, The Tiny Guide to OpenOffice.org covers the program’s use on Linux, Windows and Mac OS X with screenshots fairly evenly divided among the three different GUIs. Horst does well to include this information since many potential users assume that OpenOffice is only for Linux. In actuality, of course, Windows users represent the majority of OOo users.

The book reaches all corners of the software, with chapters on each major component (Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Web, Math, and Data Tools). As a pocket reference, however, it doesn’t go into great depth on the components, though for its length (about 100 pages), The Tiny Guide really packs in a lot of valuable information.

The “Introduction” and “Getting Started” chapters begin the book with an introduction to the features of OpenOffice, a description of open source software, and a brief discussion on migrating from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice. They also cover the all-important tasks of acquiring and installing OpenOffice.org.

An “OpenOffice.org Overview” chapter starts with the basics from creating new documents, to describing the user interface, menus and toolbars. Horst consolidates features common to all components of the suite in this chapter, including AutoCorrect, PDF Export, printing, and unique user interface elements such as the Navigator and Stylist.

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