502 Part IV . Running Applications Using OpenOffice.org
502 Part IV . Running Applications Using OpenOffice.org Some have called OpenOffice.org a significant threat to Microsoft s dominance of the desktop market. If a need to work with documents in Microsoft Word format has kept you from using Linux as your desktop computer, OpenOffice.org is a big step toward removing that obstacle. You can use a program such as WINE that (among other things) allows you to run older versions of Microsoft Office directly on your Linux PC, but for the vast majority of users there is no reason to bother doing so. In this section we ll take a high-level overview of the suite and spend a little time examining one of the more commonly used elements, Writer, in some detail. Many distributions of Linux include the entire OpenOffice.org suite of desktop applications. Some include the StarOffice suite in addition to or in lieu of OpenOffice.org. If neither is present, you can always download and install OpenOffice.org from its Web site, www.openoffice.org. StarOffice is commercial software and can be purchased from www.sun.com. OpenOffice.org, which shares its source code with StarOffice, consists of the following office-productivity applications: . Writer A word-processing application that can work with documents in file formats from Microsoft Word, StarOffice, and several others. Writer also has a full set of features for using templates, working with fonts, navigating your documents, including images and effects, and generating tables of contents. . Calc A spreadsheet application that lets you incorporate data from Microsoft Excel, StarOffice, Dbase, and several other spreadsheet formats. Some nice features in Calc enable you to create charts, set up database ranges (to easily sort data in an area of a spreadsheet), and use the data pilot tool to arrange data in different points of view. . Draw A drawing application that enables you to create, edit, and align objects; include textures and colors; and work with layers of objects. It lets you incorporate images, vector graphics, AutoCAD, and a variety of other file formats into your drawings. Then, you can save your drawing in the OpenOffice.org Drawing or StarDraw formats. . Math A calculation program that lets you create mathematical formulas. . Impress A presentation application that includes a variety of slide effects. You can use Impress to create and save presentations in the Microsoft PowerPoint, StarDraw, and StarImpress formats. Unlike other applications that were created to work with Microsoft document and data formats, OpenOffice.org (although not perfect) does a very good job of opening and saving those files with fewer problems. Very basic styles and formatting
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