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Microsoft Office has been the dominating the market ever since Office 95. Now, Microsoft is releasing yet another version of Office. This time, it may steal back some users that have moved on the OpenOffice world. Microsoft recently released a public beta of the product that will last you an entire year (to Oct 31^st 2010), as well as a free, ad-supported starter edition (containing Word and Excel) when the product is released. This article will compare the 2 product.

Interface

Microsoft Office definitely wins here. The 3 interchangeable color themes and the ribbon interface makes the whole thing look as sexy as you could ever want in an office suite. All the tools are organized very well in the ribbon interface. Some might argue that they hate the ribbon, but it is definitely a more advanced way of sorting things. Microsoft has also implemented the ribbon across every single app in Office 2010.

OpenOffice.org on the other hand, is ugly. Although I use OO.org on a daily bases, I hated the interface. Things are hard to find, especially if you don’t already know where they are.

MS Office: 5/5
OpenOffice.org: 3.5/5

This round, MS Office wins hands down.

Features

This is something that’s hard to compare, mainly because it depends on the edition you buy for Office 2010, it may or may not exceed what OO.org is capable of. The free beta is the Professional Plus version of Office 2010, meaning you would get every single app within Office 2010. This definitely outmatches OO.org in pretty much every way. OO.org doesn’t have an email client, a desktop publisher, or a note taker. However, if you are getting the starter edition with the ads, OO.org definitely outmatches Office 2010. Presentation is a big deal for a lot of people. However, the Office 2010 web app should be available for free for everyone with a Windows Live account, which includes PowerPoint and OneNote. This may solve the problem for some people, but I doubt the web PowerPoint will be as powerful as OO.org Impress.

MS Office: 3/5
OpenOffice.org: 3.5/5

I know people may disagree, but I’m looking at what the free products delivers, not the paid ones.

Easiness

Since most people in the world is tied to the Office universe, Office 2010 is definitely going to be easier to get used to. However, Office 2003 users may find OO.org’s interface more familiar. The Ribbon theoretically should make things very easy to find, as I’ve found out, although some people may be challenged by it. Office 2010 is generally very easy to use, unless you are doing to crazy pro thing.

OpenOffice.org’s interface is similar to Word 2003, but not completely the same. It’s not as easy to get your hands on as Office 2010 is, but once you get used to it, it definitely faster than MS Office.

MS Office: 4/5
OpenOffice.org: 4/5

This round, for me, is just too close to call, as I’m an OO.org user all my life. I’m giving them a tie, whether you agree or not.

Speed

Microsoft Office’s speed is outmatches OpenOffice.org so much, that’s it’s laughable. According to my test, Word 2010 Beta takes, on average, 1.4 seconds to start; while OpenOffice.org Writer takes an average of 5.5 seconds. Office 2010 also outperformed OO.org in every way, including opening document, saving document by a factor of 5.

This round is easy one:

MS Office: 5/5
OpenOffice.org: 3/5

Value

If you have the money/funds to buy Office 2010, it’s definitely a great value. If you don’t want presentation making ability, the starter edition would be perfect for you. If you already have Office 2007, I don’t see too much reason to switch to this newer version. PDF export is available for both products. Both product handles ODT.

I guess it totally depends on what platform you were on before and your budget. If you were on Office 2007, I would say stay on it, as there isn’t too much difference between 2007 and 2010. If you were an OO.org user, I don’t see the point of jumping onto Office 2010, unless you need a specific app, like Publisher, SharePoint. If you were an Office 2003 user and don’t have money, go with OpenOffice.org. If you do, go ahead and buy 2010!

I guess since OO.org is free, the value of it is infinite…

MS Office: 4/5
OpenOffice.org: 5/5

Conclusion

After averaging all 5 comparison and their scores, MS Office wins with a 4.2 to OpenOffice.org’s 3.8. I’m still going to stick with OO.org since transferring all my documents while keeping their formatting will be a pain in the rear, and it’s totally up to you as what to get.

Meanwhile, why don’t you go get the Office 2010 Beta right now, and get Visio too while you’re at it.

Edit: Oh yes, MS Office 2010 Starter edition will replace MS Works forever.

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