Most of you probably have heard of an open source office suite called OpenOffice that runs on Windows and many other platforms. The cost saving of switching to OpenOffice is huge as it costs about MOP2,000 to buy a copy of MS Office for a single computer. However, you may probably have doubts whether it works or will have any hidden problems, after all it is free!
In that case I can tell you that it is perfectly safe to use. In CPTTM, we started to migrate to OpenOffice at the end of 2003. Now most users at CPTTM are already using OpenOffice and don't have MS Office on their computers at all. Have we been able to open Word files from the outside? Yes. Have we been able to send files to the outside? Yes. Have we encountered any problems at all? Yes, but very few and most can be easily solved.
Actually, for each department inside CPTTM we have at least one computer equipped with MS Office for emergency. However,it has rarely been used. For one, I've never needed to use it to exchange files with the outside.
What about the responses from the end users? Most users say that OpenOffice is NOT that different from MS Office except that it is a bit slower to launch. Some even say that OpenOffice has quite some unique features MS Office dosn't have such as the ability to export PDF files.
CPTTM is not the only one in Macau using OpenOffice. UNU/IIST is also using OpenOffice extensively and getting good results.
Would you be interested in testing or piloting OpenOffice? From June 12, we'll have a course on OpenOffice. You may consider sending your IT people or some power users to attend to see if OpenOffice may suit your organization. Participants will get back 80% of the course fee on completion. For more info, please see http://www2.cpttm.org.mo/training/sdb/showCourse.do?courseCode=CM205-06-2005-C or call 8980601.
Have doubts, questions or concerns? Feel free to contact me by email or phone (8980601). I'll be glad to share our experiences with you or listen to your views.
Until next time,
Kent Tong