- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
If you have downloaded and begun to use OpenOffice recently, you may not realize all that you are dealing with. On the one hand, many people download the software suite just so that they can use OpenOffice Writer, which is a great program that has many similarities to Microsoft Word. However, it is not the be-all-end-all of OpenOffice in the least. Quite to the contrary, there are programs within OpenOffice which allow you to create presentations like PowerPoint does, create spreadsheets just like Excel does, and create technical documents from scientific equations all the way to databases, spreadsheets and flow charts . . . and all of that may actually go beyond what Works is capable of allowing you to do on its own.
However, far too many people have fallen victim to the notion that “OpenOffice just lets you write stuff.” While it is true that Writer (one of the OpenOffice programs) does allow you to write things just as well as Word does, this is nowhere near the full power of what this mighty suite of freeware allows you to do. Calc, for instance, allows you to create and edit spreadsheets with a level of power that is only otherwise usable if you purchase Excel. And with Math, you have the capacity to create all sorts of math problems and scientific equations, which really has no equivalent feature in Works.
However, perhaps the most powerful feature that OpenOffice brings to bear is the appropriately titled Impress. With Impress, you can create stunning, sale-making presentations, only without having to buy anything. And if you happen to be a programmer (or have a penchant for finding things), you may even be able to customize the entire experience for your own wants and needs. With that kind of functionality and the ability to add and edit the features you really want (if you have the skills), most people aren’t using the full power of OpenOffice.
