Carputers News and Computer Tips

Whether or not you like (or use) this browser, this is neat: 

We’ve used it since it first became available as a beta and like it a lot!  Here’s where you can download it and find more out about it.

We posted almost two years ago on word processors.  Recently, the FreeLine blog did their own comparison of the six latest and greatest free word processing programs out there.  Their picks?  IBM Lotus Symphony, Google Docs, and SoftMaker Office 2006. 

Another interesting tidbit from this comparison which was news to us - Novell has a custom version of OpenOffice.org 3.0 available for download.  What makes their version different from the mainstream version of OpenOffice.org? 

OpenOffice.org Novell Edition for Windows contains enhancements and bug fixes, especially for interoperability with Microsoft Office and other word processing programs, that are not available in the standard edition. These enhancements include:            

• Microsoft Excel*: Compatibility: Improved Excel compatibility for certain built-in functions (e.g., CELL, INFO, INDIRECT), hyperlinks and filters, improved ergonomics, and support for “R1C1″ style addresses. Improved performance on certain text functions such as SEARCH.  Natural sorting option in cell range sorting.
• Excel VBA Macro Interoperability: OpenOffice.org Novell Edition eases the migration of many macros from Microsoft Excel.  Although not all macros can be successfully migrated, this interoperability offers more than the standard edition, which does not support migration of macros.
• Data Pilots: Data Pilots are interoperable with Microsoft Office PivotTables*.  OpenOffice.org Novell Edition substantially improves the Data Pilot feature, making it possible to edit pilots after creation.
• Enhanced Fonts: Licensed fonts from Agfa* Monotype* which are metrically identical and visually compatible with some of the key Microsoft fonts.  This allows OpenOffice.org Novell Edition to match fonts when opening documents originally composed in Microsoft Office, and very closely match pagination and page formatting.
• EMF+Support: The ability to render EMF+ formatted graphics
• SVG Support: The ability to import scalable vector graphics.
• Import File Formats: Microsoft Works, WordPerfect* text and graphics, T602 files, OfficeOpen XML, and more.
• Groupwise® Integration: OpenOffice.org Novell Edition includes improved integration with ODMA (Open Document Management Architecture) services, for example for GroupWise.  If you have the GroupWise client installed on the machine, OpenOffice.org Novell Edition will offer to open documents from GroupWise, or save documents in GroupWise.

Yes, OpenOffice.org Novell Edition opens Microsoft Office 2007 (.docx, .pptx, .xlsx) files!

Free registration with Novell is required to download OpenOffice.org Novell Edition.  For those who regularly share files with MS Office users, this might be the way to go.

Here, in .pdf format is Novell’s FAQ for OpenOffice.org Novell Edition.

Here is a direct link to download the suite in .iso format, without registration.  This page provides instructions on how to burn .iso files to a CD via many popular CD burning programs.

Edward Mendelson writes for PC Magazine:

Even though OpenOffice.org… can’t do everything (Microsoft) Office can, it can do a lot, and it has some of its own tricks that even (Microsoft) Office can’t manage.

Mr. Mendelson’s article makes a nice addition to our series of OpenOffice.org posts.  Tip #5 in his article is a shorter version of our post on Configuring the OpenOffice.org suite for use in a Microsoft Office world… 

As we’ve said before - you can’t beat the price!

Matthew DeCarlo writes for Techspot:

With this guide, we will be providing you with a list of useful applications that we feel stand above all others in what they attempt to do, and when all is said and done, your PC will be ready for nearly any everyday task you throw at it.

For those wishing to “cut to the chase”, here are all of their picks in one table.  More discussion (along with more suggested apps) can be found in the comments.