[Year 12 IT Apps] Open Office

[Laurie Savage]

Don't use the OpenOffice Database for U3O1! Its interface is still
underdeveloped and you need to trawl the murky waters to find documentation
for the latest version - although what there is is usually very good.

Pros: It handles simple mail merges much more elegantly that MSOffice - drag
and drop from the data sources screen in Writer; it works with your
favourite SQL databases; it is very programmable and flexible.

Cons: the interface is clumsy; attaching behaviours to controls is less than
intuitive; beyond simple mail merges you need to get your hands dirty (i.e.
conditional merges that WordPerfect 5.1 handled so easily); it needs a lot
of scripting to achieve simple behaviours like filtering records on the
contents of a drop-down list.

On the whole, stay away from it unless you feel like doing a lot of
scripting; if you do the hard yards it is quite effective. The only reason I
would use it rather than Access would be to provide a simple front end to a
MySQL database.

Bring back Paradox - that was fun!

Laurie

-----Original Message-----
From: itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au]
On Behalf Of Mark Kelly
Sent: Wednesday, 13 August 2008 2:30 PM
To: Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Year 12 IT Apps] Open Office

I'm interested in how well the relational part of the database works. 
Last time I heard, the clonebases were rather half-baked.

Russell Curr wrote:
> We have been using StarOffice and NeoOffice (for Mac) - more or less the
same as OpenOffice.
> 
> Avila College
> Mt Waverley
> 
> cheers
> Russell
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------
> Russell Curr
> Network Manager
> Avila College
> Ph: 9831-9645
> Fax: 03-9888-1202
> email: russell at avila.vic.edu.au
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 
>>>> BHancock at nagle.vic.edu.au 08/13/08 1:19 pm >>>
> No
> 
>  
> 
> Brendyn Hancock
> 
> Nagle COllege
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> From: itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au 
> [mailto:itapps-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Phillip Pike
> Sent: Wednesday, 13 August 2008 12:55 PM
> To: Year 12 IT Applications Teachers' Mailing List
> Subject: RE: [Year 12 IT Apps] Open Office
> 
>  
> 
> Just a quick survey.
> 
>  
> 
> Are there any schools out there using Open Office in place of MS Office?
> 
>  
> 
> Phil Pike
> 
> Director of ICT
> 
> Bacchus Marsh Grammar
> 
> P (03) 5366 4800
> 
> F (03) 53664850
> 

-- 
Mark Kelly
Manager - Information Systems
McKinnon Secondary College
kel AT mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
McKinnon Rd, McKinnon 3204, Victoria, Australia
Direct line / Voicemail: 8520 9085 Fax +613 9578 9253

Webmaster - http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
IT Lecture notes: http://vceit.com
Moderator: IT Applications Mailing List

I worship the ground you walk on, because I like grounds.  You, I'm not 
so keen on.
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