"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
...
Thanks to a lightening strike I have had to replace one of our machines,
the
new one has "Vista" (I expect I will get used to it in time!)
The point of this posting is just to say that while much of my old third
party software has gone on without a murmur the same was not true of my
very
expensive MS Office (2000) and I thought people may like to know I have
solved the problem by changing to "Open Office" which so far seems
completely compatible in both directions with ms office and only costs £6
!!!

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cultivars



and I saved £300 + £6 by staying with XP Pro....................and
installing my old Office 2000.

Thanks to a lightening strike I have had to replace one of our machines, the
new one has "Vista" (I expect I will get used to it in time!)
The point of this posting is just to say that while much of my old third
party software has gone on without a murmur the same was not true of my very
expensive MS Office (2000) and I thought people may like to know I have
solved the problem by changing to "Open Office" which so far seems
completely compatible in both directions with ms office and only costs £6
!!!

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cultivars

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:08:20 +0100, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:

Thanks to a lightening strike I have had to replace one of our machines, the
new one has "Vista" (I expect I will get used to it in time!)
The point of this posting is just to say that while much of my old third
party software has gone on without a murmur the same was not true of my very
expensive MS Office (2000) and I thought people may like to know I have
solved the problem by changing to "Open Office" which so far seems
completely compatible in both directions with ms office and only costs £6
!!!


The only difficulty I have ever had with working between Open Office
and MS Office was with teh OO equivalent of Powerpoint - which is far
more intuitive than the MS version - but the animations I had set up
on Open Office did not turn out to work on Powerpoint. Plus the
person I emailed it to could not open it - just as well I had saved as
MSPP and brought my memory stick with me. I just had to do without
the animations.

Cat(h)

On Sun, 22 Jul 2007 20:08:20 +0100, "Charlie Pridham"
wrote:

Thanks to a lightening strike I have had to replace one of our machines, the
new one has "Vista" (I expect I will get used to it in time!)
The point of this posting is just to say that while much of my old third
party software has gone on without a murmur the same was not true of my very
expensive MS Office (2000) and I thought people may like to know I have
solved the problem by changing to "Open Office" which so far seems
completely compatible in both directions with ms office and only costs £6
!!!

Very useful info Charlie. We shall all have to face up to Vista at
some point, no doubt. Good luck!

Pam in Bristol

open office was free download last time I downloaded it??
It is compatible with almost all known office suite programmes and indeed is
with office 2000.
Excellent utility.

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
...
Thanks to a lightening strike I have had to replace one of our machines,
the
new one has "Vista" (I expect I will get used to it in time!)
The point of this posting is just to say that while much of my old third
party software has gone on without a murmur the same was not true of my
very
expensive MS Office (2000) and I thought people may like to know I have
solved the problem by changing to "Open Office" which so far seems
completely compatible in both directions with ms office and only costs £6
!!!

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cultivars

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
...
Thanks to a lightening strike I have had to replace one of our machines,
the
new one has "Vista" (I expect I will get used to it in time!)
The point of this posting is just to say that while much of my old third
party software has gone on without a murmur the same was not true of my
very
expensive MS Office (2000) and I thought people may like to know I have
solved the problem by changing to "Open Office" which so far seems
completely compatible in both directions with ms office and only costs £6
!!!

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cultivars


I'm avoiding Vista for as long as possible (I'm a professional software
developer) and the majority of my business colleagues are avoiding it too -
other than to try it out and prod and poke it without using it in any
serious way yet. It is too slow, takes too much memory, has a huge amount of
irrelevant bloat and has compatibility problems with numerous pieces of
software and hardware.

So until it is forced upon us by the demise of XP we are avoiding it like
the plague! It is also proving to be a support headache too, with the
increased security affecting it's ability to run various programs which just
leave end users baffled when their favourite program starts coughing up
error messages or Vista spews out security messages. Pile of poo in my
professional opinion, just another money spinner for Microsoft with
questionable benefits for everyone else - and this from someone who makes
his living writing software to run on Microsoft computers!

David.

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
...
Thanks to a lightening strike I have had to replace one of our machines,
the
new one has "Vista" (I expect I will get used to it in time!)
The point of this posting is just to say that while much of my old third
party software has gone on without a murmur the same was not true of my
very
expensive MS Office (2000) and I thought people may like to know I have
solved the problem by changing to "Open Office" which so far seems
completely compatible in both directions with ms office and only costs £6
!!!


You'll be running it on Linux next ...

"David (Normandy)" wrote in message
...

I'm avoiding Vista for as long as possible (I'm a professional software
developer) and the majority of my business colleagues are avoiding it
too - other than to try it out and prod and poke it without using it in
any serious way yet. It is too slow, takes too much memory, has a huge
amount of irrelevant bloat and has compatibility problems with numerous
pieces of software and hardware.

So until it is forced upon us by the demise of XP we are avoiding it like
the plague! It is also proving to be a support headache too, with the
increased security affecting it's ability to run various programs which
just leave end users baffled when their favourite program starts coughing
up error messages or Vista spews out security messages. Pile of poo in my
professional opinion, just another money spinner for Microsoft with
questionable benefits for everyone else - and this from someone who makes
his living writing software to run on Microsoft computers!

As a developer too, I think you're being far too generous.

It isn't that good.

"Uncle Marvo" wrote in message
...

"David (Normandy)" wrote in message
...

I'm avoiding Vista for as long as possible (I'm a professional software
developer) and the majority of my business colleagues are avoiding it
too - other than to try it out and prod and poke it without using it in
any serious way yet. It is too slow, takes too much memory, has a huge
amount of irrelevant bloat and has compatibility problems with numerous
pieces of software and hardware.

So until it is forced upon us by the demise of XP we are avoiding it like
the plague! It is also proving to be a support headache too, with the
increased security affecting it's ability to run various programs which
just leave end users baffled when their favourite program starts coughing
up error messages or Vista spews out security messages. Pile of poo in my
professional opinion, just another money spinner for Microsoft with
questionable benefits for everyone else - and this from someone who makes
his living writing software to run on Microsoft computers!

As a developer too, I think you're being far too generous.

It isn't that good.

Vista is a real pain as far as I'm concerned. I develop quite complex
business software that needs to generate user reports (in Word or Excel)
using whatever combination of versions of MS Windows and MS Office they have
installed. So far I've been able to maintain compatibility from Windows 98
through XP using Office 97 through to 2003. I fear Vista and Office 2007
have broken the mould, so many applications will either not work or will
need completely re-writing to run on those platforms. The support calls are
starting to come in :-(

I have another large client in Manufacturing that I developed a highly
complex, bespoke system for around 10 years ago. It has had various tweaks,
enhancements and upgrades over the years, but the important thing is the
software has evolved with their business and does exactly what they need.
Vista breaks compatibility, which leaves the company with a dilemma. Do they
continue using XP past Microsoft support lifetime and avoid Vista or do they
have the software re-written. As the software already does everything they
need they ask why they have got to spend vast sums of money having it
re-written from scratch? A very good question.

David.

It was on, or about, Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:57:48 +0100, that as I was
halfway through a large jam doughnut, BAC wrote:

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
...
Thanks to a lightening strike I have had to replace one of our
machines, the
new one has "Vista" (I expect I will get used to it in time!) The point
of this posting is just to say that while much of my old third party
software has gone on without a murmur the same was not true of my very
expensive MS Office (2000) and I thought people may like to know I have
solved the problem by changing to "Open Office" which so far seems
completely compatible in both directions with ms office and only costs
£6 !!!


You'll be running it on Linux next ...

I've lurked in this ng for a while now, picking up some useful gardening
tips. :-)

I changed to using GNU/Linux 10 years ago. For me, it was best thing I
ever did. No viruses, not having to defrag etc..
And if I don't like one distribution, I can change to another.

--
Why linux doesn't have viruses
http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/188

"William Poaster" wrote in message
...
It was on, or about, Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:57:48 +0100, that as I was
halfway through a large jam doughnut, BAC wrote:

"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
...
Thanks to a lightening strike I have had to replace one of our
machines, the
new one has "Vista" (I expect I will get used to it in time!) The point
of this posting is just to say that while much of my old third party
software has gone on without a murmur the same was not true of my very
expensive MS Office (2000) and I thought people may like to know I have
solved the problem by changing to "Open Office" which so far seems
completely compatible in both directions with ms office and only costs
£6 !!!


You'll be running it on Linux next ...

I've lurked in this ng for a while now, picking up some useful gardening
tips. :-)

I changed to using GNU/Linux 10 years ago. For me, it was best thing I
ever did. No viruses, not having to defrag etc..
And if I don't like one distribution, I can change to another.

I think open source / Linux is definitely the future. Microsoft's monopoly
can only last so long. I've recently got a copy of Linux Ubuntu and started
playing with that. Unfortuately I've not got it to recognise my modem yet,
so can't use it to access the internet. Linux / open source will definitely
take off as it becomes easier for people to install and get working. The
number of free applications available is also increasing. I plan to write a
few myself, time permitting.

David

On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:57:48 +0100, BAC wrote
(in article ):


"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
...
Thanks to a lightening strike I have had to replace one of our machines,
the
new one has "Vista" (I expect I will get used to it in time!)
The point of this posting is just to say that while much of my old third
party software has gone on without a murmur the same was not true of my
very
expensive MS Office (2000) and I thought people may like to know I have
solved the problem by changing to "Open Office" which so far seems
completely compatible in both directions with ms office and only costs £6
!!!


You'll be running it on Linux next ...


Or a Mac g.


--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church with conservation
churchyard:
http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk

"Sally Thompson" wrote in message
al.net...
On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:57:48 +0100, BAC wrote
(in article ):


"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
...
Thanks to a lightening strike I have had to replace one of our machines,
the
new one has "Vista" (I expect I will get used to it in time!)
The point of this posting is just to say that while much of my old third
party software has gone on without a murmur the same was not true of my
very
expensive MS Office (2000) and I thought people may like to know I have
solved the problem by changing to "Open Office" which so far seems
completely compatible in both directions with ms office and only costs
£6
!!!


You'll be running it on Linux next ...


Or a Mac g.



Are Mac OS upgrades free?

On 23/7/07 08:53, in article , "David
(Normandy)" wrote:


"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
...
Thanks to a lightening strike I have had to replace one of our machines,
the
new one has "Vista" (I expect I will get used to it in time!)
The point of this posting is just to say that while much of my old third
party software has gone on without a murmur the same was not true of my
very
expensive MS Office (2000) and I thought people may like to know I have
solved the problem by changing to "Open Office" which so far seems
completely compatible in both directions with ms office and only costs £6
!!!

--
Charlie, Gardening in Cornwall
http://www.roselandhouse.co.uk
Holders of National collections of Clematis viticella
and Lapageria rosea cultivars


I'm avoiding Vista for as long as possible (I'm a professional software
developer) and the majority of my business colleagues are avoiding it too -
other than to try it out and prod and poke it without using it in any
serious way yet. It is too slow, takes too much memory, has a huge amount of
irrelevant bloat and has compatibility problems with numerous pieces of
software and hardware.
snip

I've never even heard of Vista! Is it going to affect Mac users. Please
tell me 'no!

--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 11:46:29 +0100, BAC wrote
(in article ):


"Sally Thompson" wrote in message
al.net...
On Mon, 23 Jul 2007 08:57:48 +0100, BAC wrote
(in article ):


"Charlie Pridham" wrote in message
...
Thanks to a lightening strike I have had to replace one of our machines,
the
new one has "Vista" (I expect I will get used to it in time!)
The point of this posting is just to say that while much of my old third
party software has gone on without a murmur the same was not true of my
very
expensive MS Office (2000) and I thought people may like to know I have
solved the problem by changing to "Open Office" which so far seems
completely compatible in both directions with ms office and only costs
£6
!!!


You'll be running it on Linux next ...


Or a Mac g.



Are Mac OS upgrades free?



It's free to upgrade within a major version number from, say Version 10.4.8
to10.4.9 to 10.4.10, but not to jump up to the next version (10.5, known as
Leopard, due out in October). However, there are plenty of people out there
still happily running very early versions of the OS for various reasons.
There's plenty of free or open-source reasonably priced software.



--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church with conservation
churchyard:
http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk