The reason why the two operating systems that are compared here in this article is to project the reasons for substituting each other. The comparison is not done in order to out throw either of these OS, It is just a humble beginning in order to try and find out if it is possible to replace one with the other. Validation of a product; depend on the user needs and the practicality of its applications. This is also done to help the various stake holders realize that they have a choice and more than adequate choices are there. The OpenOffice.org which is almost a perfect replacement to the Microsoft Office suits is a leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more.
An MBA student takes great benefit by using the word processing system. A student is expected to use the word document for composing , editing, formatting and printing documents for research and publications, articles, reports, assignments etc., Open Office text document ‘Writer’ a available replacement for MS Word, has everything that would be expected from a modern, fully equipped word processor or even to some extent, a desktop publisher, powerful features like Auto Correct, Auto Complete, Auto Format, Styles and Formatting, Text Frames and Linking, Tables of Contents, Indexing, Bibliographical References, Illustrations, Tables, and other objects are available. Writer is simple enough for a quick memo, powerful and stable enough to create complete books with lots of graphics, headings etc. The main benifit is that it uses open standards to save documents, The ODF (open document format) allows for interoperability among many text processing software, making the resulting document portable across most platforms. A comparison of the various features of Writer and Word is given in Table 1.
Chart 1
Open Office ‘Impress’ is a truly outstanding tool for creating effective multimedia presentations. The presentations will stand out with 2D and 3D clip art, font works, special effects, animation, and high-impact drawing tools.
Chart 2
A multi-pane view puts all the tools at your fingertips, and you can ‘park’ your most commonly used drawing tools around the screen ready for single-click access. Share the work in many ways: not only pdf, but also html and Flash etc,. It is an answer to Micro Soft Power Point which is the most popular software among the Management Students. Impress and Power Point are compared in Table 2 of the Appendix.
Open Office spreadsheet ‘Calc’ is a substitute available for Micro Soft Excel (used for analyzing and presentation of data collected for research purpose). Newcomers find it intuitive and easy to learn; all he users will definitely appreciate the comprehensive range of powerful features including Advanced Data Pilot technology, Natural language formulas, an Intelligent Sum Button, a comprehensive range of advanced spreadsheet functions, Styles and Formatting, and a Scenario Manager for “what ifs” etc.,. A comparison of Calc and Excel is given in Table 3 and Table 4 of the appendix.
