OpenOffice.org Features
The following tables list some important features of OpenOffice.org and compare them with two leading office suites, Microsoft Office 2003 (MSO) and WordPerfect X3' (WP).
Styles and formatting
| Feature | OOo | MSO | WP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Navigator | yes | limited1 | no |
| Styles and Formatting window | yes | yes | no |
| Keyboard support for paragraph styles | yes | yes | no |
| Support for page, frame, and list styles | yes | no | no |
| Word completion | yes | Excel only | no |
| Spelling and language proofing modules | 70+ | 50+2 | 25 |
| Formula or equation tools | yes | yes | no |
1 "Outline View" in Word offers a subset of the features of OOo's Navigator.
2 Requires an additional license for the the Multilingual User Interface Pack.
Interoperability
| Feature | OOo | MSO | WP |
|---|---|---|---|
| PDF export capability | yes | yes1 | yes |
| Flash export capability | yes | no | yes |
| XML export capability | yes | yes | yes |
| OpenDocument XML format | yes | no | no |
| Import/Export Microsoft Office files | yes | yes | yes |
| Import WordPerfect files | yes | yes | yes |
| Import Lotus 123 files | yes | yes | yes |
| Connect to external databases (MySQL, Oracle, Access, etc.) |
yes | yes | yes |
| Languages available (localizations) | 40+ | 35+ | 30 |
| Supported operating systems | Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris |
Windows only2 | Windows only |
| Unicode language support | yes | yes | no |
1 Requires additional third-party software, such as PDF Writer or PDF Converter.
2 Microsoft Office: Mac is not feature compatible with Microsoft Office 2003.
Programmability
Macros are programs that automate tasks and can be embedded in a document. The following table lists the languages available for macro development in each office suite.
| Language | OOo | MSO | WP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic-derived language | OpenBasic | VBA | VBA |
| Beanshell | yes | no | no |
| Java | yes | no | no |
| JavaScript | yes | no | no |
| Python | yes | no | no |
Beyond simple macros, some office suites can be extended to include new features. This capability usually takes the form of plug-ins. In the case of OpenOffice.org, it can also be done through changes to the source code.
| Feature | OOo | MSO | WP |
|---|---|---|---|
| C and C++ | yes | yes | yes |
| Java | yes | no | no |
| Python | yes | no | no |
| Source code available! | yes | no | no |
Security
| Feature | OOo | MSO | WP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital signatures | yes | yes | yes |
| Strong encryption | yes | yes | yes |
| Secure paths for macro execution | yes | yes | no |
| Content on this page is licensed under the Creative Common Attribution 3.0 license (CC-BY). |
