OpenOffice to Dell: Pre-load Us

[markwolfe Veteran]

Source: OSNews.com

The OpenOffice Project has sent a letter to Michael Dell, showering praise on Dell's chairman and CEO and asking him to consider pre-loading OpenOffice onto PCs. The letter is the result of a flood of requests on Dell's online suggestion box, IdeaStorm, for Dell PCs pre-loaded with both Linux operating systems and the open-source suite of desktop productivity applications. John McCreesh, marketing project lead for OpenOffice.org, also asked Dell to consider making a financial contribution to the software's development.

Sounds great to me! However, Dell makes money from the MS Office "upsales" and even the Corel package. It seems odd for OO.o people to ask for preloading and also ask for "a financial contribution". :ermm:

[Shane Pitman]

I'm a Dell Premier Partner and I'd much rather see Dell come with OO.o than a 30 day Microsoft Office trial for those systems that I order with no productivity suite.

[Linkinfamous]

But Office 2007 is so much nicer. It's the kind of thing users want to see when they buy a machine.

[*John*]

But Office 2007 is so much nicer. It's the kind of thing users want to see when they buy a machine.

What he said (Y)

These days the GUI is more and more important. This is where Open Office and other Open Source projects fall down. They are all about functionality over looks, where the average consumer is the opposite.

[markwolfe Veteran]

But Office 2007 is so much nicer. It's the kind of thing users want to see when they buy a machine.

Yes, perhaps Office 2007 is "so much nicer" to look at. However, most home users are still using Office 97, 2000 and so forth.

And, if Office 2007 was truly what every user wanted, why do Dell, HP and others offer Works or any other option? Seems like different people have different needs to me. ;)

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

I detest the fact that you buy a PC now, and it comes with a freaking trial of an antivirus suite, a trial of an office suite etc.

I know the reasons, you didn't buy an Office suite so why should you get one? I agree. However, I know so many people who just see this and assume they have an office suite, whereas in a few months time, they really don't!

At least installing OO.o would stop this.

[Shane Pitman]

What I'm talking about is the systems that I specifically order with no productivity suite. Even though I said "none" they still load Microsoft Office trials on them. If they're going to insist on loading a productivity suite on a system that I specified to have none, they should at least load a freebie like OO.o. The same goes for antivirus and other software packages. If I said none I meant none, and if you insist on putting something on it at least make it something that isn't going to expire in 30-180 days without taking extra $ out of my clients pockets.

[The_Decryptor Veteran]

I detest the fact that you buy a PC now, and it comes with a freaking trial of an antivirus suite, a trial of an office suite etc.

I know the reasons, you didn't buy an Office suite so why should you get one? I agree. However, I know so many people who just see this and assume they have an office suite, whereas in a few months time, they really don't!

At least installing OO.o would stop this.

My mum's friend got hit by this, brought a new PC and couldn't why Word no longer worked for her.

Anyway, it's a good idea for it to be pre-loaded, costs Dell nothing to do it.

[Mathachew Veteran]

Yes, perhaps Office 2007 is "so much nicer" to look at. However, most home users are still using Office 97, 2000 and so forth.

And, if Office 2007 was truly what every user wanted, why do Dell, HP and others offer Works or any other option? Seems like different people have different needs to me. ;)

Because Works is much cheaper than Office 2007 Standard and comes with Word?

On to the subject:

I loaded OpenOffice on my church's PCs and they had the time of their lives trying to figure out how to adjust the settings to print labels correctly. We've recently purchased an Office VLK through Microsoft's Charity program. For those prices, it would be extremely foolish to not get it; I don't think I can disclose the amounts so I won't, but not everyone has this option.

Having OO as an option would be nice, especially if people knew ahead of time that Option A: MS Office 2007 Trial vs Option B: OpenOffice.org Suite. The answer is clear imho.

[markwolfe Veteran]

Because Works is much cheaper than Office 2007 Standard and comes with Word?

Oh? Does Works really comes with Word?

Seems to specifically exclude Word in big all-caps letters.

On to the subject:

I loaded OpenOffice on my church's PCs and they had the time of their lives trying to figure out how to adjust the settings to print labels correctly. We've recently purchased an Office VLK through Microsoft's Charity program. For those prices, it would be extremely foolish to not get it; I don't think I can disclose the amounts so I won't, but not everyone has this option.

Having OO as an option would be nice, especially if people knew ahead of time that Option A: MS Office 2007 Trial vs Option B: OpenOffice.org Suite. The answer is clear imho.

People who are lost in OO.o often run into similar problems printing, embedding images, etc. in MS Office. It would be interesting to see the specific OO.o printing problem they saw, and how it "just worked" in MS Office. I don't suppose you have that information, do you?

And, yeah, as a replacement for Works and Time-expiring Office apps, OO.o would be an excellent replacement.

It isn't intended to replace full MS Office 2007 for every single user.

[Magnolia Man]

I detest the fact that you buy a PC now, and it comes with a freaking trial of an antivirus suite, a trial of an office suite etc.

I know the reasons, you didn't buy an Office suite so why should you get one? I agree. However, I know so many people who just see this and assume they have an office suite, whereas in a few months time, they really don't!

At least installing OO.o would stop this.

I agree..

several times i have worked on a friends computer that turned out to be infected with a virus because they didn't know their Norton program had expired and the virus def. file was 300 days old.

in my opinion these trial versions of security programs are the main reasons spam, trojan's, worms & virus's have gotten so bad in the last few years. people not paying attention to expiration dates & think they are protected when they are not

every chance i get i uninstall Norton & McAfee and install AVAST

[nekrosoft13]

openoffice on dell? why would dell want to punish dell customers like that? when most dell customers are not that bright to begin with. this would make their lives just so much harder

[L3thal Veteran]

More junk preloaded on a system, what's new? If anything, Dell could offer an icon on the desktop offering OpenOffice for free and linking to OO's website. There's no need to keep installing junk upon junk on a system.

[modernponderer]

Oh? Does Works really comes with Word?

Seems to specifically exclude Word in big all-caps letters.

Works Suite includes Word; Works does not.

[markwolfe Veteran]

More junk preloaded on a system, what's new? If anything, Dell could offer an icon on the desktop offering OpenOffice for free and linking to OO's website. There's no need to keep installing junk upon junk on a system.

Oooh! Great for dial-up customers! (Y)

I agree that a "no option" would be best. Heck, I would like to de-select Windows. But I certainly don't see why so many people complain replacing cripple-ware (or self-disable-ware) with Oo.o.

[Nose Nuggets]

its not REALLY in dells interest. 90% of the home users that buy the office package dont need 99% of the extra functions. how many home users connect to an exchange server in outlook? or do all the technical stuff in excel? not many. most of those features would be used by a business customer. if you pre-loaded open office on all your home system sales you would have an extremely low volume of people upgrading to the MS office. why? because they will realize they don't need the $200 product. most people just want to be able to open there friends .docs and have a plane sheet of virtual paper with a spell check.

business users on the other hand would most likely still retain there current level of office purchases, simply because its industry standard and LOTS of people use exchange (or should, it friggin awesome). but if you ask me, the office suite is WAY over priced for what it is, when you look at the free alternative. MS should thank their lucky stars it is not as big as it could be. If a major home PC manufacturer like Dell or HP where to bundle this software, it could be extreamly detrimental to home sales.

[Quillz]

openoffice on dell? why would dell want to punish dell customers like that? when most dell customers are not that bright to begin with. this would make their lives just so much harder

In what way? Have you ever used OpenOffice? The basic functionality is almost exactly the same as it is on Office.

More junk preloaded on a system, what's new? If anything, Dell could offer an icon on the desktop offering OpenOffice for free and linking to OO's website. There's no need to keep installing junk upon junk on a system.

I'm against junkware as much as the next guy, but how is installing a full office suite junk? OOo may not be everyone's cup of tea, but how can actually offering full programs and not trialware be a bad thing for most people?

[Denis W. Veteran]

I'd rather see Dell stop bombarding new computer users with at least six non-system related tray icons and a Google bar slapped right onto the taskbar and IE7 than replace Works with OOo. (On the topic of the Google bar: It seems to kill the transparency in the taskbar. :/) The average Joe has no clue on how to perform fresh installs, especially with non-XPS systems that don't initially offer the OS install CDs.

I wouldn't mind seeing Works go, though. It's rather outdated.

[hotdog666al]

I detest the fact that you buy a PC now, and it comes with a freaking trial of an antivirus suite, a trial of an office suite etc.

Thats one of the many reasons why building your own from parts kicks ass so much.

[Mathachew Veteran]

Works Suite includes Word; Works does not.

Doh! This is what I meant.

People who are lost in OO.o often run into similar problems printing, embedding images, etc. in MS Office. It would be interesting to see the specific OO.o printing problem they saw, and how it "just worked" in MS Office. I don't suppose you have that information, do you?

All I know is that they never had a problem printing labels with Office, but spent a few days unsuccessfully trying to get it to work in OpenOffice. It did "just work", though I hardly ever like to say that for its association with a certain company.

[hagjohn]

I think for home use, I think OO.o is a good alternative to having to buy MS Office. I use OO.o for my (basic needs) for work and home.

[acnpt]

My Packard Bell, allowed me to choose what I wanted to be installed when I first turned it on. That was ideal and how it should be, as I didn't need AOL so it didn't install it, however I did need norton and works which it installed.

I don't think microsoft are going to be very 'happy' with dell if this happens, and with openoffice wanting money???, surely Dell would start loosing microsoft money if they did this.

O.O also need to release an updated GUI version similar to Office 2007 for when companies etc start upgrading.

[Sockie]

OpenOffice is junk to me, I really don't like it. I hope there will be an option not to have OpenOffice preloaded.

[sundayx Veteran]

I personally think its a great idea, having office alternatives for free, why not? Office is terribly costly. Its not like a preloaded program that no one uses, its a full legit alternative for Office.

[Victor V.]

Couldn't they just add MSDOS for nerds?