On 15 September 2010 10:00, Yorvyk <yorvik.ubu...@googlemail.com> wrote: > On Wed, 15 Sep 2010 09:10:46 +0100 > Mark Harrison <m...@ascentium.co.uk> wrote: > >> > From: Jacob Mansfield <cyberja...@gmail.com> >> > of corse you can do it in OO, why the f**k would you want to use M$ >> >> >> Couple of things: >> >> 1: I've not used MS Office for about 5 years now, however the one time I >> needed to was in 2007 for a really complex mailmerge, which is one area >> where MSO is still better than OOo :-( >> >> There are lots of areas where OOo is genuinely better, in terms of >> functionality, as well as being free (in the cash sense). Actually, it's not >> quite Free in the OpenSource sense, if you read the Sun licence carefully >> :-) >> >> >> 2: I'm not sure you CAN do this in OOo - ie, create a link in a spreadsheet >> that then creates a pre-populated document in Writer. This wasn't a question >> about mailmerge, but about how to achieve a particular task. To be fair, I >> don't think that mailmerge in MSO is the right answer either, but given the >> user in question feels that mailmerge is too complex, I'm guessing that >> telling them that it needs about 20 lines of VBA macros probably isn't going >> to work either :-) >> >> >> 3: If you asked a question about OOo, and someone replied "MSO can do this, >> why the f*** would you use OpenOffice instead", would you: >> >> A: Feel that the respondent had a good point, and you should go out and try >> MS Office. >> >> B: Feel that the respondent was a jerk, and that you wanted to steer clear >> of the kinds of things he was recommending. >> >> >> >> The reason I bring this up is that I had a meeting with the IT Director of a >> FTSE 100 company a couple of years ago, and that one of the things that came >> up was OpenOffice as a possible replacement for MSO. >> >> The reply I got was "This is like Linux. I'm fed up of Linux people. They >> come in and want to have a religious conversation. I want to have a business >> conversation." >> > >> > >> This over-the-top, "why the f**** would you" stuff is actually DRIVING >> PEOPLE AWAY FROM LINUX. >> >> >> If I ran for Microsoft's Dirty Tricks Division, then I'd pay people to join >> LUG lists and post nasty comments about MS to make people feel that the >> Linux community were nutters :-) >> >> >> So, thanks for harming the spread of Free software. >> >> > Negative publicity is still publicity, panning somebody else’s product rarely > works. I’m (nearly :) always very careful about the claims I make about > what OOo can do. It is not a drop in replacement for Office. > > > -- > Steve Cook (Yorvyk) > > http://lubuntu.net > > -- > ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/ >
I have used both MS and OO mailmerges. The philosopy is about the same, except that OO lets you create a database for your data. I think you can plonk an Excel sheet into an OO database so the problem is solvable. Mary ------ Mary Mooney DEUK +44 (0) 7914 079 026 "A well-developed sense of humour is the pole that adds balance to your steps as you walk the tightrope of life. William Arthur Ward" Q: What's tiny and yellow and very, very, dangerous? A: A canary with the super-user password. -- ubuntu-uk@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
