What is OpenOffice?

OpenOffice is a free Office application suite of software. It uses the ISO standard OpenDocument Format, but can read/write many other formats, including MS Office 97-2003.  It is a free alternative to other Office Suites and is becoming very popular around the world.  Sometimes OpenOffice is referred to as OO.o. 

An important benefit of OpenOffice (besides being free!) is that you can still share files with people who aren't using OpenOffice.  For example, you can read/write .doc, .xls, .ppt, as well as create PDF and HTML web pages in each of the packages. 

OpenOffice comes standard with the following packages: 

	Writer	This is OO.o's word processor.  It offers a similar range or functions and tools as you would find in other word processing software, like MS Word.
	Calc	Calc is the spreadsheet software.  It has quite a range of features and functions needed in an Office environment.
	Impress	To make presentations, Impress is the software to use.  You can also make prsentations that can be loaded onto websites as Impress allows files to be exported as Adobe Flash swf files.  Although there aren't a lot of default templates that come with Impress, there are many websites where you can download what you need.
	Base	This is a database package that allows the creation and management of MySQL/PostgreSQL, ODBC data sources and MS Access JET databases.  You can create forms and reports to make a user-friendly interface for end-users.
	Draw	The graphics package, Draw, can also be used as a desktop publisher.  It allows you to create diagrams useful in the office environment.
	Math	Math is used to create advanced mathematical formulas, maybe not used by most offices (but it's there!)

READ MORE ABOUT OPENOFFICE AT http://openoffice.org 

OpenOffice Courses

• OpenOffice Overview (covers word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation software)
• Word Processing with Writer
• Spreadsheeting with Calc
• Presentations with Impress
• Databases with Base
• Customised course to meet your requirements