Despite what I said yesterday about only 1% of users actually using Google Docs, it seems that this isn’t really a deterrent to other pundits thinking that perhaps Microsoft has something to worry about.

The fact that Microsoft has been talking about releasing the next version of Office for oh so long, it’s not like we don’t have options anymore. We used to need Office in order to be productive, but not so much anymore with suites like Open Office, Zoho, and Google Docs available.

Now, I love Google Docs, and I have to admit, I’m not using it nearly as much as I should be considering how much I adore it. I suspect it’s that ‘old habits die hard’ axiom.

Don Reisinger has introduced me to a new suite that I wasn’t aware of yet - ThinkFree Office Online.  It sounds fantastic, and I actually can’t wait to check it out.  What impressed me about ThinkFree Office Online is the praise Don heaped on it:

ThinkFree Online offers all the “must-have” features available in Microsoft Office like a rich toolbar, a ruler bar, and an interface that offers simplicity and delivers the same feel as Word, Excel, or Powerpoint. Creating a document is simple and working with spreadsheets is a treat thanks to the tens of thousands of rows it provides, along with just about any formula that comes to mind. [source]

I’m thinking at this point, it might be time to switch. I’m pretty sure Microsoft Office has something to be concerned about with all the online, open source and free options out there. Maybe Google Docs has something to worry about in ThinkFree as well….

I’ve spent a lot of time poking around for interesting tips and tidbits to share with you here, and some of it makes me roll my eyes and exclaim at my computer that something “isn’t news!!” but this little statistic made me sit up and take notice.

Now, I love google docs. I’ve got manuscripts living there, the ability to work on them offline as well as when I’m on, and the spreadsheets generally rock my world, not to mention that watching someone else edit the document you’re editing at the same time can make me lose hours at a time!

Because of this, I was surprised to find out that the survey completed recently by market research firm, Clickstream Technologies found out that not only is Google Docs useage low compared to other suites, of the 2,400 standing panel of US internet users who did use Google Docs also used Microsoft Office at the same time.

I never really thought about it, and I don’t have Office installed on this computer, but I did put Open Office in when I needed to open a word document. I am trying to figure out if that’s because old habits die hard and I forget that I can do all that work I would normally do in Office, I can do in Google Docs, or that it just doesn’t occur to me (which actually seems kinda like the same thing).

So, are you a Google Docs user? Do you still use a locally based office suite as well?

The OpenOffice.org 3.0 Release Candidate 1 is now out and ready for testing but the developers do not recommend it yet for production use. If you want to try OpenOffice.org, you can download and install their stable versions.

This free and open productivity suite release candidate 1 can be downloaded for  Linux, Windows, Solaris, and Mac.

Oh, by the way, be sure to checkout the system requirements before you install OpenOffice.org 3.0 Release Candidate 1.

[ via OpenOffice.org Snapshot Builds and Release Candidates ]

Here’s a video tutorial on how to use OpenOffice Integrator with Zoho Creator and Google Docs.

During the Office 2.0 Conference 200, ZoooS LLC introduced a web-based office suite which tries to put OpenOffice.org 3.0 in the web. ZoooS Office comprises of different tools similar to that of OpenOffice.org 3.0. These includes ZoooS Write, ZoooS Spreadsheet, ZoooS Presentation, ZoooS Draw, and the ZoooS database. And accordingly, 80% of its features are similar that of OpenOffice.org 3.0.

Hisham El-Emam, CEO of ZoooS LLC, said “ZoooS Office looks exactly like OpenOffice.org 3.0, using the same icons, dialogs, and help text — everything to eliminate the learning curve. Many companies want to access their files from any location and any device, but they don’t want to store confidential files in the cloud. Companies can run ZoooS Office locally to maintain complete control over their files while still providing local and remote access from PCs, laptops, mobile devices, and even game consoles.”

ZoooS Office is not yet available until their public release which is scheduled in the fourth quarter of 2008. It will be out by then as a Mozilla XULRunner version, a Firefox plug-in, an Opera widget, and an intranet server. Supports to other environmenta nd browsers will follow.

[ via MarketWatch ]

Here’s a video tutorial on how to configure your OpenOffice to work with Microsoft Extensions:

It was last May 2008 when OpenOffice.org release their version 3.0 and now OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta 2 is now ready for testing before its official release later this September.

This beta release is made available to allow a broad user base to test and evaluate the next major version of OpenOffice.org, but is not recommended for production use at this stage. If you are a regular user of OpenOffice.org, here’s a great opportunity to help us make the next release the best ever. Download this release from our download page.

[ via OpenOffice.org News ]

Go-OO is an OpenOffice.org fork that features faster load and response times, and several features not included in the standard version of the program. Go-OO’s user interface is more familiar, with lots of small pieces of polish. Go-OO has built in OpenXML import filters and it will import your Microsoft Works files. It has better Microsoft binary file support (with eg. fields support), and it will import WordPerfect graphics beautifully. If you are reliant on Excel VBA macros, then Go-OO offers the best macro fidelity too. If you expect your spreadsheets to calculate compatibly, or you get embedded Visio diagrams in your documents, you’ll want Go-OO.

Features:

• Better interoperability
• Better functionality
• A Faster application
• Faster code integration
• Freer licensing
• Freer politics

Try it now and download it here.

[ via Download.com ]

OpenOffice.org, an alternative tool to Microsoft Office, brings free support via their community forum. The open-source office productivity suite recently added language support to its forum, catering larger audiences across the web. Initially launched with English, they now have Hungarian, French and Japanese language support enabling global sharing of knowledge and serves a venue for support among users.

According to Drew Jensen, one of the Forum administrators, explained the appeal of the Forum:

“The reality is that most day to day IT support is provided by friends or colleagues. If you’ve a problem with a spreadsheet, you talk to Amrita in Accounts who’s the in-house expert. The OpenOffice.org, Users’ Community Forum covers the globe, and brings together experts and novices to provide a level of quality support that money literally can’t buy. People appreciate that the Community has given them this world class software for free. Helping others via the Forum is one way to give something back.”

[ via PRWEB ]

Yet another OpenOffice.org extension for you to try:

OOoLatex is a set marcos designed to provide latex support into OpenOffice. The extension contains two mains modules allowing to insert equations as emf or png images, the latex code is saved into the image attribute allowing reedition while simpler equations are expanded into symbol characters and then inserted as regular text.

• To use the first module, called Equation, a regular LaTeX and Ghostscript distribution should be installed on your system as well as some mathematical truetype fonts if used with the emf format.
• On the other hand, the second module, called Expand, has no other dependency than mathematical fonts use to expand the mathematical expressions.

The extension runs on various operating systems including Linux (intel/ppc), MacOSX (intel/ppc) and Windows in addition to MSys, a minimal Posix system for Windows.

[ via http://ooolatex.sourceforge.net ]