[View this page as PDF](/blog/2007/09/27/11-34-29.516512/100.pdf)
[Update: Andrew Treloar points out that he uses OpenOffice.org and I see
that his feedreader (Thunderbird) does not render blockquotes – I should have put quote marks on the
quote. And I forgot the link!]
Bruce D'Arcus has[a reality-check for the OpenOffice.org cheer
squad](http://netapps.muohio.edu/blogs/darcusb/darcusb/archives/2007/09/21/ooo-possibilities)
(with emphasis by me):
> “I class="spCh spChx2019">’m struck by how defensive OOo
> supporters are of any criticism. I don class="spCh spChx2019">’t really think they fully appreciate
> the immensity of the task of not just providing a reasonable
> alternative to Microsoft’s desktop
> monopoly, but a superior one that will actually draw users to it. In
> terms of market share, OOo is utterly failing. Just to give my own
> experience, **I have yet to meet a single colleague in my field that
> uses anything but Word to author their documents. I would be surprised
> if any of them have even heard of OpenOffice.** style="font-weight:normal; "> class="spCh spChx201d">”
>
> [ class="T3">http://netapps.muohio.edu/blogs/darcusb/darcusb/archives/2007/09/21/ooo-possibilities](http://netapps.muohio.edu/blogs/darcusb/darcusb/archives/2007/09/21/ooo-possibilities) style="font-weight:normal; ">
Things are different at USQ, though, because we are actively encouraging
people to use OpenOffice.org. For one thing, you have to have it
installed to use [ICE](http://ice.usq.edu.au/), even if you choose to
edit your documents using Microsoft Word. On the RUBRIC team we decided
to standardize on the OpenDocument format and use Writer for all our
work, and the staff there have taken to it quite well.
Our strategy is:
- Support both Word and Writer.
- Try as hard as we can to make interoperable templates and conversion
software and macros and so on.
But it's never 100%.
- When interop fails – build the
feature using OpenDocument and OpenOffice.org Writer. An example is
cross referencing between documents,where we could not find an
interoperable solution so we implemented for Writer. Word users miss
out.
The result is that while you **can use Word** to work on content for
ICE, **Writer works better** when you're building books from your
content or wanting to use ICE to make changes to your document. Thus
it's easy for us to make a case for its use. We're not mandating
anything, or shoving anyone around, be we can show people very clearly
how a switch to OpenOffice.org will help them.
And we're hoping to start engaging with people in various fields in a
more concentrated way, working with them to make for better research
practice.
(I have some criticisms of OpenOffice.org and the Open Document Format
too, more coming.)