OpenOffice Calc Review
Regular users of Sun Microsystems’ OpenOffice.org office suite will be familiar with Calc, the spreadsheet application similar to Microsoft’s Excel program. Though both programs are comparable in purpose and function, they each have their strengths and weaknesses to consider. In the case of Calc, OpenOffice has produced a spreadsheet that competes very well with the best of them.
Interface
Launching Calc for the first time reveals a functional yet bland interface, but one that will be familiar to most users of Excel. The menus and available options are standard ones that would be expected in a spreadsheet application. Calc supports an extensive list of formats, including Excel, handling most of them without a hitch. There are a few reports of Calc not handling some functions of non-native formats well, but the same will be true of any spreadsheet. For the most part importing, exporting, and editing non-native formats is not a problem.
Calculations and Output
Calc includes a Function Wizard to aid in the creation of calculations and formulas. The Wizard is intuitive and works quite well for users with good math and spreadsheet skills. For beginners, some time spent with the help documents will probably be needed.
Calc supports familiar Excel features like external HTML links, multiple worksheets and tabs, pivot tables, DataPilot, graphic data display, and many others. Heavy users of charts and graphs may find Calc’s limited options to be somewhat disappointing, however.
Other OpenOffice.org Applications
Along with Calc the OpenOffice suite includes Writer, the feature rich word processor that easily gives Microsoft Word a run for its money. The suite’s presentation software is called Impress but unfortunately, it does not yet live up to its name. Impress 2.0 is functional, and much improved from previous releases, but the interface is not as intuitive as one would hope nor are the features as rich as PowerPoint. It is a work in progress, so hopefully future releases will catch up with Calc and Writer.
Math and Draw are the two other applications in the OpenOffice suite; Math is used to create complicated mathematical equations while Draw is a very basic graphics program similar to Microsoft Paint. Neither application would be the tipping point to cause users to switch to OpenOffice, but they are handy little programs that could be useful.
Conclusion
Hard-core Excel users are not likely to give up their application in favor of Calc unless money becomes a real issue; the strongest selling point for the OpenOffice suite is that it is completely free of charge. Average users who find Excel to be bloated and overly complex in its features will find Calc to be a comfortable but functional alternative. It is one of the best free and open source applications available for office suite users.