Which one should I use? Both are available freely to me, and I feel that Open Office will be simpler to install (no disc, no service packs and a barrage of 8 years of updates). However, I don't want to be stuck using a program that won't be compatible with the things I want or need to do.

 

Thanks!

 

EDIT: I got Open Office since I was too lazy to find 2003. It seems to work well, but if I don't like it I suppose I can just get 2003 in the future. Thanks for the replies, every opinion is important ^_^

I don't know which one is better, but I've used 2003 for a few years (got from my parents) and have never had any issues. I know one of my old highschool teachers used Open but I don't think he liked it. I'm not sure if it was because of the program or just personal preference.

 

Personally, I like MO 2003 better.

They're basically the same program. And I believe they're fully compatible with each other. Test them both out, and see which one's interface you like the most. I've used them both, and have no personal preference.

LibreOffice (Formerly known as OpenOffice, there were some licensing issues). It is more compatible with other programs, than MS Office 2003 (For example it can read/write .docx files). It also costs nothing.

I'd personally work with MS if you can get it for free. It boils down to personal preference at the end, but to me, OpenOffice seemed kind of... sub-optimal, especially how Writer handles tables and images. But you could always try them both.

That aside, I've been trying out LyX, and I'm quite happy with it so far.

Microsoft Office has always worked for me but it's not exactly a priority if you're a student or have to get it yourself. In other words, if you have money to spare, go for it, but if you don't, then don't bother. I know that OpenOffice isn't really as useful, at least in my experiences anyway.

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IMO office 03 is still superior to 07, and maybe even 10, with the exception of excel.

I like MS Office much more than Open Office; I have a personal hatred of OO. (The only good thing about OO is that it opens a bunch of filetypes.) 2003 is great, although I prefer 2007. I don't like 2010 that much.

 

So go with MS Office 2003 since it's free to you.

All boils down to personal preference. To whoever said that 2003 doesn't with new Office formats (.docx for example), this is false. When the update pack is applied to Office 2003, it does work with them.

 

I do prefer Office 2010 though as the menus have more logic than 2003 and doesn't have any bugs (unlike Office 2007).

 

It is a very good idea to try Open/Libre office as well, as I find it to be a very good replacement of Office.