[nfbcs] any experience with JAWES and open office

[Steve Jacobson]

Graham,

There is the Office 365 monthly subscription that allows you to download Office 2013 as well as providing you some 
cloud storage.  This gives you the office products in a manner that is easier to swallow than buying the whole 
suite.  If you mostly need it for Outlook, you might be able to get by with another email client depending upon 
what you need.  Many are using Thunderbird, and Windows Live Mail isn't bad.  There is an inexpensive program 
called "Becky" that has a number of Blind users as well.  At least with Window-Eyes, some have used a word 
processor called JARTE, at least I think that is the spelling.  Generally, if it works with Window-Eyes it likely 
can be made to work with JAWS.

I have heard that Open Office is much more accessible but have yet to hear anyone say that as a suite it is as 
accessible as Microsoft Office, even with Office's imperfections.  Things could change on that front, of course.  
Since Open Office is free, though, you have nothing to loose by trying it and delaying your exploring other 
alternatives until you have determined if it could work for you.  Perhaps someone else here has direct experience 
with Open Office and can comment, as most of what I know is second-hand.  

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

>On Mon, 25 May 2015, Graham Mehl via nfbcs wrote:

>> Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 17:41:36
>> From: Graham Mehl via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
>> To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>> Cc: Graham Mehl <blind at trailstone.com>
>> Subject: [nfbcs] any experience with JAWES and open office
>> 
>> Hi NFB CS list members,
>>
>> Does anyone on this list have any experience with using JAWS and Open
>> Office? Both my wife and father are sighted. My father swares Open office is
>> the best thing since sliced cheese. My wife has tried to use it, and most
>> things workes well. However, there are issues she has experience with it,
>> like formatting. I am looking into buying a new computer. I believe I have a
>> nice one picked out - Intel 7 processor with 8 GB of RAM and 1 TB hard drive
>> and comes with Windows 8. I have JAWS 16.  On my new computer I am trying to
>> decide if I should pay for the Microsoft suite (including Outlook), which I
>> have used most of my life. Unfortunately, I am under an extremely tight
>> budget. To help me make my decision, it would be nice to know how well JAWS
>> works with Open Office?
>>
>> Thanks for your feedback in advance.
>>
>> -- graham
>>
>> blind at trailstone.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nfbcs mailing list
>> nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nfbcs:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/jdashiel%40panix.com
>>

>-- 


>_______________________________________________
>nfbcs mailing list
>nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
>To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nfbcs:
>http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/steve.jacobson%40visi.com