[nfbcs] any experience with JAWES and open office

[Steve Jacobson]

Graham,

Your reasons that MS Office is what most employers use is in my mind reason enough to stick with Microsoft Office.  The Office 365 that I am familiar with 
does not require you always have an internet connection.  One can actually download the office 2013 software.  They probably need an internet 
connection from time to time to confirm authorization.  While you are right that the cost is more than buying the suite in a way, you are also getting some 
cloud space that you would pay almost the same amount for cloud space alone in some cases.  However, I'm not trying to talk you into that approach, just 
making sure I have correctly portrayed that option.  You might be able to find Office 2010 pretty cheap, but be careful.  I know of one person who bought a 
download version and received a serial number that was already in use.  This was not apparent until she tried to activate the software.  The seller likely sold 
the same serial number more than once and Microsoft has no obligation to resolve that sort of problem.  If you use spreadsheets a lot, be sure to check the 
accessibility of whatever program is used for that in another suite.  I don't have firsthand experience but have heard that spreadsheet programs don't work 
as well as word processing programs in Open Office and Libra Office, but that is hearsay and wish someone could give us specific information on that.  Of 
course, some of the problem might be that JAWS hasn't spent as much time on those spreadsheet programs.  

Good luck to you.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Fri, 29 May 2015 22:37:22 -0400, Graham Mehl via nfbcs wrote:

>Hi All,

>Thank you for your feedback Thus far. It is most appreciated. Regarding the
>comments on my new computer - I forgot to mention it is a laptop.  I am
>going away for a few months to take some training, so I need a portable
>computer. I have been looking to build a heavy duty server with RAIDed
>drives. But just never could scrape the money together to support that. I
>was looking for a large hard drive, because I am looking to stand up a small
>virtual linux box on the laptop to allow me to do some basic web hosting
>testing and software development. I definitely will consider increaseing my
>RAM from 8 GB to 16 GB. 

> 

>As for the JAWS and open office question I posed - If anyone else has
>comments please let me know. I have heard of Libra. It is my understanding
>that Open Office supports that only use the .doc extensions. Where Libra
>supports the .docx extensions. I have a couple concerns with getting Libra -
>the first being the accessibility; next is the usability; next, I am just
>starting out to learn JAWS, so I do not want to try to learn too many things
>at the same time. I will be learning JAWS and Windows 8. Do I really want to
>also learn open office. And the last point is Not only for home use
>knowledge, but I need to learn how to use the MS Office suite for employment
>purposes. Most employers I have come across do not use open office (at least
>federal governement and contractors with the dovernment type of employers).
>Yes, I have considered the MS Office 360 subscription route. I am not always
>going to have Internet connectivity. Plus, In the long run, I will be paying
>more for the use of the Office suite then just buying the product out right.
>This reason alone, is why many people are moving to open office and Libra
>from what I have been told. The comment about laptop video drivers was good
>to know, and will see if I can checkthat. 

> -- Graham

>blind at trailstone.com 

> 

>               

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