I know I shouln’t be such a chicken when it comes to open source software, but for some reason, I’ve been reluctant to install Open Office on my PC. I’m not sure why, but I recently discovered Portable OpenOffice.org which allows you to run the free alternative to MS Office on a thumbdrive. So far I’m very impressed! Good interroperability, nice consistant UI and some great tools all to be had for the cost of a free cup of coffee! It’s an interesting way to accelerate the adoption of software–the “portable” metaphor may make you more comfortable using software if you don’t actually have to install it.
Portable OpenOffice
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This is one of the reasons I prefer to use a Mac. It’s very rare that I have to actually install a piece of software. If all I have to do is copy it from a mounted drive and double-click to try it, I’m much more likely to experiment.
OpenOffice still isn’t an easy install on the Mac, but it is quite straight forward in both the Windows & Linux environments. The portable OO is a neat concept though that I hope will win more converts.
We’re trying to promote OO in Canada through:
http://openoffice.ca/