Beware, Windows 7 hates Openoffice

[Carrotglace]

Got a new PC, it's nice. Everything I could want, and Windows 7 is turning out to be pretty cool. Finally upgraded my ancient low memory frustration to something decent, not great, but far better than I had. 750 gb instead of 80, 6 gb Ram instead of measuring it in MB, etc. Does stuff my old PC would have killed itself doing easily. I can finally run some programs that have been sitting on my HD. I've got a 500 gb external HD, bringing my memory capacity up to 1.25 TB, and now I've got the ram and processor to make use of it without dragging my speed down to a crawl. I can also watch HD video now, and get 5.1 sound when it's available, which is also nice.

I'm satisfied and enjoying the new PC. Still working out the kinks and transferring stuff over and all. I'll be hooking stuff up to it through the network in the near future, the PS3 and 360 will be a pain, but once done, it will be worth the effort.

Anyway, to the point, I discovered very quickly that Windows 7 hates Openoffice. More specifically, the newest version 3.1.1.

If you upgrade to Windows 7 in the near future, and like Openoffice for writing with, you need to revert back to 2.4.3 again. The newest Openoffice does not work. I dislike MS Word, and prefer oOO for writing. The older version works fine.

In case anyone else has been having issues and haven't resolved them, just download the older version and install it and you should be fine.

So, those who upgrade, or might in the near future be aware, you need to roll back to the earlier version of oOO if it's your preferred writing program.

I'll be keeping my eye out for a patch or fix to the issue, but for now, fair warning to oOO users about Windows 7.

 

[Solarman]

Did you try running in compatibility mode? I know it sounds like bunk, but sometimes it really does work. But thanks for the warning, Carrot.

 

[Carrotglace]

Yeah, just puts it in XP sp 2 mode and it still doesn't work. Just roll back to 2.4.3 and it works fine though. A minor annoyance, but still better than MS Word in my opinion.

 

[Mercsenary]

if you have a valid .edu email address, Office 2007 unltimate is cheap for you.

Got mine for 60...

 

[Carrotglace]

Yeah. I still like oOO though, it's cheap as free. I got used to it, I know where everything is, and while I can deal with MS Word and Office, I still prefer oOO. I like well kept up open source. I like Windows 7 so far other than the gaff with oOO, but I browse with Firefox, and write with Openoffice.

Other than that, its been pretty smooth sailing with Windows 7, way better than Vista or XP in my opinion. I love the amount of stuff I can run at once, and how fast it is, though some of that is the PC specs too.

For what I use it for, I think oOO is better than most word processors that cost money. That's just a personal preference though, I can always convert files if I need to if I need a different format for something anyway.

 

[Dartz_IRL]

I have version 3.11 with no problems whatsoever.

IT's running right now.

 

[Georsama]

the problem could be the version your using. Win7 comes in both 32-bit and 64-bit, and there are some programs that work fine in 32 but not in 64. Just something to keep in mind.

You could search and see if OpenOffice has an update or something for Win7 64-bit.

 

[Dartz_IRL]

I'm running 32-bit Openoffice on Windows 7 64-bit. There is no problem with Openoffice. It must be something else.

 

[PCHeintz72]

the problem could be the version your using. Win7 comes in both 32-bit and 64-bit, and there are some programs that work fine in 32 but not in 64. Just something to keep in mind.

You could search and see if OpenOffice has an update or something for Win7 64-bit.

I have it and am fine Admittedly, I've not done much with it, I prefer Microsoft Office to Open Office.

I will note, the 1 system I have it on of my 3 to be upgraded (others are to be upgraded in next couple days) is Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit.

 

[Solarman]

I'm running 32-bit Openoffice on Windows 7 64-bit. There is no problem with Openoffice. It must be something else.

I wonder if he didn't run the installer as admin? That sometimes messes up the permissions programs need to run.

 

[Carrotglace]

Well, just ran across this again and thought I'd mention the issue has been ironed out in subsequent releases. It was just an 'early adopter' thing and didn't crop up for everyone. oOO's team acknowledged the issue and a fix was done up for it a while ago. So, no more issues should crop up for anyone interested.

On a side note, I'm still liking Windows 7. It's ten times better than XP, and Vista can be safely forgotten forever. Since this, I've yet to run into any similar issues at all. Though, I am aware that some people have had problems with other programs, my experience has been really smooth ever since.

If you haven't yet for whatever reason, do not fear the upgrade.

 

[Xon]

I've always waiting a while for Windows releases simply because so many applications do truely stupid shit and new Windows releases, and service packs!, catch it.

 

[Carrotglace]

Windows 7 has surprisingly little of that. I only got it because it came with the new PC. I've not regretted it or missed my old OS.

It's one of those rare perfect storm scenarios where Microsoft got things right and managed a decent OS despite their recent record. Can't say they didn't learn anything from their mistakes I guess.

I doubt they'll get it this right again for another four or five upgrades though. So, waiting for things to clear up is still the best policy in general.

Upgrading to Windows 7 is nothing to fear though. It works pretty much as advertised, with little in the way of technical issues in my experience. Runs good, easy interface, is reliable and stable, and can handle a lot at once.

Most users should be fine just jumping right in this time.

 

[PCHeintz72]

I miss older and more functional style file manager programs...

I always feel Explorer is 1/2 broke and functionality deliberately kept from the user. File extension access for example is a pain.

I use Scooter Software Beyond Compare for network syncups and file comparisons.

I use Copernic Desktop Search for file name and content searching.

I use Laplink for many file management operations, but not all.

A couple different shareware products fill the gap.


But some of the best file managers I ever used over the years are no longer available in a up to date release.

 

[Mercsenary]

Got windows 7 professional 64-bit. Been using it for almost a half a year now. Liked XP but I cant really say that 7 is an upgrade to XP. Its more of an upgrade from Vista as I have that on my laptop.

Cant really draw parallels as the two OS handle the same things differently. Like the start menu for one.


However 7 does do away with a lot of the UAC pop up annoyances. now it only does it when you want it too for most applications. Stuff downloaded from the net will always get it but once its installed 7 doesnt bother you with it.


Still though a lot of things need run as administrator to work correctly...