Open Office

[goudie]

My original Open Office suddenly began going into recovery mode whenever I opened it. It then gave a message 'recovery failed'. When the screen finally came up it was in a very poor resolution colour.
I un-installed it and down loaded the latest version, purchasing a 3 year VIP Access in the process. This new download is showing exactly the same format as my previous one.
Would appreciate some advice on this.

I have MS Vista Home

[ZH875]

Get rid of Vista. :E


Did you do a complete reboot after un-installing Office, before the new installation?

Also try a tool that searches the registry for orphan entries of office before installing the new version.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

I installed Open Office of one of our machines. After a few days the child said "Daddy, please can I have the real Office?".

So I installed the real Office and have never had any such problems as you describe.

[C-N]

Looks like an old trick from MS to kill those who wants to compete with them. Just like how they killed Lotus and Borland with their DOS. They have some undocumented INT calls and API calls that will crash the competitors app, and the competitors app will look buggy, yet in reality it's the OS they're in that makes them crash. deja vu

[Squawk7777]

I'd contact the folks @ Open Office. I had to forcefully install OO on my laptop, but have to admit that I have gotten used to it and prefer it now over the "original" office. :uhoh:

[goudie]

Thanks for replies. Went into properties and the 'run in 256 colours' box was ticked. Removed tick and hey presto it worked!

[Mac the Knife]

Everyone in our practice (12 people) uses OpenOffice on a variety of platforms (Mac, Linux, Windows) without problems and transitioned easily.

Fairly typical of Gertrude to suggest removing OpenOffice as a cure for an incorrect setting in the base OS. Even MSOffice would have looked odd.

But that's an MS fanboi for you.

:ok:

Mac

[Bushfiva]

Snide little comment there, MtK.

purchasing a 3 year VIP Access in the process

That's the bit that interests me...

[goudie]

3 year Unlimited VIP Membership for only £34.95 £7.97/year (Best Value!)

Good point Bushfiva. It came up in a window I had to fill in to proceed to the actual download. Not sure what I'm getting for my money but I needed Office so went ahead. I did contact them when the same problem appeared but all I got back was another download instruction which didn't fix the problem. Should've spent a bit more time solving the problem on the original installed Office. We live and learn!

[Bushfiva]

Goudie, for future reference beware of such sites. OpenOffice is freely available from many sources, the canonical site being openoffice.org. I'm guessing the site you registered for does nothing other than take money from you, for providing a link to software that is freely available. No (or very few) legitimate sites require multi-year subscriptions to download random software. You may want to go back to the site and check the terms and conditions, to make sure your credit card won't be billed again in 3 years.

[goudie]

Thanks for the advice Bushfiva. There was a 7 days money back clause which I've just invoked. Be interesting to see what happens

[EDDNHopper]

Indeed, one of the many good things about OpenOffice is there is a lively community out there that is competent, and willing, to help, for free. Do not pay for this!

[hurn]

I installed Open Office of one of our machines. After a few days the child said "Daddy, please can I have the real Office?".I'd have told the blighter that they can have 'real' office when they pay for it out of their 'real' pocket money.

Glad you got the problem sorted goudie. Like others have said though, no need to pay for the product or any support for it.

[goudie]

Actually got in touch with them and demanded a refund. I'm assured the money is on it's way to my account!

[Cameronian]

Does Open Office need to take so long to download? It doesn't seem to be the size but, rather, the speed from their website. I had a much earlier version on my W98 dinosaur and I don't remember the download being such a nightmare. I've let it do it's thing on this XP machine but, when I went back to it about four hours later, I had a message telling me that it had taken so long that the process had been closed down (or something like that!).

[cdtaylor_nats]

Goudie

I would be carefully checking my account for the next few days just in case

[LH2]

Does Open Office need to take so long to download? It doesn't seem to be the size but, rather, the speed from their website.

The downloads are mirrored across the world. A mirror close to your location (as per geoip) is automatically selected for you in the Download page. If that one seems to go too slow, you have a number of options:

* Cancel the download, and visit the download page again. Hopefully a different and faster mirror will be selected.
* Use P2P. There is a link somewhere in the downloads page.
* Manually select a mirror. Again, there is a link in the downloads page to a list of mirrors--this is a bit more technical than it should be, as it does not appear to be targeted at unsophisticated end users, for some reason.

All of this assumes you are using Windows. If using Linux, it will come from your distro's repository via the usual mechanism so none of the above applies. Don't know anything about Mac software.


cdtaylor,

The post you are replying to is from 2009!

[Cameronian]

Thank you for that LH2! Yes, I am using Windows - XP SP3.

I have visited the principal download site several times. The first time it siad that the download would take three hours so I left it to get on with it. When I came back I had that message about t all having taken too long and so had been chopped. On each subsequent visit, as soon as I was told that the download would be equally slow, I chopped it first! I have come through other links to that same page but with the same result each time, too slow.

I have come through mirror sites but don't understand the options presented to me, nor in the cases of P2P which I have seen. It seems such a palaver - after all it's not really that big a download. It's just that it's such a slow one.

2009 doesn't seem THAT long ago!

[Keef]

I have come through mirror sites but don't understand the options presented to me, nor in the cases of P2P which I have seen. It seems such a palaver - after all it's not really that big a download. It's just that it's such a slow one.

Want me to download it and post you a CD of it?

[Cameronian]

That would be wonderful of you, Keef, to the point of embarrassment, even! How can I reimburse you for that?

Even to explain which of the downloads I should use from this site, for example, might save you a lot of trouble.

UK Mirror Service: sites/ny1.mirror.openoffice.org (http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ny1.mirror.openoffice.org/)

I just don't understand what their different links mean!

[Mike-Bracknell]

That would be wonderful of you, Keef, to the point of embarrassment, even! How can I reimburse you for that?

Even to explain which of the downloads I should use from this site, for example, might save you a lot of trouble.

UK Mirror Service: sites/ny1.mirror.openoffice.org (http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ny1.mirror.openoffice.org/)

I just don't understand what their different links mean!

Try this then...

download: OpenOffice.org - Download tested and stable builds (http://download.openoffice.org/other.html)

[le Pingouin]

Even to explain which of the downloads I should use from this site, for example, might save you a lot of trouble.

UK Mirror Service: sites/ny1.mirror.openoffice.org (http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ny1.mirror.openoffice.org/)

I just don't understand what their different links mean!You want one from "stable" (US English) or "localized" (other languages, including British English).

http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ny1.mirror.openoffice.org/stable/3.3.0/OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_install-wJRE_en-US.exe

or

http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ny1.mirror.openoffice.org/localized/en-GB/3.3.0/OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_install-wJRE_en-GB.exe

[LH2]

I just don't understand what their different links mean!

Yeah, it could be a lot more user friendly that part.

I'll let you know what the general process is, then I'll give you a few direct links to try in case my explanation is not as clear as it should be. I am going to assume that you want the British English version of OpenOffice and that you live in Mallorca, as per your location.

First of all, for your list of mirrors you want to go here: http://distribution.openoffice.org/mirrors/#mirrors (JavaScript required) Don't use any random mirrors found via Google unless you know exactly what you're doing, as that exposes you to the risk of downloading malware disguised as the real thing (these are called Trojans).

On the list at the link above, you want to pay attention at the columns labelled Location, Main, and Extended:
* Location is straightforward enough--this is the country where the servers are located. Often but not always, picking one close to you works best (that's what the main download link automatically does).
* Main, and Extended: these columns offer a choice of download methods. Ask if you want to know what those mean, but you'll be using the link that says "http". The difference between Main and Extended as far as we're concerned is that extended is where localised (i.e., national versions) of the software exist. If you want to go for the British English localised version (or anything other than US), you will use the Extended column.

Now that we hopefully made a bit of sense out of that table, find a location close to where you are (e.g., Spain or France), and click on the "http" link on the Extended column--if there isn't one, choose another location. You may want to open the link in a new tab or new window so you can find your way back to the mirrors table easily, in case your chosen link is not as fast as you would like.

Having opened that link, you will be presented with a directory listing, where one of the links should be named "localized". Click on it.

Next comes your choice of language, represented by the two-letter language ISO code. For British English, click on "en-GB".

Now comes the software version. The latest at this time is "3.3.0", so just go for that.

Finally, you have found the actual files you want to download. As we have previously established that you are a Windows used, download the two files ending on ".exe"

If the downloading goes slow with your chosen mirror, you can always cancel and repeat the process with a different one, starting back from the page with the mirrors listing. If all of them seem to go slow, then chances are the problem is at your end (e.g., could be your antivirus getting on the way--see if you can disable it while downloading, you can always do a manual check on the files latter).

Once the downloads are complete, click on the OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_install-wJRE_en-GB.exe first, to install OpenOffice, and then on OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_langpack_en-GB.exe to install the language tools (dictionary and hyphenation, I presume). This last step I'm not too sure about, not being a Windows user, but should be the same process as installing any other program--if you've done that before you shouldn't have much trouble with this, or get someone to give you a hand.

Hope the above helps a little. As I've said, their website is not practical at all in this regard.

As I've promised, here are a few direct links I've chosen for you following the process outlined above, they all point to the British 3.3.0 version on servers in Spain, France, Germany, and the UK, respectively. I still recommend that you try navigating through the mirrors page first, as you have no guarantee that these links I'm giving you are not malicious. In any case, here you are:

Spain:
http://ftp.udc.es/OpenOffice/localized/en-GB/3.3.0/OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_install-wJRE_en-GB.exe
http://ftp.udc.es/OpenOffice/localized/en-GB/3.3.0/OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_langpack_en-GB.exe

France:
http://openoffice.cict.fr/localized/en-GB/3.3.0/OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_install-wJRE_en-GB.exe
http://openoffice.cict.fr/localized/en-GB/3.3.0/OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_langpack_en-GB.exe

Germany:
http://vesta.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/ftp/pub/mirror/OpenOffice/localized/en-GB/3.3.0/OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_install-wJRE_en-GB.exe
http://vesta.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/ftp/pub/mirror/OpenOffice/localized/en-GB/3.3.0/OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_langpack_en-GB.exe

Britain:
http://openoffice.virginmedia.com/localized/en-GB/3.3.0/OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_install-wJRE_en-GB.exe
http://openoffice.virginmedia.com/localized/en-GB/3.3.0/OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_langpack_en-GB.exe

However you end up getting your hands on the installation files, it is always good practice to check that the files you have are what the publisher meant to distribute and they haven't been corrupted or altered in any way.

Modern software installation processes do this automatically by checking an encrypted digest of the contents of the package (this is called a "signature"), but sometimes this reliable process cannot be effected, or it doesn't succeed, as a result of the relative complexity of the mechanism (for the more IT literate: I'm talking about signers we do not have a trust chain to, e.g., as a result of missing CA certificates).

An alternative to the above, which some people may find more reassuring, albeit it's a manual process, is to check the MD5 hashes of the downloaded files. For OpenOffice, those are available here: http://download.openoffice.org/md5sums/ and the checking process (equally valid for any other software) is described here: http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/using_md5sums.html

HTH.

[Cameronian]

Thank you all, Keef, Mike-Bracknell, le Pingouin and LH2! Thanks to your joint help. I have downloaded and installed the 3.3 version and have GB English and Spanish. It took less than five minutes and appears to have gone without a hitch. Now I will be setting out to rediscover my talents learned on Visicalc on my first Apple in 1976! Visicalc was the only application that I had then. My business depended upon it and upon half a dozen databases that my wife and I wrote from scratch in Basic.... I still have at least two Apples here!

I am extremely grateful to you all and can only say that you have shown yet another of the marvels of PPRuNe. An excellent antidote to the nay-saying and backbiting that is all too common in some of the other sections of this great site.

[Keef]

Good news!
I go out for a few hours, come back, and he's all sorted.

[Cameronian]

It was the collective goodwill which did it, Keef!

[Loose rivets]

Mine downloaded and ran - seemingly okay, but I haven't really put it to the test.

Nothing unusual about the download time, though I have only got one file.

OOo_3.3.0_Win_x86_langpack_en-GB.exe Not there. I don't think I was offered it at any stage. I'm in Texas at the moment - could it be I don't need it while in US?

Is there a chance I have the functionality already? Seems to have fonts and the like.

***************


I elected to have it in D drive, which it did, creating two folders. Open Office, and OpenOffice.org 3 - Is this normal?


It is marked ORACLE. Was it always marked thus?

***************



Oh, and another thing. Task Manager is showing two Open Office files running all the time. One of them is quite big. soffice.bin 34.264k sofice.exe is 192k

I can delete these after start-up, (while in a housecleaning mode,) and the programs still run. (delete the sofice.bin, and the other one goes.)

That's a lot of stuff in the memory for seemingly nowt.

If I run the program it runs okay, but the files don't come back. Very odd.

[hellsbrink]

It is marked ORACLE. Was it always marked thus?

No, but Oracle "bought" Sun Microsystems, who made Open Office and Star Office (the commercial version), so that is why the name appears.

That has meant some of those who worked on the project have set up another version, LibreOffice, through a group called The Document Foundation as there were fears that Oracle would close down OpenOffice.org like they did when they acquired OpenSolaris, so you effectively have a "fork" in the project with two distinct versions. Since LibreOffice is now the one that seems to be the choice of the Linux distros it may be the one which will get the best updates, etc, for compatibility with MSOffice docs.

[green granite]

Loose rivets Control panel > administration tools>system configuration> start up and untick the 'open office' box, this will stop the files from opening automatically.

[le Pingouin]

Loose rivets, those files are pre-loading OOffice to make it faster to start.

[Loose rivets]

Thanks for the above posts.


I don't find it slow in opening even having zapped the files in Task manager. I'll run a comparison over the next couple of days. As mentioned, one of them is rather large just to have sitting there - I only have 1.5 gig memory.


Now I'm uncertain which way to go. It does seem that looking at the other route in the fork might be time well spent.

Having been wearing Word Perfect 8 like a comfy old cardigan, for so many years, I did notice a few similarities in OO. What I really need is another comfy old cardigan, but one that doesn't need Task manager to shut it down. (the only grumble I can find on W7- Vista, it shuts down okay.)

[call100]

You could also try the Open Source version of OO LibreOffice (http://www.libreoffice.org/)
OO downloaded very quickly for me and I have experienced no problems on the PC whatsoever....

[Loose rivets]

That's what I was getting at about the other fork in the road. Thanks for the link, I'll give it a try . . . BUT, can they co-exist on one logical drive, or do I need to uninstall the ORACLE version first?

[call100]

Yes you can run them together so that you can compare them....

[Loose rivets]

Downloaded the main Libra file, and it seems to be fine. But I'm confused about this.

Help within LO seems to be working without this, so anyone know what it is?


LibO_3.3.1_Win_x86_helppack_en-US.exe 8.6 MB (en-US - English (US))

[Loose rivets]

I did in fact write a much more comprehensive post, but it was lost in a moment of family crisis.

The help download was quite small, but when run, seemed to want to go back to the web and get more stuff. Fine, but then it was exactly the same as the original install of the main program, so I quit, a bit sharpish so as not to risk the main installation.

Having said all this, the help section seems to be working well, so I'll try to find some time to play with the W-Processor soon.


(L-O is reporting JRE running.)