RE: getting started with OOo

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

Quoting "Goldstein, Dan" <DGoldstein -at- DeusTech -dot- com>:

> "one warning on open office... if you are presently using the ms office
> products then do not install open office unless you know you want to switch
> to it... the reason is that [open] office over writes all your file type
> preferences without asking (or did to me) and it is a pain to change them
> all back."

Many people on this list know the frustration of having set up interfaces and 
instructions, only to have them ignored by users. This warning is another 
example of this situation.

Or, to put things another way: It's just not true.

During the installation of OOo on Windows, you have to specifically choose to 
change the file associations. Not only that, but you have to select a separate 
box to change the file associations for each MS Office application.There's a 
separate screen for changing file associations, and what you are doing is 
explained both on the screen and in the installation instructions. In other 
words, there's plenty of time and opportunity to realize what you are doing. 

OOo most emphatically does NOT change the file associations without asking. In 
fact, the only pre-selected file association change is for the HTML editor. 
Personally, I don't think that this should be pre-selected, either, but it can 
be de-selected, too.

If, despite the arrangement, you do change the file associations and regret it, 
two minutes' work restores them. That may seem like a pain to a basic user, 
but, personally, I've spent more time setting desktop properties.

The poster of the warning may be careless, may be repeating secondhand 
information, or may be rearranging memory to deny making a mistake - who knows 
which? But, whatever the case, the poster is wrong.

-- 
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604-421.7177