I would also wish to have as detailed a description of the advantages and disadvantages of the two as possible… 
Hi Balck3agl3,
A simple google search on “Open Office vs Microsoft Office” will give you the answer that you need.
In fact, this link came up first:
http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/software/page4765.cfm
Can’t be compared.
Office is powerful, but it’s paid.
OpenOffice is the best suite you can get for free. It’s also crossplataform (Linux and Windows).
That remains to be seen. 
For you maybe
Something tells me fractals in Excel wont work with OpenOffice…(it only works with 2007)
-Scott-
With openoffice can you open word documents?
Yes you can. http://why.openoffice.org/
I had OpenOffice installed by the shop that fixed my computer and I’ve used MS Office my whole life. OpenOffice has almost the same interface and button placement, and I easily can run OpenOffice files on Word, PowerPoint, etc, especially since you can save the file in MS Office formats.
True… So, if you are unsure of shifting to OpenOffice.org, you can start with your less important documents first. Also, this can be said to any applications but, checking the availability of portable version would be a good start for beginning to use a new application. As the app itself is huge, it always takes time for the portable version to be updated, though. Why not visit the official site…it contains quite lot of information. Also, although I think English version is quite good but it also depends on the language you mainly use.
I tried Open Office (an earlier version) and it infuriated me, if I opened a word document and then closed it without making any changes I would be asked if I wanted to save the changes. So it would seem that when it opens a word document in an old word version (MS Office 97, never saw a reason to update) it converts it.
That was a deal breaker for me and I haven’t been back since as for me Office 97 wasn’t broken, I only use Word and Excel and they both do what I need without undue bloat. So perhaps it wasn’t a fair test by me as I didn’t really need OO.
That is true…
I’m stuck with MS since some of the files done in MS won’t open properly in OO. By this I mean they will not have the same font or shape as they did in MS. That’s my only issue.
So, it seems most of the evangelists don’t like openoffice… hmmm…
I’m using OpenOffice because it’s free and i really don’t need anything more. I don’t even use OpenOffice fully…
Yes I do - Its FREE…and it is portable (Rumpel’s post)
But I use office more, because I always have - and it is more powerful…(my other post)
I use both on different PCs. I have a laptop that is a few years old, and I find OpenOffice annoying simply because it takes too long to load. This brings to mind an interest in finding out if there is a way to prevent certain elements (that I may never use) from loading when all I want to do is put a few entries into a spreadsheet.
Also, as Confused Computer User mentioned, I too have a problem with some spreadsheets which were made in Excel. When I open them to print from OO, they don’t print correctly. I can be certain that this is the result of Microsoft’s purposeful attempt at ‘breaking’ compatibility with other applications which might use their documents.
I am not conspiracy-theorizing, I have worked in the PC support field for 12+ years, and have seen that Microsoft routinely does this to maintain the perceived value of their bread-and-butter applications.
Does Microsoft office work on linux?
I think MS Office 2003 works with WINE, I’m not sure about Office 2007.
I use SoftMaker Office 2006 http://www.softmakeroffice.com/ small and can be made to use on a USB drive. Works well.
Does that software work on linux?
how do u install the MS office? with wine directly?
I actually have no idea how to use Wine. More info can be found here. http://www.winehq.org/