Readers Respond: Using Free PC Desktop Publishing Software

Responses: 18

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Happy OpenOffice User

I've been using OpenOffice, mainly Write & Calc, the comparable apps to Word & Excel, for several years with no complaints. It's reliable and its interface is very similar, in some ways better, to the reliable Office 97. The interface is light years ahead of the abominable Office 2007. I have not had any data or recovery issues with OO and sometimes I forget whether I'm in OO or MS-Office as they are so similar. I've had only minimal use of OO Impress, their comparable to PowerPoint, but it was fine. My only complaint, and a minor one, is that OO Help System is very action or command specific and lacks the Intro and Overview that would be handy for novices. I'd recommend giving it a try before you opt to buy Office.

—Guest Steve from NJ

Scribus

I use Scribus it's Like Quark But to me it's alot better

—Guest Rev. Whitman

no title

I switched from QuarkXpress 6.5 to Scribus for Windows over 1 year ago, after using Quark for over 10 years. I do newsletters & church bulletins, and have done 1 book of 160 pages, loaded with color photos. Scribus does everything Quark does, for my needs anyway, and was a smooth transition, but a somewhat tedious learning curve. Quark was costing me about $275 for every upgrade, after the initial cost of around $700 for v.3, where I started. Scribus is absolutely free for everything. Quark 6.5 was unstable, with unpredictable results. I beta tested v.7 with good results, but then Scribus came available. I would like Scribus to have Quark's frames ability, otherwise I'm fully satisfied with how its working. I'm running it on VISTA, will probably go to 7, also have it on ubuntu Linux, it is truly portable between versions. Good continuous follow-up via Scribus emails also. I'm also an OpenOffice user of many years.

—Guest Michael F. Chamness

RE: Open Office not so great.

I have been using both MS Office and OpenOffice.org for several years now. I find myself going with OpenOffice.org whenever doing something for myself. I use the portable version of OpenOffice.org when at a machine that does not have other office software, though I have to admit the portable version can be slow to start up. I also keep checking to make sure I have the latest version of OpenOffice.org, as there are usually substantial improvements. Also, do not forget about extensions for OpenOffice.org, they make things much better.

—Guest sefcug

Interesting and informative

I am glad this came up. I was looking at freeware for a non-profit I work with, and you give a lot to consider.

—StarrpointHost01

RE: Open Offic not so great

It may be your machine has a problem. It is not fair to compare products on different machines. I have not had any major issues with OO, it is about the same as Office. I have installed it on many machines where clients could not justify the cost of Office. Just because it is free, does not mean it can not be a good program.

—Guest dan

Open Office not so great

I use Open Office on my main machine but my notebook and spare machine have licensed MS Office. For writing it's fine, mostly (I'm a professional writer) but it just lets me down too often to take it seriously. I'm sure Office must crash sometimes, for some people. For me, never. It just works, perfectly. In contrast Open Office is used for drafts and getting started but I just won't rely on it for major contracts. I've found when it crashes it mangles the file. I simply can't afford that. Can't speak for the rest of it, as I only really use "Write".

—Guest Alan

Serif Page Plus

I have used Serif Page Plus and found it to be very good for a free program.

—Guest Bill

You left out the best

The only free DTP program that equals InDesign is TeX. In fact InDesign uses the TeX paragraph at a time justification. I typeset books for money using the pdftex variant.

—wexfordpress

LOVE Open Office

I have used Open Office suite in place of MS Office for a couple of years now. It was super easy to transition to after years of using Microsoft office software and I've had no problems at all.

—Guest Beth

OpenOffice

I have used OpenOffice exclusively for 7 years and prefer it for all my office needs. Document creation and editing as well as spreadsheets are almost identical to MS office. My brochures are very simple. I have Scribus loaded but find that I don't need that much power for my work.

—Guest Grady

Scribus Is Disappointing

As an experienced designer seeking a free software solution for a novice client, I found Scribus easy to install and run - but difficult to edit/align text - (no bold button even, come on!) which is really critical for page layout. Also, it requires Gimp to edit any images, doubling my frustration. Sorry Scribus - I'm uninstalling.

—Guest Tim