Apache OpenOffice vs. Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Apache OpenOffice
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Apache OpenOffice is a free open source office suite that includes six applications: Writer (word processor), Calc (spreadsheets), Impress (presentations), Draw (diagramming and graphics), Base (database), and Math (formulas).N/A
Microsoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Microsoft Office 2016 is the familiar suite of Office products including applications such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint for use on a single PC or Mac. The 2016 is no longer available for sale from Microsoft, and support is at an end since 2020.N/A
Pricing
Apache OpenOfficeMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Apache OpenOfficeMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Apache OpenOfficeMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Best Alternatives
Apache OpenOfficeMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Small Businesses
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Google Workspace
Google Workspace
Score 9.1 out of 10
Enterprises
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.8 out of 10
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Score 8.8 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Apache OpenOfficeMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Likelihood to Recommend
10.0
(0 ratings)
7.5
(0 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.0
(0 ratings)
5.0
(0 ratings)
Usability
9.0
(0 ratings)
7.0
(0 ratings)
Support Rating
5.0
(0 ratings)
8.0
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
9.0
(0 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Apache OpenOfficeMicrosoft Office 2016 (discontinued)
Likelihood to Recommend
In my opinion, Apache OpenOffice is best suited for writing, editing and proofreading texts in any language. You can also download additional language packages that really take up little space in your PC's storage. Of course, Apache OpenOffice is comprehensive of spreadsheet-/drawing-/database-related softwares and so on, but I primarily use it for writing and editing my own texts. I don't see any scenarios where it is less appropriate, at least so far.
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It is quite suitable for daily work in almost any job. Although now there are more advanced tools, found online in the cloud, it is still a good option for daily work. I highly recommend it as it has always been a reliable tool. The problem would be the support since it is a tool that is discontinued.
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Pros
  • OpenOffice is ideal to have as an application on your PC versus utilizing an online word archive application like Google Docs.
  • OpenOffice can deal with an assortment of document types like [.doc, .rtf, .xml] , making it a fundamental apparatus for the individuals who don't approach Microsoft Word.
  • OpenOffice is a more profound programming than Word and is more open. I know, openness for a record composing programming, I know. In any case, OpenOffice takes into account rapidly evolving edges, typeface, size, and so forth, and I think shows improvement over Word, and in a simpler arrangement.
  • OpenOffice can deal with bookkeeping pages, essential information bases, introductions, and fundamental drawings. It handles the entirety of the typical Microsoft Office instruments inside one application.
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  • Consistent functionality across the several Office components. This consistency is a great advantage for adoptions of other unused Office components. For example, if you want to publish a book that you have done with Word, you don't need to relearn new menu positions, new file-related actions, new reviewing procedures, etc.
  • Functionality extensions with Add-ins. This has always been a nameplate for Microsoft and Office keeps its tradition. I remember the renowned Bill Gates phrase when Visual Basic has been presented to him, he said: "Make it extensible". So, for example, I use Grammarly to improve my translations and there are thousands of Add-ins that you can purchase to increase your productivity.
  • Continuous improvement of online Office 365 allows for comprehensive usage from any platform, like Apple or Android tablets, Mac or Windows, cell phones and more. Every day and regular user's functions are there. And if you need extensive reviewing capabilities or programming, you can always rely on the desktop version.
  • Spelling and translate for multiple languages are now included in the online version. I should indeed rely more on the online version.
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Cons
  • Some people used to Microsoft products can feel it's a little bit old in its style
  • I saves documents in its native format, which is incompatible with MS Word or Excel, unless you change that in the preferences tab
  • The UI is not very pretty
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  • Office 2016 professional edition can be priced for a single user license, it would be nice to see a drop in the pricing.
  • Office 2016 home edition is a better price but does not include outlook 2016, so it is not a good fit for the workplace environments.
  • Office 2016 can run slowly on older systems, so you need to make sure you have a machine that is 4 years old or less for it to run smoothly.
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Likelihood to Renew
It is a cheap alternative; however, with Microsoft 365 licenses also dropping significantly, we might opt to go in that direction to maintain uniformity.
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We believe that office 2016 offers the best value when it comes to features included out of the box. The software is used in its entirety by our organization and is easily supported by our staff of IT technicians. Users find this software to be easy to learn and easy to use with minimal learning curve.
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Usability
It's good overall, just the UI it's not the prettiest, feels like an older version of MS office, but gets the job done. Once get the hang of it it's easy to use, besides it has great documentation on how to use it and there are many forums that discuss many related topics.
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It's fairly easy to use, but the automatic formatting or capturing of formatting when pasting is wonky - especially when there are outlines or other bullets/numbered lists. Fixing and sizing up tables can be annoying, and there are sometimes formatting issues that we just absolutely cannot fix for some reason
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Support Rating
Is there really support? There is a user forum but I do not see much developer input. Support options are limited. The most recent (Sept 2019) version of the product seems to have issues operating under Windows 10, yet there are few recent comments in the community forum, most comments are regarding older versions.
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Microsoft support is very good, big corporation has people for everything. You can find a lot of solutions to problems and helpful tutorials, as well as ready to be copied macros and functions made by communities around the world. Very big user base means there aren't situations that someone else didn't have already
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Implementation Rating
We found that it is possible to use Open Office to accomplish everything we need. Some tasks required searching for steps on Google.
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No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
The big benefits that OpenOffice gives us is the flexibility, the cost, and the ease of licensing. We do have some Office users, and we keep licenses for them. We looked at Office 365, and that was a good way to work for some people, but the requirement to be constantly connected to the internet was difficult for some of our field staff. Same with Google Drive, though that was more popular than Office 365. We don't do a ton of collaborative work, so the lack of online collaboration wasn't a dealbreaker for us, though I can see how 365 or Google Drive would be much more helpful for a team of people working on a single document.
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We have always used Microsoft Office products, beginning with the older versions, but we did try a brief evaluation of OpenOffice from Apache. Even though that open source software is free, it's got certain limitations and a different functionality that was missing from Office2016, so we decided not to pursue that path.
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Return on Investment
  • Moving to OpenOffice will save the company the cost of 500+ of Microsoft Office licenses in our company.
  • Because it is cross-platform, we could also save 500+ of Microsoft Windows licenses if we move everyone to Linux.
  • On the negative side, the lack of online collaboration and browser support may be an issue when you use clouds like Box, Workboard etc.
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  • For the user groups that use Office in our organization, they would find it difficult to work without it. Decades of development are hard to just walk away from.
  • Office products are considered standard. When sharing data, there is almost never a question of "What format would you like that file in"?
  • For the price of convenience at this time, licensing fees are priced where we don't feel that we are not getting what we paid for.
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ScreenShots