Date:         Fri, 25 Nov 2011 07:57:46 -0500
Reply-To:     Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Joy Hecht <jhecht@ALUM.MIT.EDU>
Subject:      NVC - computer questions (ultrabooks, openoffice vs. MS Office,
              downloading emails)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Hi folks,

I'm bracing myself to buy a new computer, which is going to mean replacing
MS Office, as my version is too outdated.

I'm wondering whether anyone has experience with openoffice, instead of MS
Office.  I think I would need to get Office home & business, since I have
been using Outlook for years, and it doesn't come with home Office.

I use other freeware pretty regularly - gimp, which is okay except that it
doesn't seem to have any functional print drivers, and inkscape, which
seems to crash frequently, so it's not much good.  If anyone has experience
with open office, I'd be interested in your experiences.

I guess a related question is about downloading emails.  I basically use
gmail, and mostly access my emails from the web.  But occasionally I
download the ones I need to keep (lots of work stuff, some other stuff)
using Outlook.  I have years worth of old emails organized and filed in
Office.  I hardly every use it interactively, though.  Are there other
software programs I might use for this purpose?  And would they be able to
open my old Outlook mail file?  It is very big, containing years worth of
emails.

Also, if anyone has an ultrabook, I'd be interested in your experiences
with them.  Especially with Windows ultrabooks - I don't want a Mac.  I've
been researching ultrabooks, and I'm definitely waiting till the Toshiba
comes out before I buy, as it sounds best for my needs, but I'm interested
in experiences with any of them.

Offline, please!

Thanks!



Joy