You have to wonder, though, in a big bureaucracy, how much of the pain is due to "not 100%" compatibility, and how much is due to "this Linux thing is not what I'm used to".
Having worked with people trying to encourage adoption of open office I can say the main problem is compatibility. Pretty much everyone can adjust to the slightly different interface.
The issue is that if you save a doc in open office and email to a customer who uses word if you've used anything beyond the basic text features there is a good chance when they open it there will be something wrong. The reverse applies too.
Almost everyone I've tried open office with has eventually given up and migrated back to word primarily because they couldn't open files other people were sending them.
We're on Word here and still have that problem. If you have a newer version of Word that does .docx files, you have to save as the older .doc files, because some recipients will complain that they can't open the newer ones. And if you're on the older one yourself, you have trouble opening stuff people send you. Whenever Word files go out to a distribution of more than two or so people including some external collaborators, I've always had problems. Afaict, Word on the Mac also behaves differently from Word on Windows, at least in terms of who reports back to me that they can't open a file I sent, and god help you if you try to embed media or use the reference manager.
Honestly OpenOffice users give me the fewest problems, because they seem to be able to at least open anything I send them, even if the formatting is a bit mangled, while a significant percentage of Word users report back with "I couldn't open your file" or "your file seemed corrupt" or something.
"Honestly OpenOffice users give me the fewest problems"
Just a guess, but perhaps that's because the OO users that have actually stuck with it are the more technical ones who look for their own solutions first. I use OO primarily at home and when I get files I can't open I try Google docs, Office live apps, or the Word viewer.
We're on Word here and still have that problem. If you have a newer version of Word that does .docx files, you have to save as the older .doc files, because some recipients will complain that they can't open the newer ones.
This tells me that Microsoft is actually in a vulnerable position here. If they start ramping up their rate of change to maintain lock-in they're going to inconvenience their customers even more. OpenOffice will start looking like the better alternative.
Honestly OpenOffice users give me the fewest problems, because they seem to be able to at least open anything I send them, even if the formatting is a bit mangled, while a significant percentage of Word users report back with "I couldn't open your file" or "your file seemed corrupt" or something.
It's not good to get egg on your face because the formatting is messed up. That looks like your fault. A corrupt file is seen as something like traffic. "Computers are tricky and stuff happens" is the usual reaction I see.
