October monthly poll

[Calum]

Its just... so much easier to use.
Sorry, Patio and Calum, but its true

That is a matter of opinion.
I sincerely believe that the only way to test this would be to find a long lost tribe or something that have never used computers before, and see which software they find easier to use.  Otherwise, the marketing and bad experiences twist our viewpoints.

Not to mention, most companies shy away from free software.

A valid point, and one I have never quite understood.
I know quite a few companies do not trust the free support and prefer to pay for it, but I myself would rather get it free and better.

[Computer Hope Admin]

I actually find Open Office Writer as easy to use as Word, the only reason I use Word more often is because it has a Grammar checker and Thesaurus. If it had those two features I'd use it a lot more than Word.

Usually 'ease' comes with a better understanding of a program.

[michaewlewis]

I actually find Open Office Writer as easy to use as Word, the only reason I use Word more often is because it has a Grammar checker and Thesaurus. If it had those two features I'd use it a lot more than Word.

Eye doesn't need a grammar checking feature four my writing, jest a spell chick. Open Office is god enough fur me.

[Computer Hope Admin]

hehe 

[Zylstra]

I actually find Open Office Writer as easy to use as Word, the only reason I use Word more often is because it has a Grammar checker and Thesaurus. If it had those two features I'd use it a lot more than Word.

Eye doesn't need a grammar checking feature four my writing, jest a spell chick. Open Office is god enough fur me.

Oh dear...

Though I have had a LOT of experience with Microsoft Office, I think that many people would find quite a few of its features easier to find and use than OpenOffice. I also like the voice input support provided in MS Office. I think that in many cases, its grammar check can be kind of... pointless. (Specifically the "fragment" errors that I so often make... whatever the heck those are)
Looking at MS Office 2007, it seems that the user interface is simply designed to put what you want right in front of your face, and categorize it. The menu bar is somewhat banished from MS Office 2007 now.

As most of you know, I truly believe that making the program you are using easy to look at makes it easier to use. I believe that MS Office 2007 has accomplished this goal of "eye candy"

See some screens, I like the interface:

[patio]

204 users voted, this surprises me as well, I dont think we have had such a big pole before.

Maybe we should run up a Microsoft Office flag on that pole...