Re: [tlug] OpenOffice.org & Japanese Windows

[Micheal E Cooper <mec@example.com>]

> I having to distribute documents around a University project here, and
> want to be able to just ship them off in the OpenOffice.org format
> they were written (I use OOo under both linux and Win98).  However, I
> cannot recommend the installation and use of OpenOffice.org if I can
> not be sure the text input and such will work smoothly for my Japanese
> colleagues under their Japanese WinXP & Win2000 systems.  I want them
> to realise that the Open SOurce alternatives do offer the same
> usability, and will wait if OpenOffice.org needs more time.
> 
> I know very little about using Japanese text input on a PC, but I did
> install the default version of OpenOffice.org on a Japanese Win2000
> here and then enable "Asian Language Support".  While I can get
> Japanese input if I manually change the font face, just using the
> keyboard to toggle does not work as it does in MS-Word.

I have been using OO on Windows2000 for a couple of weeks, and I recently (yesterday) installed StarOffice to see where the differences lie. It is exactly the lack of auto-switching into Japanese fonts that made me want to try StarOffice. StarOffice Japanese input functions just as smooth as Word, but OpenOffice does not offer this ability.

On a related note, I have never used the English versions of anything Microsoft after Windows 3.1 and any Windows-based wordprocessors after WordPerfect 5 for DOS, so my experience with word processors has been similar to many Japanese users, and I found OO and, even moreso, StarOffice to be much more intuitive than Word.

Micheal