no MS Office experience?

[jamesstansell]

Where I live only some of the techies know anything about Linux and any random businessman is very unlikely to knowingly be using open-source software. Job postings for non-tech positions never mention anything beside Microsoft Office or other proprietary made-for-ms-windows software.

It's so bad that some people (non-geeks) I know feel that learning OpenOffice.org would be a waste of their time because it's not a "real" program that any potential employer would see their knowledge in a positive light.

As someone who makes it a goal to learn something new every day (even a small thing) I don't truly understand this reasoning. I'm having a hard time supporting the ideas that MS Office really isn't needed for general work.

How can we engage local businesses so job applicants with "only" OpenOffice.org experience in lieu of MS-Office experience can feel reasonably confident about applying for open positions? How can we reassure the would-be applicants?

This situation is closely linked with bug #1 in my mind. So much so that I'm currently thinking of it as bug #2. I believe that advances in one will help gain advances in the other.

I'm open for any positive solutions or stories that you can offer.

Thanks,

-james.

[seijuro]

If you absoultely have to have a windows program for work you can always run it on a virtual machine with vmware. This way you don't need to reboot every time you need to access a windows application. I've had a few jobs that used MS Office and they never required anything that would be difficult to find for a person with experience only in OO.org. I think unless they use a bunch of annoying crap like mail merge and such experience in any computer wordprocessor should be sufficeint.

[Polygon]

i would like to see some evidence that OpenOffice isnt a "true" office program. I took a class in HS that was supposed to "train" us for the corporate world and give us practice using word to make memos, documents, banners, stuff like that

and every single thing that i learned in my class can be done in open office....

[meng]

Egads, experience with MS Office can be gained in a 30-minute class on the subject. And previous Openoffice users would learn very little in such a class. That rare breed of potential employee who has only ever savored OO.o should look the prospective employee in the eye and say that they DO have MS Office experience AND OO.o experience. Problem solved.

[IYY]

I've showed Open Office to my dad, who is an engineer and the owner of a small company. He uses all of the most advanced features of Microsoft Office and has been using it for years, but he managed to find all of the features in Open Office within minutes. I am sure that an expert in Open Office will be able to find the features in Microsoft Office just as quickly (unless it's Office 2007 which drastically changed the interface).

Of course, some people just memorize where the tools are, but that's a whole other story.

[muguwmp67]

Personally, with regards to employment opportunities, I think that someone with 'only' Open Office experience should spend an hour or two in a computer lab with word to boost their confidence, then engage in a little exageration on their job application/resume. Their future employer will never know the difference.

They should still mention Open Office on their job apps though. Their employer wil likely ask them about it, and even if they don't use Linux, they are bound to know what it is. Even if its not necessary for the job, I think the majority of interviewers would put down extra marks in the PC literacy column.

[jamesstansell]

Thanks for your replies.

Where I was really trying to go with my question is probably closer to "advocacy to non-geeks". That is, for folks who just don't get these thoughts that seem so reasonable to us.

I'm going to have think through this some more. Then I'll either update my post or simply create a new one.

-james.

[muguwmp67]

Start saying "I don't know. My system doesn't crash." when they start asking you PC questions.

[shareMenaPeace]

Arguments

free
regulary updates
relativly safe
compatible with ms-office

[aysiu]

If you learn principles instead of programs, you will be a far better asset to your potential employer than the person who learns only programs.

I didn't use MS Office until after college, and yet I'm employable and now use MS Office every day for work. The word processors I used growing up don't even exist any more...

[rko618]

I know people who think that because they know how to use MS-Office that they "are good with computers".

Honestly, you can consider your Open Office experience synonymous to MS Office experience. If there is anything advanced that the employer wants you to do in MS Office they will show you how to do it.

[aysiu]

Most people I know who say they "know" MS Office can type, bold, change fonts, tab, and add bullet points to a Word document. They really don't know any more than can be done in OpenOffice... or even Wordpad, to be honest.