Introduction

OpenOffice.org is free, open source software.

The OpenOffice.org logo.

"Free" in this case is more a matter of philosophy than price. I explain free and open source software concepts at greater length in Chapter 12, "OpenOffice.org as a Community Effort." For now, just know that, despite being free, OpenOffice.org is an easy-to-use, professional-quality office software suite that consistently wins rave reviews.

This wealth of features is why this book is laid out the way it is, with lots of short chapters that each cover one OpenOffice.org feature. The accompanying Flash videoson the second CD in the back of the bookfollow the same pattern. Almost all the videos are less than 10 minutes long, and each one covers a single task or a group of simple tasks. Instead of getting a headache from trying to learn too much at once, you can read a few pages, watch a few minutes of video, and then immediately use what you just learned.

This friendly learning style is appropriate for OpenOffice.org, which is called by its nickname OOo instead of its formal name, throughout most of this book.

In fact, let's start using the "OOo" nickname right now. OOo is friendly software you can use while wearing shorts and sandals just as easily as when you're wearing business attire, so we might as well treat it like a friend from the start.