Open Office will do 99% of what people want. But that 1% makes all the difference, especially to a programmer creating an application needed by a client.
Actually, the only reason I don’t use OpenOffice is that it takes about 3 times as long to start up on my computer as MS Word. And since I use Word about 80% of the time I use Office, with PowerPoint making up most of the remainder, I’d be happy if OpenOffice would keep the core running in the background and let me bring up word processing quickly.
If I could find a good word processor that was compatible with Word format, I’d be content.
Thus far, that 1% includes the unavailability of Evolution in the Windows version. It comes with the Linux version for Ubuntu, but not for Windows.
I still use Office 2000 mainly for the integration of Outlook. If Evolution was integrated in OpenOffice, I'd jump immediately.
Unfortunately, that 1% must be what I use, because I tried to use it and the first day out, couldn’t do something I use all the time. Didn’t go back.
Speaking as a software programmer, I can tell you that it's REALLY important to take care of the needs of the ONE user in Uzbekistan - who just happens to be a corporate VP - who needs that 1% tweak to write the latest company grant.
Of course, he or she'll be down the road in 6 months, but who cares?
Your software is more bloated, and you have a great new subroutine that no one will ever use again, but must be maintained and tripped over for the next 5 years.
This is where bloatware comes from...