[NTLUG:Discuss] Office forms

[Kevin Brannen]

Randall Gibson wrote:
> 
> Hello to all :)
>         I have a desire to stop using Star Office to fill out some forms I use for work to close calls/order Parts/Timecard.... Star Office is so extremely slow, it is a burden at often times, and I would like to keep it just for opening a occasional M$ Office document, not for everyday use. The forms are to be faxed in, so format is not a issue.

Yeh, it is a real resource pig.  I suspect that if it were a set of programs
so you ran only what you used instead of 1 huge program, it'd be
reasonable...oh well...

>         Basically all I need, once it is set up, is to tab to a few designated fields, fill in the blanks, choose from a couple drop down menu's for trouble codes, and check a few boxes for other options. This is to make it compatable with the M$ doc form my company sent me to do these tasks. It took quite awhile to get it setup in Star Office (I opted to use a database to track parts) and I am not happy with the results. Takes longer to open Star Office and then the form than it takes to fill it out.
>         I have tried Abiword, and it is missing several features I need. Hopefully later :)
>         Thanks for any input on this subject.

Part of me hates to say this, but have you considered running Vmware and
running the M$ software under that?  There are a couple of M$ programs I can't
quite give up yet either, due to there being no Linux equivalent.  That works
pretty well for me, though part of me hates to continue using the M$ stuff (as
I want Linux to be more successful on the desktop).

HTH,
Kevin