New Computers
We have new computers on the service counters of the
library that are a little different than other computers
you might have used on campus. The operating system and
office software are slightly different than the
Microsoft products you are probably familiar with.
On the desktop,
Mozilla Firefox is the default Web browser for
accessing the Internet. In addition there are three
other icons for creating various documents with the Open
Office Suite.
Open Office Writer - Comparable to Microsoft Word. In
addition to the standard features you would expect from
a word processor, Open Office Writer can also export your
document to a PDF. Files can also be saved as a
Microsoft Word (.doc) file.
Open Office Spreadsheet - Comparable to Microsoft Excel.
Calc provides a number of features not present in Excel,
including a system which automatically defines series
for graphing, based on the layout of the user’s data.
Calc can also export spreadsheets to the PDF format.
 Open
Office Impress - Comparable to PowerPoint. In addition
to having many of the features you might find in
PowerPoint, Open Office Impress can export your
presentation as an Adobe Flash file, allowing you to run
your presentation on any computer with Flash installed.
Presentations created in Impress can also be exported to
a PDF.
Help for each application can be found by pressing F1
within the application itself or by clicking "Help" on
the menu bar. Additional help can be found at the
OpenOffice.org documentation page, and
tutorials can be found here as well.
Open Office is a free,
Open Source software application which can
downloaded and installed on your home computer, free
of charge. Versions are available for Windows XP/Vista/7
or OSX. |
