<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff"> On 14/03/2010 17:48, Robin Bownes wrote: <blockquote cite="mid:1268581714.2643.3.camel@robin-laptop" type="cite"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"> <meta name="GENERATOR" content="GtkHTML/3.28.1"> On Sun, 2010-03-14 at 17:34 +0200, Hannes Coetzee wrote: <blockquote type="CITE"> On 14/03/2010 17:00, Robin Bownes wrote: <blockquote type="CITE"> On Sun, 2010-03-14 at 11:07 +0200, Tim Johnson wrote: <blockquote type="CITE"> <pre>Does this article help? <a moz-do-not-send="true" href="http://linuxtopia.org/online_books/office_guides/microsoft_office_to_openoffice_migration/openoffice_migration_Object_Linking_and_Embedding_%28OLE%29_0602MG-SharingFilesWithMSOUsers.html">http://linuxtopia.org/online_books/office_guides/microsoft_office_to_openoffice_migration/openoffice_migration_Object_Linking_and_Embedding_(OLE)_0602MG-SharingFilesWithMSOUsers.html</a> -- Using Ubuntu 9.10 and Opera 10 </pre> </blockquote> Thanks Tim, I did look at it, and unfortunately, although all of my settings are just as they specify here, Calc can still not even properly convert the OLE object, never-mind open it. Did get my hopes up for a moment though. Unfortunately looking like we'll be losing an Ubuntu convert back to MS due to this since this is something that she will have to be able to do on an ongoing basis for this company </blockquote> Another option - If the box can handle it (1GB+ RAM) run Windows in Virtualbox or VMWare. </blockquote> Thanks Hannes, Have considered that option, but would still mean buying MS Office, etc. The MS Office installed on this PC was from this person's previous life in corporate employment - they are now self-employed. One of the main reasons that they chose to go Linux was the fact that they would not have to buy Office. If she is forced into having to purchase and run Office, then there is really no point in her running Ubuntu. Robin </blockquote> I'd like to point something out though. It is a lot easier to restore a 10GB virtual disk (an icon on the desktop linked to a script that runs cp win.backup to win.disk) than it is to reinstall Windows (unless you use Ghost or something). Virtual machines can be used for a single purpose which makes it a lot less likely to get viruses and the usual wear & tear but you should also consider the amount of your time it's going to take to support such a system. Dual boot is also an option. In most cases it's easier to just leave users on Windows. Hijacking people to Linux doesn't work too well. As long as people know that they have options we've already made a lot of progress. Hannes </body> </html>