In our “Microsoft Office 2010 vs. Oracle OpenOffice.org, Part 1: Office Suite Power & Simplicity Face Off” article, we focused on basic options users should consider when comparing productivity suites. In this article, we'll take such comparisons to the next level by looking at some extras users should know about before making a purchase decision.

1. Office 2010 has numerous art and graphics features that OpenOffice.org doesn’t have. Office 2010’s graphics enhancement tools are tough to beat.

One such tool, SmartArt, lets users personalize a variety of diagrams—130 of them in all—including organization charts, photo arrangements, graphical lists, process layouts, and pyramids.

Another convenient feature is the background-removal tool, which helps users eliminate distractions in a photo’s background. In addition to several features Microsoft added to make tweaking your graphics and photos easier, its developers also added access to hundreds of ClipArt options.

2. OpenOffice.org doesn’t offer advanced presentation features like Office 2010 does. PowerPoint 2010 includes such advanced graphics enhancement features and video- and audio-editing tools that many users won’t need third-party apps to perform these tasks for presentations. For example, you can place bookmarks in your video clip to draw attention to an animation or remember a specific location in the clip, all without ever exiting the PowerPoint program.

Plus, PowerPoint 2010 also lets its users compare and merge presentations, copy and paste animated effects, turn their mice into laser pointers, co-author presentations via Office Web Apps, and broadcast their slide shows online.

3. Some Office 2010 versions include Outlook, and OpenOffice.org doesn’t include an email client. So far, OpenOffice.org hasn't ventured into the area of email client integration.

Users of Office Home and Business and Office 2010 Professional have the advantage of having instant email and calendar capabilities via integrated access to Outlook, regardless of which Office 2010 app they are using at the moment.

For example, while working on a file in an Office 2010 program, users can quickly choose the Save & Send command from the File menu to email the file they were working on via Microsoft Outlook as an attachment and/or as a link included in an email (when they've already saved the file in a shared location).

Likewise, recipients using Outlook are able to preview Office 2010 files from within their Outlook window without having to switch to another program.

Although OpenOffice.org lets users email documents from within its programs, users will need to install another program to serve as the email client. And if that client doesn't include a calendar, they'll need to install yet another program to have access to those capabilities.

4. OpenOffice.org doesn’t have anything comparable to Office 2010’s OneNote application. Once you use OneNote and discover the convenience of keeping all your ideas, research notes, links, photos, audio and video clips, and other data in one location, you’ll have a hard time adjusting to a productivity suite that doesn’t include it.

For example, OneNote includes several ways in which you can link one note to another and provide direct links to other sources, including online content and files on your computer. For more information, see “Get Organized With OneNote 2010’s Linking Capabilities.”

5. Office 2010 consumes more space and system resources than OpenOffice.org. It’s certainly true that OpenOffice.org requires less space and uses fewer resources than Office 2010, but if you’re using a newer computer, you probably won’t notice this difference.

On the other hand, if you only need basic software to run on your older computer and know you won’t ever use the extra features and formatting options that Office 2010 provides, perhaps OpenOffice.org would be the better option.

Only you can decide what’s best for you when evaluating this category and considering the contrast between the two suites. For individual users, the space and system resources issue will depend on whether Office 2010’s advanced tools and features make completing tasks easier or if having a suite as large as Office 2010 will only make things more complicated by slowing down an older computer.

Diversity Inspires Variety

There’s much more to compare among these two suites than the categories we covered, but ultimately, the decision to use one suite rather than the other (or take advantage of each suite’s features by installing them both) is up to individual users and what they expect from a productivity suite. And because of these differences in preferences among users, we’ll continue to see improvements and competitive changes in both suites for years to come; such diversity usually benefits us all by inspiring more variety.