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October 21st, 2005

OpenOffice.org 2.0 is here, but is it a pig?

Posted by George Ou @ 2:38 am

Categories: Infrastructure

Tags:

OpenOffice.org 2.0 is finally out with much fanfare, but is it a memory and resource hog?  This is what I was wondering when I did this shootout last month between Microsoft Excel 2003 and OpenOffice.org 1.1.4 Calc.  The backers of  OpenOffice.org immediately complained that I didn’t test their new OpenOffice.org Beta2.  I immediately added the Beta2 results, and then the backers of OpenOffice.org complained that I was comparing Beta software to production software.  Now that OpenOffice.org 2.0 is finally out, I’ve put it to the test again to see if the shipping version really makes a difference.

File creation and file load times for Excel and Calc:

  Calc 2.0 ODS Calc 2.0 SXC Excel 2003 XLS Excel 2003 XML Excel 2003 ZIP XML
Create 179 sec 184 sec 1 sec 13 sec 18 sec
Load 141 sec 161 sec 2 sec 38 sec 47 sec
RAM used 234,496 KB 232,932 KB 89,164
KB		 41,980
KB		 NA

Note: ZIP XML isn’t an actual file format, it’s just a zipped Microsoft XML file.  The next version of Office 12 will use a compressed XML format so ZIP XML is meant to simulate compressed XML.  Since SXC and ODS are compressed XML formats, this also makes the comparison times fair.  You can download this compressed 16-sheet MS-XML file and run the tests on your own.  OpenOffice.org users can download this 16-sheet SXC if they just want to test OpenOffice.org Calc performance.  Both files have identical data.

As you can see, OpenOffice.org and XML in general is extremely slow compared to the native Microsoft XLS binary file format.  Not only is it slow, it also chews up the CPU.  My computer happens to be a 3.4 GHz hyper threaded processor and the physical CPU was being taxed at 100% during the 2 to 3 minutes it took to open the OpenOffice.org Open Document files.  Had this been a lesser CPU, the file load and creation times would have been much lower.

The other big issue is how much RAM OpenOffice.org Calc takes to have the exact same data loaded as Microsoft Excel.  OpenOffice.org is clearly a CPU and Memory hog.  To get an idea of how much memory the entire OpenOffice.org suite takes, I did this memory footprint comparison of all the Office applications.

Memory requirements of base application (no data load):

Application Memory footprint Processes measured
Write 37,660 KB soffice.bin & soffice.exe
Calc 37,544 KB soffice.bin & soffice.exe
Impress 44,788 KB soffice.bin & soffice.exe
Base 36,036 KB soffice.bin & soffice.exe
Word 9,812 KB WinWord.exe
Excel 7,102 KB Excel.exe
PowerPoint 6,884 KB PowerPNT.exe
Access 7,302 KB MSAccess.exe

As you can see, OpenOffice.org takes up a lot more RAM to load than Microsoft Office applications.  While it’s true that the OpenOffice.org applications will share memory with each other, Microsoft Office applications will also share RAM with each other.  RAM consumption rises rapidly for both Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org as soon as data is loaded, OpenOffice.org still takes significantly more RAM than Microsoft Office.  The difference in memory utilization is shown in both the bare application comparison and even more so with the large 16-sheet spreadsheet loaded.  Also note that the Base application requires Java Runtime Engine for many of its features so the RAM requirement shoots even higher.

I’ve emailed OpenOffice.org last month asking them if they would like to explain the severe performance difference but I haven’t heard anything back yet.

George Ou is Technical Director of ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.

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  • Most Recent of 322 Talkback(s)
How wrong you are
Hi,I just replied to Mr Ou on this.

I have been using OpenOffice for about ten months. I changed when I could not get an answer to a mysterious problem that hit the day after MS reported the en... (Read the rest)
Posted by: Stovies Posted on: 01/24/07 You are currently: a Guest | | Terms of Use
Ram $ Software $  knisch | 10/21/05
What about the speed  george_ou | 10/21/05
Your results are bogus  Chad_z | 10/24/05
Wow what did you do to your system?  Yensi717 | 10/24/05
tested it myself  HiRezL | 10/28/05
Nice work  ajole | 11/01/05
Try this...  duane.wills@... | 11/01/05
a non MS product a resource hog.. Oh no.  jimk_z | 11/01/05
OpenOffice is slow...  Twey | 12/31/05
Your results are bogus  JohnK_z | 11/01/05
1000 Donkeys  Smarty_Pantz | 10/24/05
WTF  knisch | 10/27/05
The TRUE numbers  ecbpro | 10/21/05
Not using emulation on OpenOffice.org  george_ou | 10/21/05
Agreed... Who cares (NT)  ju1ce | 10/21/05
I think the point...  Rokstar83 | 10/21/05
OSA.EXE  PB_z | 10/21/05
I disable all quickstart cheats  george_ou | 10/21/05
Does MSCONFIG also turn off and reverse the built-in disk optimizations? nt  Anti_Zealot | 10/22/05
Which disk optimizations are you referring to? (NT)  PB_z | 10/25/05
Faster disk access for frequently ran executables (nt)  Anti_Zealot | 10/27/05
I tried loading the same doc in Open Office and Office  mdsmedia | 10/23/05
killing the pig?  ecbpro | 10/24/05
Figures probably are misleading, your file certainly is!  AlexHudson | 10/21/05
Alex is correct  BitTwiddler | 10/21/05
The real test  Yagotta B. Kidding | 10/21/05
Good methodology  Justin James | 10/21/05
XML utility  Yagotta B. Kidding | 10/21/05
Not App load speed!  george_ou | 10/21/05
JUST one test makes one app better?  mdsmedia | 10/23/05
So show us your test results.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 10/21/05
Why bother?  IT_User | 10/21/05
I deal with large files all the time, and I do saves every few minutes  george_ou | 10/21/05
Large files all the time....  ju1ce | 10/21/05
Performance log files  george_ou | 10/21/05
Analyzing...  ju1ce | 10/21/05
I suppose one of your future articles will tell  B.O.F.H. | 10/21/05
I agree 100%  ju1ce | 10/21/05
Forgot to mention...  ju1ce | 10/21/05
Way to make friends  george_ou | 10/21/05
Alienating people...  ju1ce | 10/21/05
Quite an achievement, ju1ce  IT_User | 10/21/05
Objectivelly cynical  rarsa | 10/21/05
If I dish it.. I gotta learn to take it right?  ju1ce | 10/21/05
Objectivelly cynical  rarsa | 10/21/05
Who's talking about databases?  george_ou | 10/21/05
I so agree with you  B.O.F.H. | 10/21/05
To BOFH...  ju1ce | 10/21/05
to Ju1ce  B.O.F.H. | 10/21/05
I think that every one is right  IceTheNet@... | 10/26/05
Face the facts?  IT_User | 10/21/05
Ordinary folks  Mark Miller | 10/21/05
Extraordinary folks  IceTheNet@... | 10/26/05
So how long does it take you to save  mdsmedia | 10/23/05
What did you think "create" means?  george_ou | 10/23/05
Interesting how you say I'm wrong yet you don't provide your numbers  george_ou | 10/21/05
Big file!  mastman | 10/26/05
Hmm. Must not be used for real work then  Mark Miller | 10/21/05
Correction  Mark Miller | 10/21/05
use the proper tool for the job  IceTheNet@... | 10/26/05
doesn't represent real-world content ?  stan@... | 10/21/05
I agree it isn't for everyone  IceTheNet@... | 10/26/05
The practical implications  IT_User | 10/21/05
Code Fork Inevitable  opensourcepro | 10/21/05
That thing called "KOffice"  Zogg | 10/21/05
Yabbut  Yagotta B. Kidding | 10/21/05
And how about any other office-application that supports ODF?  Zogg | 10/21/05
You misunderstand me  Yagotta B. Kidding | 10/21/05
Fair enough; it's just that this whole article sounds like "sour grapes"  Zogg | 10/21/05
Ever use KOffice?  balsover | 10/21/05
See Yagotta B's comments on KOffice  george_ou | 10/21/05
Why not start with OO?  georgep_z | 10/22/05
XLS is de facto standard  george_ou | 10/22/05
There's your biggest problem  mdsmedia | 10/23/05
Yes, that would be called 3.0 happy  balsover | 10/21/05
Gnumeric  HiRezL | 10/28/05
Hilarious....  ju1ce | 10/21/05
I get 200MB files regularly...  Justin James | 10/21/05
Regularily?  ju1ce | 10/21/05
If they aren't doing conversions...  ju1ce | 10/21/05
100 MB Memos  voska | 10/21/05
Alright...  ju1ce | 10/21/05
I don't think you're a real world example  IT_User | 10/21/05
Real World = Big Files  ZappBrannigan | 10/21/05
YOUR real world  IT_User | 10/21/05
The problem is...  ju1ce | 10/21/05
The problem is scalability -- OO.org doesn't have it  PB_z | 10/21/05
Food for thought.  dayjm | 10/21/05
A 16-bit row index?  Mark Miller | 10/21/05
Why not use a db?  Mark Miller | 10/21/05
You are why people hate IT  garthjh | 11/01/05
Agreed w Garth, and more real-world examples  jp.prieto@... | 12/29/05
I don't think this is a true measure either...  Physco Dude | 10/21/05
Not the desired result  whisperycat | 10/21/05
ObQuirk  Yagotta B. Kidding | 10/21/05
According to his bio  IT_User | 10/21/05
I owe George Ou a retraction then ...  whisperycat | 10/21/05
Only one possible conclusion  Arthas | 10/21/05
Sometimes  Yagotta B. Kidding | 10/21/05
No, there are many possible conclusions  IT_User | 10/21/05
and in the OO 2.x case you get MUCH MORE since you don't pay anything and  michael_t | 10/21/05
Like some things in this world...  ju1ce | 10/21/05
You get functionality....  danielb34@... | 10/21/05
Give it time  movie-crew | 10/24/05
Open Office is quite reasonable  masinick@... | 10/31/05
Although it is often not the case with Linux users  balsover | 10/21/05
Free as in beer  Yagotta B. Kidding | 10/21/05
And just how many of the normal end-users use IC design software?  balsover | 10/21/05
As many as work with 200 mb spreadsheets?  IT_User | 10/21/05
Admit it. We're all a bunch of wierdos! =8-P  Mark Miller | 10/21/05
Linux not hard  movie-crew | 10/24/05
Not exactly  movie-crew | 10/24/05
I get what I pay for?  beaner1111@... | 10/27/05
Don't know how many are interested...  dsentman@... | 10/21/05
Oops, I spoke too soon...  dsentman@... | 10/21/05
I create large files ...  netman_z | 10/21/05
What you are missing..  Patrick Jones | 10/21/05
Purge is your friend!  Scrat | 10/25/05
My own experience  CobraA1 | 10/21/05
Optimizations  Yagotta B. Kidding | 10/21/05
careful with the swap file  balsover | 10/21/05
Thanks for the warning  Yagotta B. Kidding | 10/21/05
Physical limitations  balsover | 10/21/05
I'm using Windows XP, by the way  CobraA1 | 10/22/05
it appears  glocks out | 10/21/05
It's FUD because you don't like what you read?  balsover | 10/21/05
It's FUD because it's false propaganda  IT_User | 10/21/05
It is not FUD, it is a difference of opinion  balsover | 10/21/05
It is a difference of APPLICABILITY  IT_User | 10/21/05
You're entitled to a copy of Office 2003 at home  george_ou | 10/21/05
I know that, George  IT_User | 10/21/05
APPLICABILITY?  balsover | 10/21/05
There is no need to get personal, balsover  IT_User | 10/21/05
Leave him in peace  Mark Miller | 10/21/05
it's not opinion that's different  glocks out | 10/26/05
Hmmm Can't say I've seen the same results  voska | 10/21/05
OO.o is native Win32 code  george_ou | 10/21/05
Libraries...  ju1ce | 10/21/05
You call that Programming?  balsover | 10/21/05
In agreement...  ju1ce | 10/21/05
What you said  balsover | 10/21/05
In response...  ju1ce | 10/21/05
Doesn't matter  m1-garande-facelift | 10/22/05
There Is No Such Thing as A Free Lunch  DerekBerube | 10/21/05
Partial confirmation  Yagotta B. Kidding | 10/21/05
I know office...  Nekow42 | 10/21/05
Don't need to be super precise when it's that big a difference  george_ou | 10/21/05
Wouldn't we want this validation?  tony@... | 10/24/05
Real World?  aulax@... | 10/21/05
Look to the original shootout  george_ou | 10/21/05
Right, right.... the VERY VERY THIN PRICE and the VERY GOOD FUNCTIONALITY  michael_t | 10/21/05
To make your presentation meaningful, you need to  michael_t | 10/21/05
not my findings  glocks out | 10/21/05
You're talking about a different issue  george_ou | 10/21/05
I don't think that is what he means..  Patrick Jones | 10/24/05
different issue?  glocks out | 10/26/05
Not true...  just^me | 10/23/05
not true?  glocks out | 10/26/05
Question your numbers.  sysop-dr | 10/21/05
Bull (nt)  george_ou | 10/21/05
Use 80% rule  davidc_z | 10/21/05
That's what I've been saying since George started on his whole..  ju1ce | 10/21/05
Yes it does, delays add up  george_ou | 10/21/05
Well in that case...  ju1ce | 10/21/05
But what about different sized files  ramien@... | 10/21/05
Very simple - just reduce to 8/4 sheets  george_ou | 10/21/05
re  CobraA1 | 10/22/05
More power to you  george_ou | 10/22/05
re  CobraA1 | 10/23/05
Correction  george_ou | 10/23/05
But context matters  georgep_z | 10/22/05
OO is also cross-platform  Iain_Peters | 10/23/05
no it doesn't you should look at statistical design of experiments  hipparchus2001 | 10/24/05
Geroge, what about what the average user does in OpenOffice?  George Jay | 10/21/05
George can't answer your question  IT-sys | 10/22/05
It's not a question of can't; he won't ...  George Jay | 10/23/05
The silence is deafening  Fred Fredrickson | 10/24/05
IMO, this writer is doubtfully wrong  deltatux | 10/21/05
Other Benchmark Question  DannyO_0x98 | 10/21/05
Should've said...  Mark Miller | 10/21/05
I doubt it  george_ou | 10/21/05
Don't be fooled  Fred Fredrickson | 10/24/05
The matter of slowness  Mark Miller | 10/24/05
Also count multiple saves when working on a file  george_ou | 10/25/05
Making a point  Mark Miller | 10/25/05
MS XML is also very slow, but still a couple times better than ODS  george_ou | 10/27/05
Auto recover function  felix.rommel | 10/27/05
The first problem with his tests....  ju1ce | 10/24/05
Why ignoring all other features?  jtsdata@... | 10/22/05
Is Open Office for you?  xyz10_z | 10/22/05
More, more!  broper | 10/22/05
Thanks  george_ou | 10/22/05
Who Cares  D-T-Schmitz | 10/22/05
That's one perspective  george_ou | 10/22/05
Very Wrong !!  George Jay | 10/24/05
Have you noticed some of the other columnists on here doing that?  Mark Miller | 10/24/05
What about large number of formulas...  nagodi | 10/22/05
Prove it - post the file or email it to me  george_ou | 10/22/05
Prove it - post the file or email it to me  Gvanwinkle | 10/22/05
You can make the data up  george_ou | 10/22/05
Bogus data is going in your way  nagodi | 10/23/05
I'm waiting for you  george_ou | 10/23/05
File problem  nagodi | 10/24/05
nagodi, cop out !!  George Jay | 10/24/05
Well then I have to chock it up as rumor  george_ou | 10/24/05
Can?t be George  nagodi | 10/24/05
I'm surprised  pinawabrad | 10/22/05
Misleading a biased  m1-garande-facelift | 10/22/05
Not using Athlon  george_ou | 10/22/05
a product that can be used for 3 to 10 years before an upgrade is necessary  xyz10_z | 10/23/05
Who says you can't?  george_ou | 10/23/05
poor little george_ou  No_Brain_To_Think | 10/22/05
Is OpenOffice 2/0 a Pig  EvermoreSW | 10/22/05
The pre-load business is nonsense.  george_ou | 10/23/05
no, it isn't.  CobraA1 | 10/23/05
Stop cutting me off while quoting me  george_ou | 10/23/05
Strange  CobraA1 | 10/23/05
You keep cutting me off  george_ou | 10/23/05
Microsoft's Philosophy....  ju1ce | 10/24/05
It would be funny if it weren't true  george_ou | 10/24/05
Then how do you explain 95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista?  ju1ce | 10/25/05
funny  CobraA1 | 10/26/05
Okay... let's whine.  neonoid16 | 10/27/05
Who needs a swap file?  duane.wills@... | 11/01/05
Why is it that others can write tight code?  george_ou | 10/23/05
are you saying all of ms code it tight?  JasonL31 | 10/24/05
I think that is what he is saying....  ju1ce | 10/24/05
Never said that  george_ou | 10/24/05
.Net is better than Java? Can you prove it?  jtsdata@... | 10/24/05
.Net code is a little less bloated  george_ou | 10/25/05
To be fair  Mark Miller | 10/25/05
Quite simple really...  ju1ce | 10/25/05
Is George Ou a pig?  fcassia2005 | 10/23/05
Typical George Ou Headline  mdsmedia | 10/23/05
More light, less fight.  broper | 10/23/05
Thanks, let me know if they respond to you  george_ou | 10/23/05
A Pig Indeed...  Yzowl | 10/23/05
Speed ?  J.T._z | 10/23/05
Slow OO.o re:george ou  ruadv8 | 10/23/05
Try my sample  george_ou | 10/23/05
How many pages of the document does MS Office load?  Iain_Peters | 10/23/05
Maybe you're just reaching for straws  george_ou | 10/23/05
Something must be going on...  Patrick Jones | 10/24/05
Ok prove it  george_ou | 10/24/05
Try it  bampcs | 10/23/05
OpenOffice is Great  JasonL31 | 10/24/05
Please read my "story"...  MDobsik | 10/28/05
Ou-wee!  An_Axe_to_Grind | 10/24/05
You are forgetting one thing....  ebeli | 10/24/05
what about the cost of waiting  davismw@... | 10/24/05
if you employ 30 people to work with 100meg excel files all day  hipparchus2001 | 10/24/05
Bulls***  Chad_z | 10/24/05
File creation times  nagodi | 10/24/05
Let's stop the quibbles, the results don't look good  geewhizbang | 10/24/05
Butt only "IF" you have a need for such huge tasks.  Laff | 10/24/05
uhh ohh unscientific extension of dodgy data  hipparchus2001 | 10/24/05
I am not that big of a fan of word, but  geewhizbang | 10/25/05
no it isn't likely. You simply don't have enough data to say that  hipparchus2000 | 10/25/05
Memory and C.P.U. Hog... OH PLEASE!  The Rifleman | 10/25/05
For the simplest tasks only  rsawoseyin | 10/26/05
Maybe try using the app for what it was intended for?  mhdomino | 10/27/05
Don't think your problems were due to OO  european | 10/27/05
automagic load at startup  Rafael Ribeiro | 10/26/05
No I never to preload cheats  george_ou | 10/27/05
Open Office VS MS Office  davejyd@... | 10/26/05
I I opened (from zero) Calc with ods file in Hebrew (31.1 Kb) in less then  yoramfr@... | 10/27/05
Statistical evidence it rains more in NY than London  interoperate | 10/27/05
You are a shill!  somedudehere | 10/27/05
I'm sure this was asked, but...  karynbee | 10/27/05
Horrible Article  mhdomino | 10/27/05
load of bull  DemonX | 10/27/05
by the way  DemonX | 10/27/05
You are unfortunately correct  wbeebe | 10/27/05
OpenOffice.org 2.0 is here, but is it a pig?  mark.hein@... | 10/27/05
OpenOffice.org 2.0  ngigiwaithaka | 10/27/05
Ignorant:Need to test on Linux,UNIX also.  top_iguana | 10/27/05
And the question is.... ___________  eric.pederson@... | 10/27/05
Microsoft XML isn't really XML  Bob/Paul | 10/27/05
Definitely not a pig  ACM3 | 10/27/05
Message has been deleted.  ACM3 | 10/27/05
From the experiance of one unlucky OO 2.0 user  MDobsik | 10/28/05
Apologies for keying mistakes!  MDobsik | 10/28/05
a different way to do it  ninesky01 | 10/28/05
Even if the article wasnt a lie  RompeRatones | 10/28/05
Unfortunately I must agree-A Pig it is. How about some real code?  Irritated User | 10/29/05
OpenOffice 2 is a Pig... We need REAL code--not junk!  Irritated User | 10/29/05
Correction -- Read This Version Instead  Irritated User | 10/29/05
Memory Test for Word, Excel WAY OFF  crescentdave | 10/29/05
So what  Otto_Delete | 10/30/05
MISSED THE ENTIRE ISSUE!!! PERFORMANCE DOESN'T MATTER! product MS = good!  Valis Keogh | 10/31/05
Then you cannot use it in a business  osreinstall | 10/31/05
OO good for business.  Narg | 12/29/05
Not sure why people feel so strongly about this  sctang73@... | 10/31/05
If Microsoft supports opendoc, excel will take forever to load, too.  netnerdo@... | 10/31/05
OOps, parent should have been posted to: http://blogs.zdnet.com/Ou/?p=120  netnerdo@... | 10/31/05
SAD Truth: OO Simply Not Wanted by End Users  PMC-CON | 10/31/05
i can sympathize  sctang73@... | 11/01/05
users are stupid (nt)  glocks out | 11/01/05
the reason they don't want it---  foxcole | 04/01/06
just saying...  lbreton | 11/01/05
Just doing a review - you still have a choice.  it@... | 11/01/05
Comparing MSOffice to OpenOffice is like Notepad to WordPerfect  duane.wills@... | 11/01/05
Who really cares?  GetReal-mac.com | 11/01/05
Fleecing  gaelicfog@... | 11/01/05
Hogwash a Microsoft Kisser  gaelicfog@... | 11/01/05
slow as hell? XML?  allen_n | 11/01/05
It's FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE  knightcrawler@... | 11/01/05
Editor (blogger) not doing very good reasoning  zdnet reader | 11/01/05
Editor (blogger) not doing very good reasoning  zdnet reader | 11/01/05
Are you serious?  george_ou | 11/02/05
Another slice of the pie  zdnet reader | 11/02/05
What exactly is the issue here?  Martin.Taylor@... | 11/02/05
Open Office 2.0 - Not bad  ITTech001 | 12/29/05
I'll take the FREE pig!  Pazooza | 12/29/05
Is this a marketing ploy?  Middle of the Road | 12/29/05
Office uses Windows DLL's so mem wrong...  Narg | 12/29/05
I agree.,..sort of.  fwood_4@... | 12/30/05
Of course it's slow, you're forcing it to translate from MS format  critic-at-arms | 03/31/06
The last word...  Airwolph | 03/31/06
Message has been deleted.  slack9999 | 07/07/06
Microsoft vs the others  Stovies | 01/24/07
How wrong you are  Stovies | 01/24/07

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