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April 27th, 2007

MS Office 2007 versus Open Office 2.2 shootout

Posted by George Ou @ 3:00 am

Categories: Desktop, Microsoft, News

Tags: OpenOffice, Microsoft Office, Microsoft Corp., OpenOffice.org, George Ou

After yesterday's blog about the relevance of feature bloat, I figured that I would follow up with some quantitative analysis on the performance characteristics to measure resource bloat. This isn't the first time I've measured Office CPU and memory consumption of Microsoft Office and Open Office. I have a whole series on it dating back to 2005. This time, I'm pitting Microsoft-backed OOXML (Office Open XML) versus the OASIS-backed ODF (OpenDocument) format with Microsoft Office 2007 and Open Office 2.2.

Before I start, I'm going to disclose the hardware, OS, and software I'm using to measure these two Office suites.

Hardware:

  • Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13
  • 2 GB DDR2-800
  • ATI X800 PCI-Express Video Card
  • 500 GB SATA-II hard drive housing the sample files

OS and software:

  • Windows Vista
  • Microsoft Sysinternals Process Explorer (resource measurement)
  • Microsoft Office 2007
  • OpenOffice.org 2.2

 

Baseline measurements for opening Application
Application

CPU time (milliseconds)

 Memory

Number of I/O
Kernel User Total Peak KB Read Write Other
MS Excel 234 328 562 24308 14 10 1422
OO.o Calc 625 593 1218 47788 364 12 13106
MS Word 171 390 562 31776 136 13 1957
OO.o Writer 343 687 1031 46700 365 8 13120
PowerPoint 250 343 593 27796 14 10 1403
Impress 484 843 1328 52804 921 16 14849
MS Access 484 531 1015 25836 12 9 967
OO.o Base 781 906 1687 49984 1708 176 22832

Office 2007 base memory consumption went up significantly compared to the Office 2003 I measured last year, but it's still significantly less than OpenOffice.org 2.2.  Some of the OpenOffice.org applications, like Base, require Java to run, and the memory consumption spikes over 70 megabytes as soon as you start navigating in the interface. However, the difference between Microsoft and OpenOffice.org base resource consumption has gotten smaller. Next, we test the CPU and memory utilization of Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice.org Calc when opening the same 16-sheet test file.

 

Opening large spreadsheet
Application

CPU time (milliseconds)

 Memory

Number of I/O
Kernel User Total Peak KB Read Write Other
XLS (MS) 265 2046 2312 115548 39 17 2376
XLSX (MS) 296 12406 12703 65548 687 19 1854
ODS (OO.o) 968 58875 59843 253680 899 22 15822

Comparison of OpenOffice.org versus Office 2007 resource consumption

From these results, we can see that the OpenOffice.org ODF XML parser (while vastly improved) is still about 5 times slower than Microsoft's OOXML parser.  OpenOffice.org also seems to consume nearly 4 times the amount of RAM to hold the same data.  While OpenOffice.org continues to have fewer features than Microsoft Office, it continues to consume far more resources than Microsoft.

Even though these results still show drastic differences in CPU and memory consumption between MS Office 2007 and OpenOffice.org 2.2, it's not as extreme as the results measured last year. It would appear that OpenOffice.org 2.2 has gotten significantly better than version 2.0, but it still has a lot to work on. The official OpenOffice.org performance-tuning wiki is tracking some of these improvements. I praise their recent efforts and hope they keep it up because it will only bring more competition to the table. So while I may still consider OpenOffice.org a resource pig, the pig has definitely lost some weight.

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

  • Talkback
  • Most Recent of 306 Talkback(s)
RE: MS Office 2007 versus Open Office 2.2 shootout
I have a 2GHz dual core processor and when I am printing a large Word 2007 document it turns into a processor hog. Trying to run any other applications at the same time is totally frustrating. I thou... (Read the rest)
Posted by: Stuarte Posted on: 02/26/09 You are currently: a Guest | | Terms of Use
Agree but...  Wingsbr | 04/27/07
That is the point, with today's hardware, the average user will feel the  DonnieBoy | 04/30/07
where are the test files?  D. T. Schmitz | 04/27/07
I agree...  bportlock | 04/27/07
Typical for business use  jshaw4343 | 04/27/07
This might interest you  bportlock | 04/27/07
I completely concur with his statements...  ju1ce | 04/27/07
Then I guess my execel are not HUGE!  BroGnorik | 04/27/07
Again..  ju1ce | 04/27/07
I am impressed  dragosani | 04/27/07
That is the worst way to use excel..  ju1ce | 04/27/07
And there you have it  D. T. Schmitz | 04/27/07
er ah (Rain Man)  D. T. Schmitz | 04/27/07
30MB is routine  jshaw4343 | 04/27/07
Even 20-30 megs  ju1ce | 04/27/07
One has to use a file of sufficient size ...  slwerner | 04/27/07
Finally, some perspective  bobsherrill@... | 04/27/07
OO.o also provied tools to reduce filesize  shis-ka-bob | 04/29/07
Dang fast HD, doncha' think?  NoCalDrummer | 04/30/07
2 seconds is for the 50 MB XLS file  georgeou | 05/01/07
Yes please...  lenohere | 04/27/07
Actually, YOU are the only one whining on here  Scrat | 04/27/07
Actually...  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
Just like last year  TripleII | 04/27/07
Why don't you do your own independent study  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
Simply because GEORGE is the blogger...  mdsmedia | 04/27/07
No, as I said,  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
pregnant panda bears???? spaceships??  andrej770 | 04/30/07
Who is Office Milleage Champ?  i2fun@... | 04/27/07
Google?  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
Pot, Kettle - Black!!!  I am Gorby | 04/29/07
Fine to question it, but you need to provide your own numbers  georgeou | 04/27/07
Good point  FatherJ | 04/30/07
Yup, that's all it says  georgeou | 04/30/07
Ok?  dragosani | 04/27/07
Well  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
It wouldn't change your view  dragosani | 04/27/07
Well, if nothing else...  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
No write up of George's methods sad  dragosani | 04/27/07
Sorry for Delay  TripleII | 04/28/07
ok, so you work at or are  xuniL_z | 04/29/07
They're the same ones I always used, but I haven't converted them yet  georgeou | 04/27/07
???  D. T. Schmitz | 04/27/07
I did convert them  georgeou | 04/27/07
Are you...  D. T. Schmitz | 04/28/07
Read the blog, I clearly stated that I ran ODS and XLSX  georgeou | 04/28/07
Nice article George  Scrat | 04/27/07
But.....  lenohere | 04/27/07
Ouch!, get over yourself first  Scrat | 04/27/07
What are you babbling about...  fr0thy2. | 04/27/07
Don't think Calc uses Java  georgeou | 04/27/07
Also, you'll note that OO.o has improved a lot since last year  georgeou | 04/27/07
Lovely, George, but what about filesize  mdsmedia | 04/27/07
Oh yeah big advantage here....  lenohere | 04/27/07
George has "form" on this issue  bportlock | 04/27/07
I'm not talking about file size here..  lenohere | 04/27/07
LInux and Office  bportlock | 04/27/07
Exactly my point  mdsmedia | 04/27/07
well...  fencer | 04/27/07
Really?  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
I suggest YOU learn to read  bportlock | 04/27/07
Wine Is Not an Emulator  NetArch. | 04/27/07
RE: Wine Is Not an Emulator  bmonster | 04/27/07
I'll try to run some crossover tests  georgeou | 04/27/07
A Suggestion  Hrothgar - PCLinuxOS User | 04/27/07
They can't open each other's formats yet  georgeou | 04/27/07
Did you read  pmshah@... | 04/27/07
ODF is already a standard. Now they're trying to poison OOXML.  georgeou | 04/28/07
File sizes are normally the same  georgeou | 04/27/07
OO needs improvement here  pjotr123 | 04/27/07
Actually...  ju1ce | 04/27/07
Reparation speed is essential  pjotr123 | 04/27/07
They've gotten much better  georgeou | 04/27/07
BXML  shis-ka-bob | 04/29/07
Hot dogs and pie.  Letophoro | 04/27/07
Beer and Wine  jacarter3 | 04/27/07
Then you do it. Enough of your talk.  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
Again with the belligerence...  jacarter3 | 04/27/07
Why does it matter?  ju1ce | 04/27/07
If you don't know, then it's too late to try  jacarter3 | 04/27/07
I can understand the concern?  ju1ce | 04/27/07
What?  jacarter3 | 04/27/07
We hear you.  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
On another planet now?  jacarter3 | 04/27/07
What is your problem?  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
compare to  merc2dogs` | 11/13/07
Absolutely...  techboy_z | 04/27/07
Maybe someone should do this  glocks out | 04/27/07
So then do it...  No_Ax_to_Grind | 04/27/07
Why should I?  Letophoro | 04/27/07
You claim his methods are wrong, prove it.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 04/28/07
Actually, no  FatherJ | 04/30/07
Well, what do you get already???  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
My results.  Letophoro | 04/27/07
That is where you come in.  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
If you buy or lend me a PC and licensed versions of Windows and Office...  Letophoro | 04/27/07
Ok, I'll do it.  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
You first.  Letophoro | 04/27/07
No can do.  xuniL_z | 04/29/07
Once more, prove his methods are bad.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 04/28/07
I like pie.  dolph0291 | 04/27/07
Would you like some cheese with your whine?  georgeou | 04/27/07
Don't get all snarky now.  Letophoro | 04/27/07
Fact check  georgeou | 04/27/07
Further "FACTS"?  shawkins | 04/27/07
ECMA and ISO  georgeou | 04/28/07
That's the only thing you respond to?  Letophoro | 04/27/07
ODF has way more shortcomings  georgeou | 04/28/07
Shedding Light  D. T. Schmitz | 04/29/07
If it's a done deal, why resort to gutter behavior and poison OOXML?  georgeou | 04/29/07
Also, "you" doesn?t refer to you personally.  georgeou | 04/29/07
Feather in Your Cap  D. T. Schmitz | 04/29/07
Let's look at the facts from the link you posted  georgeou | 04/29/07
Shortcomings of OOXML far more egregious  Letophoro | 04/30/07
ODF Can Handle Anything MSOffice Throws At It  D. T. Schmitz | 04/30/07
Microsoft's stance?  jasonp@... | 04/30/07
Office diet of OS supplement?  martin23 | 04/27/07
Actually you have it reversed  georgeou | 04/27/07
Missing years  martin23 | 04/29/07
Cite the version of MS Office that was EVER slow to load  georgeou | 04/29/07
So time is money? er speed?  xstep | 04/27/07
Pointless comparision  pa2004 | 04/27/07
Maybe so but...  jojoleb@... | 04/27/07
I keep hearing that  TripleII | 04/27/07
PDF  mKind | 04/27/07
Yes, But...  jojoleb@... | 05/25/07
Half backed response  Bruizer | 04/27/07
File opening times  ejb78923 | 04/27/07
File open times are meaningless to me  Bruizer | 04/27/07
MS zealots  AJ-Ubuntu-User | 04/27/07
It is pointless  TripleII | 04/27/07
I don't think anyone cares how you get your work done.  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
What can I report?  TripleII | 04/27/07
I can't speak for anyone else.  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
Around the Mulberry bush we go  dragosani | 04/27/07
Slow or fast - never mind!  aldisp@... | 05/08/07
Performance is important but not the whole story  gigglypuff | 04/27/07
Couldn't say it much better  sullivanjc | 04/27/07
re  dwest_z | 04/27/07
If you don't like my accuracy, post your own numbers  georgeou | 04/27/07
Simply wow  dragosani | 04/27/07
Nothing "unprofessional" about calling a cheap shot a cheap shot.  georgeou | 04/27/07
You don't have to use my advice  dragosani | 04/27/07
Wow you sure know how to dish it out  georgeou | 04/28/07
Like I said  dragosani | 04/30/07
No, you are more like a  xuniL_z | 04/30/07
Good try  dragosani | 04/30/07
Best point yet!  slwerner | 04/27/07
Those companies died because they refused to change from DOS  georgeou | 04/27/07
You are mistaken  pmshah@... | 04/27/07
I remember well  hoozafrizitz | 04/27/07
Wordperfect was crashing a lot in 1999 too  georgeou | 04/28/07
Buggy software  martin23 | 04/29/07
Does antitrust ring a bell?  D. T. Schmitz | 04/29/07
Stop dreaming  georgeou | 04/28/07
Why $ 250/- or $ 300/-  pmshah@... | 04/27/07
Everyone qualifies for OEM  georgeou | 04/29/07
I voted thumbs down ?  not of this world | 04/27/07
Assimilation.. even.  xstep | 04/27/07
Did you?  dragosani | 04/27/07
You get what you pay for ...  mwagner@... | 04/27/07
Foolish  putt1ck | 04/27/07
Re: You get what you pay for ...  none none | 04/27/07
Free is a good price though  nucrash | 04/27/07
Ummm support...  fr0thy2. | 04/27/07
OOo does have a good mailing list  nucrash | 04/27/07
Per Use Costs of the 2?  i2fun@... | 04/27/07
Time for using multiple applications  jdubow@... | 04/27/07
In response to  BroGnorik | 04/27/07
As I said  BroGnorik | 04/27/07
I write quite a lot  olddoglearningnewtricks | 04/27/07
You forgot to factor in all of the other junk you need for MS Office 07  critic-at-arms | 04/27/07
And that matters how?  No_Ax_to_Grind | 04/27/07
Face it  dragosani | 04/27/07
Patch upon patch?  FatherJ | 04/30/07
Nice analysis, George.  Grayson Peddie | 04/27/07
The US Navy is  NetArch. | 04/27/07
I'm not aware of any .NET usage  georgeou | 04/27/07
Oh, okay. Well I do believe that Office uses COM  Grayson Peddie | 04/27/07
Let me check on the ribbon  georgeou | 04/28/07
bottom line, though:  hafizullah@... | 04/27/07
I'm in the same boat..  ju1ce | 04/27/07
IE7 is very nice though compared to FF2  georgeou | 04/27/07
Hardly comparable  boxmonkey | 04/28/07
The bug count is determined by third parties  georgeou | 04/28/07
IE7 is very nice depending on who you talk to?  ju1ce | 04/29/07
Time VS Costs  pauliw25 | 04/27/07
Cross-Platform Problem  ttsay | 04/27/07
I dunno George...  Linux User 147560 | 04/27/07
Does your Linux Box reall matter?  GuidingLight | 04/27/07
Funny  dragosani | 04/27/07
You know what?  Mitch 74 | 04/27/07
Well, My Linux Box...  bobn9lvu@... | 04/27/07
Welll, my Windows box....  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
Proud of you...  hoozafrizitz | 04/27/07
It's not that hard.  xuniL_z | 04/28/07
The Linux box will matter more and more  jdubow@... | 04/27/07
Yes it does  Linux User 147560 | 04/27/07
Think you missed a decimal in your Alias  fr0thy2. | 04/27/07
If that  Linux User 147560 | 04/27/07
I dunno Mad Mac, pls. post links  xuniL_z | 04/27/07
Sorry but I am not posting  Linux User 147560 | 04/27/07
THEn Post This much.  xuniL_z | 04/29/07
Some of the files I use  Linux User 147560 | 04/30/07
LOL  dragosani | 04/27/07
Well well.  xuniL_z | 04/29/07
Post some detailed numbers, not smoke and mirrors  georgeou | 04/27/07
Sorry I am not a magician...  Linux User 147560 | 04/27/07
Oh yeah forgot  Linux User 147560 | 04/27/07
OH YEAh, well well  xuniL_z | 04/29/07
No Smoke No Mirrors  tracy anne | 04/27/07
drag and drop  xuniL_z | 04/29/07
Haha that's funny  nizuse | 04/28/07
No, he admited George was absolutely correct  xuniL_z | 04/29/07
No that is what you interpret...  Linux User 147560 | 04/30/07
Try the tests with security running  aprayzr1 | 04/27/07
Oh come now...  nucrash | 04/27/07
happy  dragosani | 04/27/07
WOW!! 8)  bobn9lvu@... | 04/27/07
Just showing how Media Language can be used  nucrash | 04/27/07
Good Luck!  dragosani | 04/27/07
Test was using OpenOffice 2.2, NOT 2.1....  Deanbar | 04/27/07
That is the real key  dragosani | 04/27/07
As I mentioned, OO.o 2.2 has gotten a lot faster  georgeou | 04/27/07
george's O. vsO.O.  razparker | 04/27/07
What I want to see  Freebird54 | 04/27/07
Again, some cheese with your whine  georgeou | 04/27/07
Actually...  ju1ce | 04/29/07
You test extremes to get accurate measurements  georgeou | 04/29/07
Looks Like Office To Me  jabailo1 | 04/27/07
Where have you been?  nucrash | 04/27/07
Microsoft have been lowering the prices......  Deanbar | 04/27/07
Has been lowering  nucrash | 04/27/07
Works for me  Deanbar | 04/27/07
You have *GOT* to be kidding!  KTLA | 04/27/07
Good enough for me  Deanbar | 04/27/07
It appears that you used VISTA for both suites.  Update victim | 04/27/07
You can't be serious  georgeou | 04/27/07
Poor Reporting...  Narg | 04/27/07
File size  DurbanDon | 04/27/07
Rhetorical Question?  dragosani | 04/27/07
On an Apple (Mac OSX 10.4.9  nomorems | 04/27/07
Yea, but OpenOffice is FREE  3dtodd | 04/27/07
OO=free  wizardb@... | 04/27/07
The pig didn't fly.  gotitright | 04/27/07
Having downloaded OO.o and buying Office 2007 myself...  HypnoToad72 | 04/27/07
I was just woindering  pmshah@... | 04/27/07
Message has been deleted.  nomorems | 04/27/07
OOo 2.2 vs MSO 2007  Manzoni | 04/28/07
Insane  Tim Patterson | 04/28/07
Those aren't secret APIs  georgeou | 04/28/07
EIOffice outperforms Office 2003 and 2007  Carl_Liu | 04/28/07
I us OO not MS Products  Uralbas | 04/28/07
Apples and Oranges  Rick_Jelliffe | 04/28/07
How to conduct meaningless tests.  gotitright | 04/28/07
Is this test meaningful?  D. T. Schmitz | 04/28/07
Uh, you did see that these are both XML formats right?  georgeou | 04/28/07
Like I suggested at the top  D. T. Schmitz | 04/28/07
I told you, they're in last year's series, one hyperlink away  georgeou | 04/28/07
For roughly the same price..  pierrejvr | 04/28/07
There's a point of diminishing returns for hardware  georgeou | 04/28/07
Why I switched WP-office from MS-office  AldoWatts | 04/28/07
How about functionality  drpadiyar | 04/28/07
Question for you......  linux for me | 04/28/07
Because it's BLOAT  georgeou | 04/29/07
Well..I disagree...  linux for me | 04/29/07
Had the numbers been reversed, you'd be screaming how bloated MS is  georgeou | 04/29/07
You still don't get it.  linux for me | 04/30/07
Protected environment?  FatherJ | 04/30/07
That's it? Just a speed comparison?  CobraA1 | 04/28/07
Not a bit slow  gotitright | 04/28/07
hmm  Badgered | 05/01/07
And?  TheSchmett | 04/28/07
An Objective Iinpartial Observer/Mike Cox  D. T. Schmitz | 04/29/07
I heard that he is so engrossed  xuniL_z | 04/29/07
What a completely irrelevant review  zaine_ridling | 04/29/07
You mean the OO quickstarter?  FatherJ | 04/30/07
I disabled OO.o quickstarts  georgeou | 04/30/07
Quickstart Cheats!?  shis-ka-bob | 05/02/07
Bullseye.  FatherJ | 04/30/07
This was not a legitimate "shootout"  TechExec2 | 04/30/07
Biased Story; Unethical on journalistic and profesional IT levels  mighetto | 04/30/07
Don't bet anything you can't afford to lose  georgeou | 04/30/07
No  D. T. Schmitz | 04/30/07
that was brief?  Badgered | 05/01/07
How complete is the application?  e24ohm | 04/30/07
Lies, damn lies, and statistics  cls@... | 04/30/07
That's dishonest about OOXML  tboerger@... | 04/30/07
Meaningless Test Results Aside...  D. T. Schmitz | 04/30/07
Testing on MS OS, MS Benchmark tool this is only good to MS suite  FFB | 04/30/07
What I intend to do  georgeou | 05/01/07
Open Office opens .rtf files MUCH faster than does MS Office  thelemite | 05/01/07
Why not run the tests from a Mac?  thelemite | 05/01/07
Excel can't handle my formula  NoCalDrummer | 05/01/07
Yeh Definally. Yeh  D. T. Schmitz | 05/01/07
REAL WORLD IT for George means BUY ONLY Microsoft Warez!!!!!  nomorems | 05/04/07
Use common sense  DaemoenYB | 06/22/07
Now do the same measures on Linux...  ggravier | 07/18/07
Who cares about Linux  Raid6 | 09/21/07
Microsoft Office is always best  Ole Man | 11/24/07
test tools  Soonlar | 12/10/07
I included the link for Process Explorer  georgeou | 12/21/07
LOTUS.WK1 anyone?  Jymbul | 05/27/08
RE: MS Office 2007 versus Open Office 2.2 shootout  WATKINS12@... | 06/13/08
RE: MS Office 2007 versus Open Office 2.2 shootout  jochen@... | 07/24/08
RE: MS Office 2007 versus Open Office 2.2 shootout  Stuarte | 02/26/09

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