The biggest difference that I have seen is the shortcut keys! That
is the only difference!
The other difference I have had is in the database where the MS forms
etc would not imprort

Same functions, but buttons are a little different.

Make sure, if you are going to share the spreadsheet with your Microsoft
co-workers, that you save it as a Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP(.xls) type
file or they won't be able to use it with Excel.

The major difference is that the syntax of the commands is different
and also if using advanced features such as macros then these are very
difficult to import between Open Office and MS Office - then again,
macros can have problems between MS Office versions !!

So a lot depends on how complex a spreadsheet is needed as to how well
it will port between MS Office and Open Office. One thing to note,
save the spreadsheet in MS Office format as the Open Office one will
not even be read otherwise !

The other thing to keep in mind is that basic knowledge transfers. I
started on MS Excel and then move to Linux. So any knowledge you pick up
will help on either Open Office or MS Office. My work uses MS Office
exclusively. There is no funding right now for color laser toner. My boss's
monthly schedule for our unit is multicolored and shaded coded on an Excel
spreadheet. It is a nightmare to read in black and white. She emails it to
me. I open it on an Ubuntu 10.04 system. I have to do minor adjustments to
the formating. She has her defaults set to legal. I shrink it to letter.
Some columns need an extra space for best legibility. And then I print
copies for the bosses and units on my color laser. Easy peasy. No worries.
Just stay away from macros and all is golden.

I thank everyone for your replies. Much of the advice for the time
being is far more advanced than what I'm currently capable of
digesting. I will be looking back on that info later.

My main question is if OpenOffice spreadsheet controls would be easily
understandable on first sight to someone who has only used Excel? I am
looking to get help from her to set up basic addition and subtraction
tables in OO Spreadsheet, but she has only ever used Excel.

The short answer is that anyone who is quite familiar with Excel would
easily recognize the basic structure of the Open Office spreadsheet. They
might not like it as well at first as there are differences, the main one
being incompatible macros - so I'm told, I've never used them myself.

They should however be able to adapt easily, if they are prepared to give it
a fair try. Lets put it this way: OO Spreadsheet is more like Excel than (K)
Ubuntu is Windows.

If someone is used to basic spreadsheet work in Excel then it should
be simple for them to quickly get used to Open Office. If using MS
Office 2007 upwards then the main difference regarding the look is
that there's no 'ribbon' in Open Office - that can be seen as a plus
point or minus, depending on how you feel about the 'ribbon' control
scheme in MS Office

I believe that the answer to that is yes.

Some people work by rote, so if the screen changes at all, they can't cope.
Others actually look at what is on the screen, and they will not notice that
this is not Excel; it just looks like a different version.

There are lots of free online tutorials, such as here:
http://www.baycongroup.com/excel2007/01_excel.htm

If you've ever used an adding machine, you should be able to use a spreadsheet,
with an hour of going through a tutorial. 90% of all spreadsheets use nothing
more than addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, along with sums.
You should be able to master that level of Excel in almost no time.

If your boss is using the basic functions only (formatting, formulas), then
excel and calc are almost identical. However if she is using macros or pivot
tables, then there may be a short reorientation needed.

I believe that http://www.libreoffice.org/
is a more uptodate version of open office,
more compatible with microsoft,
and faster to be updated.

LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice and is not any more up-to-date. Both are
being developed, now separately. There is not much difference other than
branding at this point, but the differences will become more pronounced
through time. OpenOffice is still controlled by Oracle and LibreOffice is
not. Many distros including Ubuntu have embraced LibreOffice over
OpenOffice, but it has more to do with politics than features at this point.

Go to this tutorial site.

www.tutorialsforopenoffice.org/.../...adsheet.html