The only dedicated NTTP newsgroup that I see on my news server is
alt.pl.comp.os.linux.openoffice
but it does not seem to involve posts in English. The OP could try
comp.apps.spreadsheets
Or, the Open Office web page
http://support.openoffice.org/index.html
does indicate some mailing lists and a discussion site that the OP could
join.

Since I downloaded it for numerical comparisons, I haven't discarded OO
as quickly as you did, but I agree that even the OO 2.0 interface is
nowhere near as friendly as Excel.

Jerry

Jon Peltier wrote:

>>I don't know of any openoffice newsgroups
>>
>
> Sorry, I was being obnoxious. I don't know of any such groups, though they
> must exist. Google may help. I've only used OO for about a half hour one
> time. Took much longer to download, install, and uninstall than I had the
> patience for testing. This was a version or two ago, and it was pretty
> amateurish at the time. I've heard it's made great strides, but I've also
> heard it still can't hold a candle to Excel.
>
> - Jon