Word Processor / Office Dilemma

[pommy1]

Hello

I am the proud owner of a PowerBook G4 15" SuperDrive - what a machine!

I need to buy an Office application and are not sure which direction to go in?

Any advice would be appreciated.....thank you.

Pommy1
Waiheke Island
NZ

[wordmunger]

Hello

I am the proud owner of a PowerBook G4 15" SuperDrive - what a machine!

I need to buy an Office application and are not sure which direction to go in?

Any advice would be appreciated.....thank you.

Pommy1
Waiheke Island
NZ

Well, the first thing you should do is ... wait! for the expected announcement of an Apple Office suite on January 10.

In the meantime, you can try neooffice.org, which offers a usable suite that integrates well will Mac OS X and is free!

If neither of those options end up working based on your needs, there's always the old standby, MS Office.

[pommy1]

[cr2sh]

You could always use Open Office (http://www.openoffice.org/).. or even Neo Office (http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/index.php)


NeoOffice/J is a fully-featured set of office applications (including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and drawing programs) for Mac OS X. Based on the OpenOffice.org office suite, NeoOffice/J has integrated dozens of native Mac features and can import, edit, and exchange files with other popular office programs such as MicrosoftTM Office.

Released as free, open-source software under the GNU General Public License (GPL), NeoOffice/J is fully functional and stable enough for everyday use. The software is actively developed, so improvements and small updates are made available on a regular basis.

It is available for free from the NeoOffice/J download page. (http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/download.php)

Might as well hold out until Apple release's their own!

[Gee]

I know Apple may be just about to release an office type program, and I know there are some free programs out there, and I know it's expensive, but you just can't beat Microsoft Office. Word, Excel, and PowerPoint are really the gold standard, and you can't go wrong with compatibility with our Windows friends.

[James Craner]

If you need compatibility with MS Office for Windows then get the Mac version, which I think is better than the Windows version. If you don't need to share Word and Excel files with windows users then I would wait a week as Apple are expected to announce a significant upgrade to their Appleworks product.

[CaNMaC]

Another vote for NeoOffice. I prefer it over Open Office because NeoOffice runs native in OS X (fonts look better, no need to run X11). Know, however, it needs 512MB of RAM. It's sluggish with my 256MB.

Abiword (www.abisource.com) is another free possibility (word processor only, but it opens WordPerfect files).