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OpenOffice Final Beta Released!
- Thread starter pgwalsh
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Well I think Apple needs MS to get more switchers. Rather Ironic, but without MS Office it will be harder IMO.
I've been getting people on PC's to checkout OpenOffice and StarOffice taking every opportunity I can to show the benefits. Then push I'll push them to the Mac when a stable release is available for OO. With the economy in the state that it's in, it's a good time to push people to OpenOffice.
I still have some friends that are HardCore MS freaks, but I'm working on them. They're cheap bastards so I think I'll have more luck pushing them into OpenOffice then to OS X. Eitherway as long as I can get them to use something other than MS.
I can't wait for a stable version of OpenOffice for X. The day is getting closer. Too bad Sun doesn't realease StarOffice for the Mac. That would be killer.
Re: OpenOffice.org link to OS X build center
Thanks! If fixed the link. I typed it in off another computer screen. Doh!
The problem isn't that Microsoft Office is the only productivity suite in the world--there's ThinkFree Office, AppleWorks, OpenOffice, StarOffice, among others--but that everyone already uses Microsoft Office wants to ensure compatibility in their files. As someone who works in the corporate world, I know that our company will not switch from Microsoft Office until many of our clients do the same. We want to ensure that our documents could be read by our clients without any problems. I know, I know: incompatibility of simple document and spreadsheet files among different productivity suites is Microsoft's own doing as part of its plan to maintain its monopoly. However, you get my point: if all you plan on doing is editing your own documents without any presentation concerns, then alternatives to MS Office already exist but until corporate America (the biggest customers of Office) moves en masse to another productivity suite, MS Office will still be widely used.
Personally, I will still continue to buy MS Office in the foreseeable future: Word and PowerPoint are pieces of junk, but Excel is truly a great spreadsheet tool. VBA is probably one of the best things MS has come up with, and I am truly impressed by its power.
Personally, I will still continue to buy MS Office in the foreseeable future: Word and PowerPoint are pieces of junk, but Excel is truly a great spreadsheet tool. VBA is probably one of the best things MS has come up with, and I am truly impressed by its power.
The problem with Microsoft is that they have used their monopoly to force companies to distribute their office program when shipping their OS. It's great to see Sony being the first company to ship StartOffice in Europe as the default office suite.
However, I posted this thread not to discuss the merits of Microsoft Office and reason's why not to switch, but to support a viable open source alternative. So if you're here just to toot your horn about how great ms office is, then bugger-off.
Your posts mentioned getting some of your friends and colleagues to use OpenOffice or StarOffice, and I merely suggested why the mere existence of a MS Office alternatives might not be enough of an incentive for many to make the switch. Also, I did not toot my horn about how great ms office is in my post ("Word and PowerPoint are pieces of junk").
BTW, I may like Excel, but I am less than-enamored with Microsoft's other products and its tactics. You can read my post on this other subject here.
Right, I mentioned getting MS Office people to switch to OpenOffice. However, I wasn't intending to open arguments to stay with MS Office. I'm rather excited about this particular alternative coming to OS X. It's a free alternative with great functionality. It may not have all the features of MSO, but it has many and it's going to support scripting etc. The spreadsheet and presentation program are very good too.
Now if you're a power office user this may not be a great solution, but it does read and save MS .doc files etc. I think it's a great solution for small buseinss and home users. For businesses I'd recommend StarOffice, but that's not available for Apple based systems.
Heh. Their ports page has extensive info on a bunch of stuff about 10.0.x and nothing about 10.1.x or 10.2.x
I wouldn't worrry about older versrions of OS X I'm sure it will work fine. If it doesn't or you have concerns, then email them.
X11 required?
Do I need X11 (or some other window manager like Xfree86) to run OpenOffice or can it run directly under OS X?
Do I need X11 (or some other window manager like Xfree86) to run OpenOffice or can it run directly under OS X?
Re: X11 required?
You will need Xfree86, which is included in the package you will download. They most likely want to make it as compatible with apple's X11 dealie, and they say they do. So don't worry about having to d/l Xfree86.
You will need Xfree86, which is included in the package you will download. They most likely want to make it as compatible with apple's X11 dealie, and they say they do. So don't worry about having to d/l Xfree86.
Finally! OpenOffice has come out with (at least) a final beta. I don't have to put up with the likes of Micro$oft Office or ThinkFree ever again!
I wonder what the time tables are for the Aqua interface...
I wonder what the time tables are for the Aqua interface... I thought they were still developing that part of OpenOffice... Hmmm...
I wonder what the time tables are for the Aqua interface... I thought they were still developing that part of OpenOffice... Hmmm...
Re: I wonder what the time tables are for the Aqua interface...
They are still developing that. I dont' think we'll see that for a few months if that. However, as far as productivity, you can get going. The beta isn't as 123 as you might think. You need the developers tools and quite a few other bits and pieces to get things running. If you don't feel like spending the time, then don't. If you're unix savvy (which I'm not) then this should be a cakewalk for you.