Gifting an office application to parents.

[Coca-Cola]

I am dreaming about gifting an office application to my parents.
My mom probably needs something easy to use. My dad thinks he would like to become a Microsoft Office student someday at night school. They are both "switchers" and are a bit more familiar with Windows "Me" and old versions of Microsoft Word. However, I think that Office 08 is probably too new and mac like for them.

I am thinking StarOffice? It looks like an old version of office. They need to be comfortable with writing. Currently, they are using TextEdit.

I would love for them to be able to use iWork 08. However, I don't think they will get it.

I would also love for them to use Scrivener. It looks awesome.

I just want them to be comfortable and happy. Any input would be great.

Thanks.

 

[11800506]

You could try Office 04 or even Office X which could both be probably purchased on eBay. Although these versions are slightly different from Windows versions so it might not be worth it anyways. Hope that helps.

 

[Coca-Cola]

Bean!

I just discovered "Bean". This may do the trick. However, my Dad thinks any word processor that isn't "Word" is not relevant.

What to do?

 

[11800506]

I just discovered "Bean". This may do the trick. However, my Dad thinks any word processor that isn't "Word" is not relevant.

What to do?

I would either let him try it out maybe or if he won't try it, show him that how it works and that it is relevant.

 

[ReptileArmy]

If they are that type then I would recommend the following:
.Office 2004, not 2008
.iWork 2008
.Neo Office ( the Open office variant that runs either on PPC or Intel macs, not "open office" because, the mac version of open office has issues with its debugger).
.Star Office

 

[mysterytramp]

Bean is way cool. If TextEdit can't do it, Bean is my next stop. It's also free.

Take a look at Mariner Write and Mariner Calc. They would be my go-to apps if I were desperate to spend money on office applications. Write has fairly extensive AppleScript capabilities, so if your dad finds something Word does that Write doesn't, he can get his geek on and write a script.

StarOffice should be pretty much out of date by now. Check OpenOffice and NeoOffice, which are descendants of StarOffice.

mt