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Neo Office -- download or avoid?

S

Steven Jackson

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Dec 8, 2006
387
7
Lincoln, U.K.
Hi,

Just got a new iMac and need some kind of office software. I don't want to use MS Office through Rosetta (kind of defeats the object of getting a fast new computer) and I don't want to buy iWork until '07 is released. Personally, I could make do with TextEdit for a couple of months but my wife NEEDS something that can handle the MS files she uses at work.

So how about Neo Office? Is it stable? I really don't wan to install anything that will detract from the beauty and seamless functionality of my shiny new machine...

Anyway, just thought I'd ask for the opinions of the good people here before I jump in feet first.

Cheers,

Steve.
 
I'm using the writer component of NeoOffice for some light writing (letters, CVs, etc) and reading English MS documents. The memory requirements are quite heavy -- 60MB wired and 1.5GB virtual.
 
It's not bad. It may take a little while to load, but it does a pretty good job. There is a version in Beta right now that apparently is a whole new rewrite and should be pretty awesome when it goes gold.

If you're just going to do word documents, may I suggest Abiword? That is also a pretty decent word processor.
 
It's fine for use but there are a couple of little things that might annoy you a bit

*It's slow to open
*Macros might be an issue if they are built into the original spreadsheet, so some of the functionality may be lost
*There are some slight formatting differences in documents

Apart from that I find it pretty much as easy to use as MS Office (which I use in work). It's perfectly stable and has never crashed on me.

I use it and like it, but I tried Pages recently and like it a lot, so if iWork '07 has some sort of spreadsheet app, I'll be moving over to that

You can set the default preferences to save in MS formats so if you're emailing them into work, they can be opened.

Edit: Is there not a 30 day trial of Office on your new mac - it might tide you over until iWork comes out.
 
I've ditched M$ Office entirely for NeoOffice (especially after the new aqua version came out). Ok, so it is a bit slow to open and uses a lot of virtual memory (all that Java takes its toll) but I find it covers all my office suite needs, and more...
 
Am3822 said:
I'm using the writer component of NeoOffice for some light writing (letters, CVs, etc) and reading English MS documents. The memory requirements are quite heavy -- 60MB wired and 1.5GB virtual.
Click to expand...

That's the bit that's got me worried the most. Isn't that going to be a huge hit on my system performance? We have 2 gig of RAM but typically we'll both be logged into our accounts and working on stuff...

Is there perhaps a stand alone spreadsheet app that could take over from Excel until Apple get a spreadsheet into iWork?

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

Steve.
 
The virtual memory is, unless I've misunderstood, (part of?) a swap file, so the 2GB physical limit does not come into play. You may get some slowdown, because of the page-outs, I suppose.

The other option is OpenOffice, which has less java in it (I think), but runs as an X11 application (meaning -- no aqua and possible problems using cut/paste from other applications).

I think it that it would do you no harm to download and try those two, especially since they are both free and, as you have said, universal.
 
Considering its free, it'd be churlish to complain.

However, there are a couple of things I find annoying about NeoOffice.
-It takes a while to load.
-It can sometimes behave strangely with formatting.

I'm still gonna buy MS Office when a UB version comes out because I get a student discount which makes it good value. But that doesn't stop NeoOffice being, for me, the best free app out there.
 
Just download it and try it out. You'll have to decide whether it's good enough for your needs or not. Works fine for most people.

Does Openoffice still work on Intel Macs? Last time I tried it, the interface was a little clunkier but it was faster than Neoffice.
 
in my opinion neo office suxx big time....
let me explain why:

1. it's slow as hell! not as slow as office 2004 running on rosetta, but still lightyears slower than it should or could be.

I tried working on a powerpoint presentation with about 80 slides and it just pissed me so much of, that I booted into windows vista and used office 2007 which runs flawlessly, no lags, no delays, it just works fluently.

2. It's functionality is limited (as posted above)

3. Some restrictions just don't make sense, why isn't there an "insert textbox" menu option?

4. It's ugly... it just looks like ms office looked back in 1997..... the aqua additions are minor in my eyes and it just looks ugly.

So in my opinion, if you have to chose between neo office and office 2004 I'd go with neooffice because it creates a bit less of aggravation when working, but if you have the option, boot windows, use office for windows, at least until office 2007 for mac is released. (which should make all of the above problems go away)

oh and of course, neo office is for free... so sorry for the bashing ;)
 
download. I use it at work for spreadsheets and to write up documents.

oh, and the latest patch seemed to fix most of the slowness of the program loading. It opens up pretty quick now.
 
To me, it's quite reasonable, especially considering the price.

If it has problems, they would be that it's based on OpenOffice, so it's always a bit behind OpenOffice as they're translating code to work in NeoOffice and since it's a rather monolithic application, it likes lots of memory.
 
Neoffice 2.1

I have early access and Neo Office 2.1 to me feels like a solid improvement and not as slow. anyone else tried it?
 
FREE from GOOGLE (excel and word docs)

I have been using the free Documents & Spreadsheets web based from google, with it you can create, open, edit, etc.. Word and Excel documents:

http://www.google.com/google-d-s/intl/en/tour1.html

Sing up for a gmail account if you don't have one yet, and try it for free.

It's free how most of the things should be to help keep prices low and competitive. You know best things in life are for free!

I am still seeking for an alternative to open PowerPoint docs for free, if someone knows one, please let me know, thanks!
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