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Open Source office software for OS10.2.8

K

karambos

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 1, 2004
15
0
Munich
I heard that there are "open source" software packages that are kind of "substitutes" for the Microsoft Office stuff like Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good one for Mac OS10.2.8? I need to be able to open documents that have been written in any of the Microsoft office software programmes and save in a format compatible with them.

Grateful, as always, for any help received.
-k-
 
wordmunger said:
You can also try NeoOffice/J. I'm not sure it works with 10.2.8, but it's definitely easier to install than Open Office. Here's the link.
Click to expand...

Not sure that Open Office is *that* difficult to install, but I would most definitely avoid alpha software.

From NeoOffice website:
"As this is still a prototyping project, it is merely a proof of concept intended for software engineers to examine the methods used and hopefully provide a springboard for focusing our discussions and thoughts on the final, and arguably most complex, stages of this port"
 
kingjr3 said:
Not sure that Open Office is *that* difficult to install, but I would most definitely avoid alpha software.

From NeoOffice website:
"As this is still a prototyping project, it is merely a proof of concept intended for software engineers to examine the methods used and hopefully provide a springboard for focusing our discussions and thoughts on the final, and arguably most complex, stages of this port"
Click to expand...

They say that to CYA but it works amazingly well, and finally completes the proof of concept Corel tried with WordPerfect for Java so many years ago (anybody else remember that? Amazing how far the java platform has come)

I've been using NeoOffice/j instead of OpenOffice.org and found it to be quite stable, and able to do things like print that are not easy under OOo. Plus it's a _far_ easier install than OOo on a Mac. To somebody not used to compiling and bootstrapping their software I would reccomend NeoOffice/J instead.
 
stcanard said:
They say that to CYA but it works amazingly well, and finally completes the proof of concept Corel tried with WordPerfect for Java so many years ago (anybody else remember that? Amazing how far the java platform has come)

I've been using NeoOffice/j instead of OpenOffice.org and found it to be quite stable, and able to do things like print that are not easy under OOo. Plus it's a _far_ easier install than OOo on a Mac. To somebody not used to compiling and bootstrapping their software I would reccomend NeoOffice/J instead.
Click to expand...

I agree, plus, NeoOffice does two things that OpenOffice doesn't (at least for me): Cut and paste between NeoOffice and other Mac apps, and print (never could get Open Office to print).
 
stcanard said:
To somebody not used to compiling and bootstrapping their software I would reccomend NeoOffice/J instead.
Click to expand...

Since when you do have to compile?

1. If applicable, run X11 installer
2. Run OO installer

Really...Try installing again, it has improved drastically recently

As for cut and paste, you need to use Control instead of Command if you are using keyboard shortcuts.
 
kingjr3 said:
As for cut and paste, you need to use Control instead of Command if you are using keyboard shortcuts.
Click to expand...

I'm aware of the key-command differences. What I'm saying is that you can't cut and paste between Open Office and regular Mac Apps. Try it. It doesn't work. Not very convenient, if, say, you're doing research on the Web and want to incorporate it into your documents.
 
kingjr3 said:
Since when you do have to compile?

1. If applicable, run X11 installer
2. Run OO installer

Really...Try installing again, it has improved drastically recently

As for cut and paste, you need to use Control instead of Command if you are using keyboard shortcuts.
Click to expand...

You're right, last time I looked at it would have been about a year ago. At that time the OSX version was not trivial to set up (I was looking at it from the point of view of my Dad, who was interested in it).

As it is, in order to be truly palatable to the Mac audience it needs two things: 1) Seamless printing (I never got printing to work on it with OSX) and 2) Drag-and-drop / double clicking files to open.

NeoOffice/J has this already, and as far as I can tell is as stable as OOo. It is an application bundle, which is familiar to OSX users, users quartz fonts, and uses the standard Apple shortcuts (my dad gets very confused when he has to start using ctrl instead of command. Years of ingrained habit). I don't think the 1.x series of OOo is planning to even try to achive that.

I look forward to the 2.0 pre-releases when OOo starts integrating with Aqua. Until then, with similar features, similar stability I will recommend the one that leaves life-long Mac users in familiar territory.
 
thanks

many thanks for the informative replies!

As I have little experience of tricky software installation and I'd like to get it up and running quickly coupled with me not minding that java apps run a bit slow, I'm going to go for the NeoOffice/J.

I really only want a word-processor that I can print out my receipts on and that works under OSX and preferably is not from Microsoft.

Once again, thanks for the help, guys and gals!
 
wordmunger said:
I'm aware of the key-command differences. What I'm saying is that you can't cut and paste between Open Office and regular Mac Apps. Try it. It doesn't work. Not very convenient, if, say, you're doing research on the Web and want to incorporate it into your documents.
Click to expand...

Sure you can and it will work. I just did it in OOo 1.1.2 from Safari to a text document in OOo then wrote some text and copied and pasted it back into another app.
 
There are many Office alternatives for the individual apps, and are compatible:

Word:
1) Mellel Absolutely the most pretty and easy! (I bought this one)
2) Mariner Write Good too.
3) AbiWord . check it out.
4) Text Edit Plus nice one too

Excel:
1) Mariner Calc lookin' good

PowerPoint
1) Apple's Keynote , hey! what else?

Please, check these out. They are all pretty cheap (especially compared to M$ Offiz suite), and could fit your needs!
 
MacsRgr8 said:
There are many Office alternatives for the individual apps, and are compatible:

Word:
1) Mellel Absolutely the most pretty and easy! (I bought this one)
2) Mariner Write Good too.
3) AbiWord . check it out.
4) Text Edit Plus nice one too

Excel:
1) Mariner Calc lookin' good

PowerPoint
1) Apple's Keynote , hey! what else?

Please, check these out. They are all pretty cheap (especially compared to M$ Offiz suite), and could fit your needs!
Click to expand...
Why don't you list Text Edit? It ships with every Mac. It can read and write Microsoft Word, RTF, and text files. Of your list, here is my response:

1. Mellel is a basic word processor that does right-to-left languages well.

2. Mariner Write is one of the stalwart basic Mac wordprocessors that has been port to MacOS X.

3. AbiWord is the MacOS X version of the full-featured Linux wordprocessor of the same name. It is essentially a MS Word clone.

4. Tex-Edit Plus (not Text Edit Plus--the developer is a native Texan) is a slightly more powerful version of Apple's SimpleText/TeachText.
 
tried AbiWord but as I only have OS10.2.8 I can only use version 1.0.3 Sadly, however, it won't download as it's a broken link.

Will try the others, though. Thanks again!
 
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