[Ham-Mac] MAC software question

[Philip]

At some time fairly close to Wed, 11 May 2005 17:23:21 -0400,
rumor has it that Jacob wrote:

> Sorry for this slightly off topic question but I need to know
> something...
> 
> The MAC MINI does not come with any wordprocessing software installed
> on it.  Presently my wife uses Microsoft Office for WORD & POWERPOINT
> stuff for  college classes. OFFICE for MAC costs around $150.00 with
> her student  discount, but I was hoping for something cheaper if
> compatable with OFFICE  as my daughters computer is WinXP PRO with
> OFFICE on it plus she has the  only printer I have.
> 
> Found a software package called OpenOffice from www.openoffice.org
> that  looks similar to Microsoft Office and says it is compatable.
> 
> Has anyone tried this or actively running this software?

Short answer:
	Get it. Use it. It is good stuff!


Long answer:

OpenOffice is a cool product. However, it is not Mac native, so to use
it you will have to run an x-server. And it seems that this port is not
as activly developed as some of the others. The MS Windows and i386
Linux ports are much more up-to-date.

That said, there is another project that is porting OpenOffice to native
Mac. It is called NeoOffice. I have a bunch of computers running here
right now, most are runnig Debian GNU/Linux (one is sometimes MS
Windows) and one is running OS X. I use OpenOffice on all of them exept
OS X, where I use NeoOffice.

Compatibility with MS files is very good, the application itself is very
good. And, the files are gzipped XML!! That is, no secret file format!

Anyway, I really like it for what it does all by itself - and I get MS
file import and export to keep my customers happy! *smile*

One potetial "gotcha!" - the GUI is _not_ the same as MS Office. I
belive it will do nearly everything that MS Office does, but the buttons
and menus will likely be different. For regular use this isn't a big
deal, but for someone taking a class on MSOffice - it may be a big deal.

--
        Philip          73, de
                        KB0SWA