Can Mac OS X survive without an office suite?

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enricus

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I read on news.com a critic article about osx and office http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1006-200-3165168.html

Joe Wilcox writes:

Without a Mac OS X version of Office, which is the major productivity suite for the Mac, Apple could face problems moving customers to its new operating system, analysts say. In addition, they warn, the migration to a new operating system is a critical time for any software company.

Irving Kwong, Microsoft's product manager for its Mac business unit, made it clear the company is committed to delivering a Mac OS X version of Office. But he also could not speculate as to when Microsoft will deliver the productivity suite. "We honestly don't know when," he said.

Part of the problem lies in what he called "Carbonizing" Mac Office's 30 million lines of code, 60 percent of which is shared among the Office applications such as Word and Excel. Carbon is Apple's term for programs that have been modified to take advantage of Mac OS X's advanced features and Aqua graphical user interface. Kwong made one thing clear. "We won't have a Carbonized version of Office when OS X ships," he said.
 
So let me get this straight. M$ works on a new version of Office. They've known of OS X for years now and have been working closely with Apple to get IE 5 carbonized but I am to beleive that they have nothing done yet to carbonize Office 2001.

First of all I don't believe M$ for a second. I believe that they will have a version ready to go shortly before the release if they do not already have one. Think about it. Your M$ writing the code for Office 2001 and you know where the future of the Mac is going (OSX) and you don't carbonize as you write it? May take longer but makes a lot of sense. Talk about the ultimate lack of foresight.

Sounds like a great opportunity for Sun to get in with StarOffice. Besides once AppleOS goes Unix companies like M$ and Adobe loss power as there are Unix equivalents that can do everything these programs can do and more.

 
Appleworks is ALREADY carbonized, and is a none-too-shabby office suite in and of itself. I agree that is seems odd that Microsoft is dragging their feet on a carbonized MS-Office package, but who knows, perhaps it will win AppleWorks a few converts.
 
I must admit that I too favour Appleworks, for two reasons:

- Cheaper - have you seen the price of MS-Office ?
- Acceptable feature list - it does everything I
need and doesn't take up more room than the OS ;)

Though back to the topic, I wouldn't be surprised if there are some guys working on getting StarOffice ported. The only catch with StarOffice is that it is unlikely to be considered an office product by the press as it is not commercial!
 
MS will do anything they can do (or not do) to give Windoze 2000 a head start over OSX. if that means dragging their feet on a native version of Office, then so be it (and all the while they'll point to the IE 5.5 beta as an example of their support for OSX)
 
I am an avid Mac User but recently been playing with linux for some server stuff and dynamic webpages... but I ramble. My point is that using Linux I have had the pleasure of using Star Office and i think if done properly can release us from the bloat ware we call on office suite supplied by M$. Think about it most of the "new" features in 2001 are just bug fixes that office 98 should have had before being shipped and that address book that they have added, well in OS X we get it for free and from Apple all the better. Please if the porters of Star Office can hear my cry, make it so I don't have to use Office anymore!
 
Originally posted by Anxietyboy

I am an avid Mac User but recently been playing with linux for some server stuff and dynamic webpages... but I ramble. My point is that using Linux I have had the pleasure of using Star Office and i think if done properly can release us from the bloat ware we call on office suite supplied by M$. Think about it most of the "new" features in 2001 are just bug fixes that office 98 should have had before being shipped and that address book that they have added, well in OS X we get it for free and from Apple all the better. Please if the porters of Star Office can hear my cry, make it so I don't have to use Office anymore!
Click to expand...

According to the StarOffice 5.2 FAQ (that I found at http://www.sun.com/staroffice/ ), a MacOS compatible version is planned for release late this year. I'm sure I read somewhere (possibly on /.) that StarOffice 6.0 will be available for MacOS X. I'll look for that article.
 
My only problem with Star Office is that it is worse than MS Office. It trys to be a clone so hard that it is even less useful (I have used it for some time on Solaris). Interface-wise it is one of the most offensive applications I have used ... sigh.


Despite my distrust of Microsoft I hope they manage to get an OS X Office out - it will be the only way that many corporate users will be able to justify Macs. Unfortunately dealing with the Active X model that underlies Office will be non-trivial to say the least. I'm going to bet on 2002:)


For my own use I hope that some of the smaller word processor makers come out with carbon and cocoa versions. Niscus has said that they are starting work on a cocoa from the ground up word processor. (no word on release date -- it sounded like they have just started work)
 
Office really isn't all that bad. I have to use it on a daily basis at my work, and while i think that some of the things that the programmers did are just plain *stupid* its better than everything out there.

I'm sure that MS didn't want to wait another six months before selling their product just so they can carbonize it.

will they carbonize it in time for when X 1.0 is released? hard to say but I'm sure that they are going to give it a go.
 
It's obvious: M$ doesn't want to advocate OS X, about the only competitor to their Windozes.
Look at how they "carbonized" Inernet Explorer: it's a half-a$$ed product. They want OS X to fail, but in the meantime, the suckers using it should surf the web with a M$ browser. That's all.

Maybe Corel should revive WordPerfect?
Or did M$, erm, discourage them from doing that when they saved the company?
 
Originally posted by MacFan
So let me get this straight. M$ works on a new version of Office. They've known of OS X for years now and have been working closely with Apple to get IE 5 carbonized but I am to beleive that they have nothing done yet to carbonize Office 2001.

First of all I don't believe M$ for a second. I believe that they will have a version ready to go shortly before the release if they do not already have one. Think about it. Your M$ writing the code for Office 2001 and you know where the future of the Mac is going (OSX) and you don't carbonize as you write it? May take longer but makes a lot of sense. Talk about the ultimate lack of foresight.

Sounds like a great opportunity for Sun to get in with StarOffice. Besides once AppleOS goes Unix companies like M$ and Adobe loss power as there are Unix equivalents that can do everything these programs can do and more.
Click to expand...

Microsoft will sandbag OS X if they can. By that I mean that if thay can make the first 6 months to a year rocky for OS X they will! By delaying office for X they raise doubt in other smaller developers minds. "Well if MS isn't going to develop for OS X, we're not because it will go nowhere."

That's just my opinion, I could be wrong.
"Nah! I'm right!" =)
 
hm....I think M$ is not dragging there feet to slow stuff down for the mac to make windows nicer...

The guys who make Office 2001 are Mac users.....they want to make great programs for the mac and they are just like MacSoft.

Plus....if I was microsoft I would already know most intelligent users already got a mac so don't gotta advertise nothing. People will buy windows as long as the number changes, 95-98-2000 and even if you make letters ME.

 
Or.....

Microsoft's Mac Unit is working on an X version of Office 2001 but realy do not know exactly when they can release a very well debuged version for prime-time ;)

Or......

The Greys have them in their control and will manupulate man-kind via Microsoft, and the only way Apple can win this Galatic battle is to fight the Big headed big eyed Greys from Pulax 7 !
 
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