Office Tools
- Thread starter Rhisiart
- Start date
nixgeek
Mac of the SubGenius! :-)
OpenOffice.org for me, only because it's very portable. On Mac OS X, I put up with the X11 yuckiness on OS X with 2.4.1 (it doesn't bother me as much as it does for many others), but I'm going to tinker around with the 3.0.0-rc4 that's available for PowerPC (especially since there is no final 3.0.0 version for PowerPC). I run O
on my Windows PC at work as well as my iMac G5 and various GNU/Linux computers.
I also use GoogleDocs, but mainly for non-important stuff that I need to access over the web (like grocery lists, things I need to remember, etc.).
on my Windows PC at work as well as my iMac G5 and various GNU/Linux computers.I also use GoogleDocs, but mainly for non-important stuff that I need to access over the web (like grocery lists, things I need to remember, etc.).
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ElDiabloConCaca
U.S.D.A. Prime
While I use almost all the listed applications at some time or another for various reasons, there are a few that I use more often than others:
Pages: for nice, professional-looking documents. Can't beat Apple's templates when the boss wants something done in 5 minutes.
Microsoft Office: because all our online tools at work interface with Office.
NeoOffice: it's free and fast on my system, and it's Aqua.
OpenOffice: it's free and pretty fast on my system, and it's fully-featured.
Pages: for nice, professional-looking documents. Can't beat Apple's templates when the boss wants something done in 5 minutes.
Microsoft Office: because all our online tools at work interface with Office.
NeoOffice: it's free and fast on my system, and it's Aqua.
OpenOffice: it's free and pretty fast on my system, and it's fully-featured.
Rhisiart
Registered
I can't get OpenOffice to install on my Mac Mini (goodness knows why). NeoOffice is very good. My old Microsoft Office X is too old for my current hardware. However, I have really taken to the free beta version of IBM's Symphony (despite the horrible icon).
Although Microsoft Office is a first class product, I dislike its automatic formatting, which I accept you can get around. However, I can't see how anyone can justify the cost given of upgrading or buying MS Office new given the excellent open source software products around (unless your corporation is funding it).
Although Microsoft Office is a first class product, I dislike its automatic formatting, which I accept you can get around. However, I can't see how anyone can justify the cost given of upgrading or buying MS Office new given the excellent open source software products around (unless your corporation is funding it).
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My choice is OpenOffice: I like it free and on all my computers.
The tool I use most is MS office... the most finished tool.
The tool that gives the best output is Pages, but still quite difficult to use to manage complex documents.
I used G documents for shared information.
The tool I use most is MS office... the most finished tool.
The tool that gives the best output is Pages, but still quite difficult to use to manage complex documents.
I used G documents for shared information.
ElDiabloConCaca
U.S.D.A. Prime
OpenOffice still depends on the X11 windowing system, found on the Developer Tools install CD/DVD (or available with a free developer account at developer.apple.com).
There is a release candidate available for a non-X11, Aqua-style OpenOffice available, also.
Do you have X11 installed?
Mikuro
Crotchety UI Nitpicker
OpenOffice 3 (the unofficial PPC version), because it has better MS Office compatibility than NeoOffice. When I save a neat 1-page document with NeoOffice it often appears with the last line or two on a second page in MS Office, which is not acceptable. OpenOffice 3 doesn't have this problem.
I rarely need the other components of the office suites, but when I do my first choice is NeoOffice, since it's faster than OpenOffice. OpenOffice 3 is unbelievably slow. NeoOffice is pretty slow, too, but not like OpenOffice. At first I thought it was just because I was using an unofficial PPC port, but I've run it on Intel Macs, too, and it was just as slow.
When I do not need MS Office compatibility, I use TextEdit or Bean.
When it comes to viewing Word files, I use Quick Look in the Finder. It's nice and fast and handles formatting almost perfectly. Makes me wonder: if Apple can read .doc files so well, why don't they make TextEdit a little better?
I rarely need the other components of the office suites, but when I do my first choice is NeoOffice, since it's faster than OpenOffice. OpenOffice 3 is unbelievably slow. NeoOffice is pretty slow, too, but not like OpenOffice. At first I thought it was just because I was using an unofficial PPC port, but I've run it on Intel Macs, too, and it was just as slow.
When I do not need MS Office compatibility, I use TextEdit or Bean.
When it comes to viewing Word files, I use Quick Look in the Finder. It's nice and fast and handles formatting almost perfectly. Makes me wonder: if Apple can read .doc files so well, why don't they make TextEdit a little better?
nixgeek
Mac of the SubGenius! :-)
Granted, Version 3.0 is the first native Aqua release of OpenOffice.org, so I imagine subsequent versions will be better optimized.
@EDCC, OpenOffice 3.0 doesn't require X11...it runs natively now under Aqua. I've installed it on an Intel Mac mini and an Intel iMac at work and they work without X11, albeit slowly for now.
@EDCC, OpenOffice 3.0 doesn't require X11...it runs natively now under Aqua. I've installed it on an Intel Mac mini and an Intel iMac at work and they work without X11, albeit slowly for now.
Rhisiart
Registered
Yes I do. The installation seems straight forward, but the programme fails to run.
On the point about speed, OpenOffice (from what I hear), NeoOffice and Symphony (the latter being the quickest relatively) all seem to take an eternity to open. Sometimes it is tempting to just use Bean.
nixgeek
Mac of the SubGenius! :-)
O
3.0 doesn't require X11 anymore. It's a native Aqua application now. Try that one on your Mac mini (I see that it's Intel based).