Office without M$-Office: OpenOffice.org 3.0 released for Mac; NeoOffice update coming soon
Posted by Doug on October 13, 2008
http://openoffice.org
When I was at my old job, I had a company laptop computer with all the software I needed on it. When I quit my job and bought my own laptop, I was suddenly faced with some pretty daunting costs. As a Mac user, I decided pretty early on not to pay $400 for Microsoft Office, particularly when iWork ‘08 was available for only $99–and that was for a “family pack” that I can install on up to five Macs in my household.
But there is another option for those who need MS-Office-type capability and file format compatibility but can’t afford the stiff price tag, and it comes from the open-source community: OpenOffice.org 3.0. The latest version was just announced today for the Mac (Intel-equipped Macs only, unfortunately), and versions are available for Windows and Linux, as well. And it’s free.
OpenOffice is an application that integrates word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing and database functionality in one application. It doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of MS-Office, but it can read and write files in many different formats, including the common .doc, .xls, .ppt, .psd and others. I haven’t had a chance to try out all of the options yet, and I’ve only used the Mac version, but it appears that while you can read the newer Office 2007 document formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx), you may not be able to write in those newer formats. You can write regular .doc, .xls and .ppt files, among many other formats.
The most significant thing about this release is that it runs natively on MacOSX; previous versions of OpenOffice had to run in the X11 Xwindows environment.
A new NeoOffice should follow soon
The release of OpenOffice.org 3.0 is also good news for users of NeoOffice. NeoOffice has been native on MacOSX for several years, and is based on the OpenOffice.org code, but is more tightly integrated with certain MacOSX features. NeoOffice has also been faster than previous versions of OpenOffice (although the new OpenOffice is also faster than previous versions). A 3.0 version of NeoOffice is scheduled to be available some time next month, so you may wish to watch for that release. NeoOffice is also free.
NeoOffice 2.2.5
I may be somewhat biased toward open-source software (partly because I’m cheap), but I think it’s remarkable to get this kind of functionality for free.
If you need to save some money on software, you may want to check out OpenOffice.org and NeoOffice. Are there any NeoOffice or OpenOffice users out there who can share their experiences?
Thanks for reading this article!
You won't miss the next one if you subscribe to the RSS Feed 
David Davison said,
Hi Doug!
Interesting BLOG so far. I’m enjoying it! Like yourself, I love OpenOffice and NewOffice on my Mac. The database leaves a bit to be desired, but what a fantastic office suite. I actually bought iWork 08 after using OpenOffice and NeoOffice for a few years on both the Mac and PC. I like the ability to export from Keynote to a multitude of file formats.
Both OpenOffice and NeoOffice have been Rock Solid for me from the first time they were installed. I actually taught a class on OpenOffice at a firm I worked at a few years back, and the folks who had paid “The Bill” for MS-Office were just sick when they saw what they could do. We charged $5.00 per student for the class and sent the money to OpenOffice.org to support their development efforts.
There are several books available through Amazon.com and various bookstores that have been helpful. Although most are dated, they still serve me well.
Much $uccess!
David
Doug said,
@David Davison: Thanks, David–I appreciate your visit to my blog. I’ve got a soft spot for open-source software, too–in my former life managing a networking consortium, we used a great deal of open-source stuff very successfully. It’s very cool that you had an opportunity to support the developers of Open Office, too!
Amina said,
Good post.
Add A Comment