Open Office on a Mac

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Network1

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I have read that Open Office is a good alternative to installing ms office on a Mac. I am interested in perspectives from anybody who has actually used open office.
 
It works just fine depending on how complex your needs are for MS documents. It is however slow and the interface isn't great.

If you do want to go that route though get LibreOffice instead. It is the prominent fork since the Oracle acquisition.
 
Use it daily (have an ubuntu box).

It's great for most work.
 
There are 3 main variations: OpenOffice itself, NeoOffice and LibreOffice. All three have Mac versions available and they tend to leapfrog each other in features. best of all, they are all available as free downloads so if you don't mind the hefty downloads, install all three and decide which one you like best. They all use the same file formats. There are a few other derivations out there, but those tend to be built on an older codebase.

OK, having said that, here's the bad news. I won't speak for spreadsheets, but in terms of word processing and presentations, OO and its derivations are ... stodgy. They are fine, they are reliable, but they're just not Mac-like. Pages is the first word processor in which styles are implemented so well that I actually end up using them. Keynote is the best presentation application on any platform. Applications built for the Mac only just feel like they are working with you. Programs that have to work on three or four different OSs don't. YOU have to work with THEM. If you can live with that, you can't beat the price of OO.
 
clasqm said:
There are 3 main variations: OpenOffice itself, NeoOffice and LibreOffice. All three have Mac versions available and they tend to leapfrog each other in features. best of all, they are all available as free downloads so if you don't mind the hefty downloads, install all three and decide which one you like best. They all use the same file formats. There are a few other derivations out there, but those tend to be built on an older codebase.

OK, having said that, here's the bad news. I won't speak for spreadsheets, but in terms of word processing and presentations, OO and its derivations are ... stodgy. They are fine, they are reliable, but they're just not Mac-like. Pages is the first word processor in which styles are implemented so well that I actually end up using them. Keynote is the best presentation application on any platform. Applications built for the Mac only just feel like they are working with you. Programs that have to work on three or four different OSs don't. YOU have to work with THEM. If you can live with that, you can't beat the price of OO.
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My main requirement is to be able to work with ms office docs that were created at work, ie work on it after hours and being able to take it back to the workplace. I suppose in that context I may then just as well download the ms office package for Mac.
 
Network1 said:
My main requirement is to be able to work with ms office docs that were created at work, ie work on it after hours and being able to take it back to the workplace. I suppose in that context I may then just as well download the ms office package for Mac.
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Opening MS documents in OpenOffice or LibreOffice, working on them and then saving it for use on MS Office can seriously screw with the formatting. If the doc's have any sort of slightly complicated stuff in them like tables or images it will usually need a lot of fixing when you open it with MS office again.
 
I use LibreOffice on my mac, and works well enough. But yeah, formatting is not exactly compatible with office docs. As long as you are more worried with the content rather than formatting then it should be fine
 
Network1 said:
My main requirement is to be able to work with ms office docs that were created at work, ie work on it after hours and being able to take it back to the workplace. I suppose in that context I may then just as well download the ms office package for Mac.
Click to expand...
OK, if this is for work, don't futz around with freebies. Bite the bullet and get MS Office for Mac 2011. R999 for the Home and Student edition, R2499 if you need Oulook and Access. Get the office to pay for it if you can. http://www.zastore.co.za/prodlist.php?cid=MSM
 
Thanks, I think the verdict has been delivered, saving me some time and effort in experimenting. Much appreciated!
 
Network1 said:
I have read that Open Office is a good alternative to installing ms office on a Mac. I am interested in perspectives from anybody who has actually used open office.
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It depends on compatibility really. Even MS Office for Mac isn't like for like with MS Office for Windows. But you can download it as a trial and try it. Ditto OpenOffice - it's free, so no harm in downloading it and trying it out.

icyrus said:
It works just fine depending on how complex your needs are for MS documents. It is however slow and the interface isn't great.
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And MS office isn't slow? :eek:

Network1 said:
My main requirement is to be able to work with ms office docs that were created at work, ie work on it after hours and being able to take it back to the workplace. I suppose in that context I may then just as well download the ms office package for Mac.
Click to expand...

Stick to MS Office. Just be aware that there are differences there too.
 
icyrus said:
No idea, don't use it. Although Microsoft would have to have done something special with their latest version of MacOffice to get it to be slower than Java.
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Oh, it's faster than the previous MS Office (2008, I think), but there isn't a heck of a difference between that and Open Office, except for start-up time.
 
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