StarOffice 9 Beta

StarOffice aficionados:
StarOffice 9 Beta is now available:
http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/media/features/2008-0716/index.jsp

 

Re: StarOffice 9

StarOffice 9 has been released:
http://www.sun.com/software/staroffice/

 

The price has been cut in half too!!! But is there anything in version 9 that would warrant using SO instead of the free Org 3.0?

 

Question: is it somehow more compatible with MS formats due to some proprietary addon built in? Or do the differences lie elsewhere, and MS compatibility is the same as in OO?

 

Cannot comment on SO9 & OO3, but in past releases;
functionally same as OO, just a bit more polished with a few more bells / whistles, clip art, templates, better dictionary, thesaurus, etc.
Some info here: http://www.sun.com/software/staroffice/docs/StarOffice9_WhatsNew.pdf

 

Aside from having extra features, I guess you also receive free technical support from Sun.

 

Yes, albeit limited

 

Thank you Bob D and keep posting StarOffice related news. I'm always interested.

 

Macro converter, mmmm.
I wonder if i can have OO and SO installed at the same time?

 

What would be the incentive to buy it vs the free OxygenOffice? (They are now at version 2.4x but should be releasing their version 3, with updated add-ons, shortly.)

 

Dictionary and thesaurus (although available for OxyO, free, as extensions, I don't believe they were included in previous releases).
Also not quite as refined. Development is much more sluggish.
MHO: For free, i would stick with OO, and DL extensions to give it the extra goodies that come packaged with OxygenOffice.

 

It used to be that StarOffice had better import and export filters that OpenOffice. Whether that holds true with SO 9 versus OO 3 remains to be seen. Also, Go-oo offers better filters than the default OpenOffice too. So, if that is the only worthwhile difference than I suggest you go with that. I want to see what SO has to offer though.

 

Good info.
Thanks.

 

Good point.
(I have a bunch of archived WordPerfect .wpd doc.s that on rare occasions I need access to.)
Apparently that filter was proprietary (not available in OO).

 

Try Go-oo 3. I'd be interested to know if they open corrently with it, as opposed to Org 3.

 

Go-oo 3 appears to be another rebranded offshoot of the opensource OO with a niche market.

Their only WordPerfect compatability claim is

SO8 & SO9 handle my archived .wpd & Quattro Pro files reasonably well.