Microsoft Word Alternative??

I can concur with that. For some reason, I could not find Spell Check for the life of me. Or how to insert a header/footer. The ribbon is definitely confusing/overwhelming when you first use it. At least for myself and most people that I've worked with who use MOS'07.

 

http://www.jarte.com/

For those looking only for the word feature don't ignore this one. Uses MS's built in Wordpad in enhanced mode with spell check and other necessary features which make it quite fast and light.

 

Perdo, yes...

Microsofts current implementation of OOXML is not the OOXML standard (I assume it is a previous version) that is implemented as .docx files.

I am still trying to work out if the OOXML standard is backward compatible with MS's current implementation of OOXML.

 

Interesting article:
http://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/Archive/WordProcs/

 

Nice write up and the conclusion justifies for those of us who have made the choice and are using Open Office.

 

Yeah, nice article.

"Microsoft Office 2007 documents cannot be read or opened in the Mac version of Office".

Is this still a valid statement ?

 

Has Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 been released? I believe the Mac OS version of Office runs one year behind, and if it hasn't then yes its still valid as the MacOS version is still pre-2007.

 

Why are you guys consistently bashing Microsoft for making these softwares?

Why not bash Apple?

In order to use Mac OS, you have to buy an Apple PC?!
Seriously, WTF??

Why do we need to buy these expensive Apple PCs just to run a Mac OS?
Why not allow Mac OS to be used on a Dell or a Toshiba??
That's absolutely ridiculous!

I don't understand you people.
Most people use Microsoft because of it's user-friendly interface, and you don't need as much technical know-how to operate their OS.
Unlike Linux, Mac, and Solaris. Very very difficult for beginners.

 

I don't think he is bashing Microsoft. He is simply stating that Office 2008 is not the same as Office 2007. And that is true. Office for Mac has always been behind its Windows counterpart.

About the interface... it really is not hard to use at all. The reason most people think Windows easier is because the interface has not changed significantly since Microsoft introduced the GUI into Windows. I personally think the Mac is easier to navigate because the interface is consistent across the board, unlike Windows which has separate GUIs for each applications.

It was released some time ago. In fact, they've already shipped the Service Pack 1.

That statement only applies to certain features of Office 2007. For instance, since Office 2008 for Mac does not have support for Visual Basic Applications (VBA), any macros programmed in VBA will not work. Also, among other things, the equations generated in the Windows version will not work in the Mac version.

 

That's not the fault of Microsoft. That has something to do with Apple restricting some privileges for out-sourcing to Microsoft.

 

Actually, Microsoft is partly responsible since they are the developers. They could've implemented VBA for Office 2008, however, it would add additional two years in the development cycle. Had they implemented it, Office 2008 would've been delayed.

 

The big guys will probably always be bashed... it's just how it is. Symantec gets bashed as well. Anyone who dominates in one way or another is bashing material for someone else I guess... deserved or not.. It's nothing new, and not worth worrying about either. There are always pro's and con's to both sides. But the big guys attract all the attention as always...

 

One must understand these are 2 issues. If not, discussion is useless.

We're talking about formats, and being able to use the software we want (which is always a personal preference and subjective), and exchange documents freely.

For that you need real standards, open to anyone who wishes to use them in their program. By open i mean the specifications for the format are known.
It is my opinion that these need to be enforced. But that's for another thread.

The point is, i should be able to use my personal choice of writer/word, and send a document to you and you can actually read it, without any problems.

It's very simple.

 

Yeah, in todays world, this should really be a given... no argument there....

 

That is very true.

 

For an alternative to Word, I prefer an elegant solution.

Word Alternative

 

nickr,

Running Office 2007 on my PC and Office 2008 on my Mac. Any documents created in one can be opened on the other.

 

I don't think anyone has actually bashed Microsoft, as far as I can see, most people have made fair critique of MS Office without attacking the company.

Because they wanted to create a consumer level product, but that's a completely separate issue to what is being discussed here (word alternatives).

Do you have any statistics to back that claim up ?
How do you even define user-friendliness ?
I speculate most people use Microsoft products because it mostly is the default option and most people do not know/care there is even any alternatives.

Why have you started to bash Operating Systems, when this thread is about office suits, of which nearly all run on Windows, Linux, Mac ?

Microsoft are completely responsible as it was their choice to implement a proprietary scripting language.
Perfect example of why standards exist.

Thanks, I did suspect this would be the case.

 

Just because the OS is different doesn't mean its difficult.......today's Linux OS like Ubuntu, SuSE etc. are simplicity defined and work right out of the box. Also critical stuff like updates etc. are automatic and guess what, when you need help, there is no shortage of forums, sites etc. to help you out. Our own Mrkvonic provides some excellent help via is site for those looking for it.

 

I posted th following elsewhere a bit over a week ago.

I've not bothered to investigate OO Writer, as Calc was sufficiently lacking.

Note that many 3rd party apps, such as Acrobat, provide add-ins that work with MSFT Office. Doubt that many offer add-ins that work with the free office apps.

Note that I've been using MSFT Office since 1992 and programming Office since 1993. I jusy could not live without MSFT Office's programming abilities.
As indicate dabove, as of a bit over a year ago, Calc was just not yet there,

Of course, most users could "get by" with OO, but they are giving up a lot by not using MSFT Office. And, in a business environment, or in an environment in which you gotta send workbooks, databases, documents to/from others, MSFT Office is the best choice.

Indeed, in 1992, I chose to use Windows (3.1, ugh!), rather than Unix, ONLY because I had to use MSFT Office professionally.

 

That would make a good thread Howard. Just a tiny suggestion next time you try a similar application: Gnumeric

However, we're dealing with Word alternatives, and i think we went through most.

 

Back to the basic question of a cheap alternative to MS Word:
You can get the OEM disk of Microsoft Works from Newegg for about $9. It includes slightly "dumbed-down" versions of Word and a spreadheet compatable with excel. Documents created in Works can be imported/exported seamlessly into the bigger programs, but works lack some of the more advanced features. I have been using them for years to work at home on stuff that I take back to Word or Excel at the office.

Depending on what you really need, Works is a super-cheap and fully office-compatable tool.

 

I needed an alternative to MS Office for one PC at work. I tried Gnumeric and it corrupted the XLS file when it was saved.

I ended up going with the (Ashampoo branded) SoftMaker Office 2008. Ashampoo had a $23 deal going and it worked great with the XLS file.

Relating to this thread... SoftMaker Office 2008 has replacements for Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Except for things like macros, they all seem to work very well with MS Office documents (NOT the XML versions though.) It's a product being actively developed (a plus!) and it supports PDF creation natively. It will also run from a USB flash drive too.

 

Yes, but the VBA issue applies to all MSFT Office apps, and I suspect that each of the OO apps might have incompatibilities preventing easy, if any, migration from MSFT Office, and omitting "significant: functionality in OO that is in MSFT Office.

The specific issue in Excel of not supporting the user name space fully is just not excusable. Makes me wonder who reviews/approves what gets done in OO.

My current plans are to help in that area, starting with the Windows version of OO.

But not until I finish some Excel related freeware and shareware, probably early next year.