Office bloat and alternatives

I've been an MS Office user since Office 97, but each time they put out a new version, it does sadly seem to be more bloated and slower. I currently have Office 2007, and now am wondering if there is something light and free I can use. I know there is Open Office, which I like also, but somehow even that seems a bit bloated. Am I wrong there?

My needs are simple .doc file editing, Excel spreadsheet editing and the need to view .pps files. Nothing fancy at all. Just need the MS Office compatability.

Google Docs seems interesting, yet somehow that doesn't appear to be what I need, as I don't need to share documents online with others, and I prefer to keep my docs on my own HD and not Google's servers.

Is there anything else besides OO thats free? Or is OO not bloated? From recent usage of it in Linux, it does seem to be getting there slowly too. I am talking apps for Windows Vista x64 also. Free is what I want...

I think OO is probably it right?

 

Hi Kerodo.

I have to agree.

AbiWord is a fairly decent word-processor, pretty light and free. But if you're looking for a full Office compatibility (docx, xlsx, and such) I don't think even the major contender, OO, gives this. Try it, at least. PowerPoint Viewer (courtesy of Microsoft) is free for PPT viewing only, not sure about the bloat there. And wait for more comments on Excel alternative, I don't know that.
(Sorry for not providing you with links, this was just a quick post).

Cheers,

 

Thanks Seer, yes, I am familiar with Abiword, forgot about that. Thanks.... I'd need an Excel alternative then I guess. You're correct also on the PP Viewer from MS. That might do also. If I have to use OO to get the Excel capability, then I guess it will have to be OO though...

 

OO is very good. But that does nothing to improve upon the "bloat" that MS Office is. In fact, Org is actually larger (2.4 and 3.0). I have been toying around with the latest version of Ability Office. It is only 80 meg installed. I must admit I like it very much. It has Writer, Presentation, Database, Spreadsheet, Draw, and Photopaint. It is compatable with every MS Office format As much as I like Org, there are elements of it that I couldn't stand. Ability has the ability (see what I did there ) to completely change gui theme and offers everything the average user could want. While I will miss Org extensions (pdf editor in particular) I think I'll stay with AO.

 

This is the same as the Ashampoo Office 2006. It is light ans works pretty well although I am not sure it has all the Office 2007 bells and whistles.

http://www.softmakeroffice.com/

TextMaker for Windows
The Microsoft Word-compatible word processor that is so easy to use that you will wonder why you bothered with Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org for so long.

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Fast, powerful, reliable.

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Reads and writes your Word documents seamlessly (Microsoft Word .doc 6.0 to 2007)

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Comes with all features that you expect from a high-end word processor

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Many useful helpers – for example, SmartText: just type "lax", and "Los Angeles" appears in your document

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Built-in database, mailmerge that's as easy as pie – and much, much more





PlanMaker for Windows

The Microsoft Excel-compatible spreadsheet that opens all your Excel workbooks directly and gives you many time-saving features.

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Fast, powerful, reliable.

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Reads and writes your Excel files seamlessly (Microsoft Excel .xls 5.0 to 2007)

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More than 320 calculation functions

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Design your worksheets with colors, fonts, borders, pictures, drawings, AutoShapes, WordArt etc.

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Built-in Excel-compatible charting

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Conditional formatting, syntax highlighting, goal seeker, sheet and workbook protection – and much, much more

 

Gnumeric. Seriously try it. Something to consider (though there are more things than statistics):
http://www.daheiser.info/excel/frontpage.html
Just remember to choose the stable version, and test it yourself

Writer works for me. Abiword is fast but basic.

 

I used to use Google docs when I was in college and you don't have to share anything, it's just an option. Also, you can import and export .xml, .doc, .txt, .pdf files to and from you local HD. So you don't really have to keep them stored on the Google server. Just create/edit your doc, export it to your HD, and delete from Google server/


http://documents.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=40609

 

MHO: OO is the only serious contender app that meets your criterion.
Bloated? Using Star Office here. With StarOffice Calc and StarOffice Writer both running using 15Mb mem (working set).
I like Gnumeric, but on XP Pro here, printing is more than problematic, rendering it virtually useless.
Then there is IBM Symphony, but talk about bloated....

 

I gave the wrong link above. The comparison Excel/Gnumeric is here:
http://www.csdassn.org/software_reports.cfm
Third link.

 

Thanks everyone, I am leaving work now and will start checking some of these out when I get home tonight, great suggestions, and thanks to all!

 

Has anyone got a comparision chart between openoffice and staroffice?
thanks in advance
lodore

 

Staroffice 9 will be released tomorrow, as far as I understand. It will be based off of the Org 3.x code. But, for those that are interested in Org, please try out Go-oo. It is based on Oo.org 3.x but it is better in almost every way; better import filters, lighter, faster load times, etc.

 

I would also have offered GOoo, seems good here on MS and Linux.
Agree that the Office 2007 has been a 're-learning' experience, never mind the backwards compatability and all my spreadsheets being turned inside out at first view: one of those Ooohhh F@@@ccckkk moments.

 

My vote would be for Abiwords or Googledocs.

 

Yep, this has been a very informative thread for me.... many things to look at. I just put on MS Live Mail, which is pretty light and snappy. It appears to be more or less the old Outlook Express which turned into Windows Mail I guess, with a facelift. But it sure is a better performer than Outlook 2007. I am a die hard Outlook fan, but not at the expense of performance and overall speed. Anyway, trying Live Mail for a while to see how I like it.

I will give Google Docs a try also, since it may do what I need, and my needs are minimal. If I can get away without installing anything, that's even better for me.

Don't ask me why I'm on this go light kick, but with Vista x64 is seems to be paying off. Also, if I really do need the full MS Office with Access and everything else, I have that on the work laptop, so no loss if I don't have it at home.

Thanks again to everyone for all the responses and info, I appreciate it a lot.

 

Kerodo have you tried Kingsoft Office 2009?
It has the same familiar interface with microsoft office 2003, great combatibility and a usefull export to pdf feature (without the need of a virtual printer).
It is free for home users.

Panagiotis

 

Also try the new lotus symphony.

 

SoftMaker is the one I went with, after trying everything under the sun (no pun intended). Fast, small download, real compatible with DOC and XLS. SoftMaker Office 2006 impressed me so much that I consider upgrading to their for-pay 2008 version.

 

I dont see how OO is bloated when you can choose what to install.

 

It's bloated (now) because the default installation directory is nearly 400 meg.

 

If you already have Office 2007 is it really worth all the trouble to go for some imitation program ? Is 300 or 400 meg on a hard drive all that important anymore ? without outlook I can't see the point in changing.

 

Not bad at all.
SO8 here. Total = 1.38 GB
StarOffice 8\program = 954 MB
Help files (english only) = 166 MB

 

Office 2003 FTW!!

 

There's something wrong with your installation. I've used SO 8 or a long time and it was never that large. My installations were roughly 350 meg, and everything was installed and worked fine. My guess is that you are installing the various updates from Sun. If that is the case then you have numerous repetitive files.