Finally an OpenOffice that I can recommend

(Credit: OpenOffice.org)

Much as I like the idea behind OpenOffice, I've never particularly liked the reality. Until now.

As a Mac user, I've long relied on Patrick Luby and the NeoOffice team to deliver the power of OpenOffice in a Mac-friendly UI (the native version of OpenOffice has always required the ugly and clunky X11). Today, however, I downloaded OpenOffice Aqua Beta, and find that my old complaints are just that...old.

One of my biggest peeves? OpenOffice for Mac used to lack embedded video support. Not anymore. I was easily able to drop my favorite video clips into a presentation I had just converted from PowerPoint.

The conversion? Perfect. While I doubt OO.org will be able to perfectly convert all of my files, I don't really expect it to do so: Ever tried converting your files between different versions of Microsoft Office? Good luck on finding perfection.

The bigger issue for now is stability, as the program kept crashing when I tried to import Word documents with heavy redlines (using the Track Changes feature). But it's still a beta, so crashes are to be expected.

So, while not perfect by any stretch, it's a big step forward in making the Mac a first-class citizen for OpenOffice, which has always worked best with Windows and Linux. I'm now getting the features I want with the operating system and clean UI that I've wanted. And, and if you want launcher icons...it has those, too.

[blabtech.blogspot.com]

I agree that OpenOffice is a good tool, only for limited work, I would still go with Microsoft Office, for use on a regular basis.

[Simplicius]

@blabtech
Can you tell us what you mean by 'limited work'?
I work at a university. For what *I* use an office suite, OpenOffice has been for several years more than adequate. In fact, for long documents (e.g. if you are writing a 400-page book) I've found OpenOffice Writer better than several incarnations of Word. so in my experience, I'd say, for limited work use Word, but for serious writing, use OO.

[viper1432]

@blabtech is just being a fud-bucket. Limited work. lmao. He must think that open office is some open source version of notepad or some such. Of course it could Balmer using an alias. shrugs. :-D

[mwreed3]

Waiiitttt a minute, either OO.o is something that is a product qualifying as a competitor to MSFT or it's "...still a beta, so crashes are to be expected."

I expect crashes in Microsoft Office, but I don't think you can sell the crashes as "to be expected". I raise the BS flag on that. Either OO.o is ready for prime time and crashes are unacceptable, or it's "a beta so crashes are to be expected".

You don't get to stand in front of a CEO or a State CIO and claim "hey, it's a beta, so get used to crashes".

We all complain about Office stability issues (my mac office gives spinning wheel of doom for a good minute before it's actually usable) but I sure has heck don't think Microsoft will tell me, "hey relaaax it's only a beta".

So which is it Matt?

[Matt Asay]

It's a beta. The 2.x version of OpenOffice doesn't crash. I'm happy to accept crashes during the beta of a product.

[kurthaug]

So how does the new OO beta compare to the existing NeoOffice? Will you keep using Neo? Advantages, disadvantages for those of us who don't want to have TWO open source suites?