[karambos]

I heard that there are "open source" software packages that are kind of "substitutes" for the Microsoft Office stuff like Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good one for Mac OS10.2.8? I need to be able to open documents that have been written in any of the Microsoft office software programmes and save in a format compatible with them.

Grateful, as always, for any help received.
-k-

[JKT]

There are two you can use - OpenOffice.org v1.1.2 which is not a native Mac application and has to run within an X11 environment, and NeoOffice/J (which is actually still OpenOffice.org but it has been adapted to run natively in OS X via a Java backend). The current stable release of NeoOffice/J (v0.8.4) is based on OpenOffice.org v.1.0.3 but there is an alpha release that is based on OOo v.1.1.2 which is currently being tested (and works pretty well actually). You can find out about them, download them and get support for using them here.

In terms of compatibility with Office documents, you aren't going to find anything that is better than OOo and NeoOffice/J (in the alternative to Office world that is) although that doesn't mean that they are perfect - there will be some issues but you won't find out what they are until you try them.

P.S. As you are running 10.2.8 you won't be able to use Apple's X11 implementation if you choose to use OOo instead of NO/J, but you can use XFree86 and e.g. OroborOSX as the window manager to achieve almost the same capability.

[[APi]TheMan]

Originally posted by karambos:
I heard that there are "open source" software packages that are kind of "substitutes" for the Microsoft Office stuff like Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc. Can anyone point me in the direction of a good one for Mac OS10.2.8? I need to be able to open documents that have been written in any of the Microsoft office software programmes and save in a format compatible with them.

If you have Apple's X11 installed you can use OpenOffice.org's suite of productivity tools: http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/oo...downloads.html

If you don't have X11 installed you can always run NeoOffice which is a native (Java) version that runs straight under Mac OS X, but because it's Java it's a little slow... and the version of OpenOffice that it's based on it a little outdated.

They're all awesome, frankly.

[karambos]

thankyou! Will try the NeoOffice/J

[[APi]TheMan]

Originally posted by karambos:
thankyou! Will try the NeoOffice/J

Whoa, I checked out the link in your signature... cool music/effects. I like the site design and feel too, the background sounds add to the already relaxed setting created by the visuals... Good stuff.

[karambos]

why thanky'all [APi]TheMan! for your kind words.

It's the work of my collegue in the studio. He does Flash design as well as being a talented musician.

I really liked your "Black holes are where God divided by zero". I've written that down. Where'd you get it?