[JKT]

For those of you who are interested in its progress, the MacOS X native version of OpenOffice.org has gained a major new feature in the latest patch 10 release - drag and drop between NO/J and other MacOS applications. If you already have the 1.1 beta installed, go grab the patch. If you have no idea what NeoOffice is, visit the link above and download the 1.1 beta plus patch 10 to check it out.

[the_glassman]

Brilliant! I simply love this suite, even with it's short comings its nothing short of amazing and they keep improving it!

[Thinine]

NeoOffice is not an OS X native port of OO.o. It's a Java port which happens to be a pretty good OS X citizen.

[CharlesS]

Does NeoOffice still put the menus under the window bar?

[sminch]

people will get sick of me saying how much i love neooffice/j, but what the hell, it's bloody great. if anyone is looking for a word processor or spreadsheet they HAVE to check this out before shelling out for ms office - it stopped me from lining ol' bill's coffers.

sminch

[Chuckit]

Originally posted by CharlesS:
Does NeoOffice still put the menus under the window bar?

Nope. They're right up where they belong.

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by Chuckit:
Nope. They're right up where they belong.

Hmm, that's good to hear. Maybe I'll have to give NeoOffice a try sometime.

[a holck]

Currently I use Abiword for my word documents, Looks better, right? (and cocoa for those who like to know that)
http://www.abisource.com/%7Efjf/

[sminch]

damnation, that does look quite purdy.

anyone out there used both and able to offer a comparison?

sminch

[Cadaver]

Originally posted by a holck:
Currently I use Abiword for my word documents, Looks better, right? (and cocoa for those who like to know that)
http://www.abisource.com/%7Efjf/

How stable is it??

[JKT]

Originally posted by sminch:
damnation, that does look quite purdy.

anyone out there used both and able to offer a comparison?

sminch

Although it looks better it still doesn't function very well as an OS X app (IMO) - though that can partially be said for NeoOffice also (though, I'd say it is better than AbiWord). I also find it to be less stable than NeoOffice, but others experience may vary. Edit: Both are worth downloading and trying out, however!

The major difference is that NeoOffice is an entire office suite, and I believe is more widely used (in the form of OpenOffice.org) than AbiWord, e.g. in many European governmental/educational organisations.

NeoOffice is not an OS X native port of OO.o. It's a Java port which happens to be a pretty good OS X citizen.

True, what I should have written was that it is a version of OOo that runs natively in OS X.

[Chuckit]

Originally posted by sminch:
anyone out there used both and able to offer a comparison?

I tried both out for a while a couple of months back. AbiWord is much prettier than NeoOffice, but it's quite a bit quirkier and seems to have some performance issues (opening some files takes about a minute).

Personally, I don't think either is a match for Office 2004, which is the first edition of Office I've actually liked since version 5.

[hudson1]

IIRC, one of the very special features (and relatively recent) of Abiword is its ability to open and properly display just about any WordPerfect document.

Those who deal with WordPerfect docs have been lamenting for a long time the lack of OS X native apps that can handle those docs. This may be the key app that they've been looking for.

[Chuckit]

I almost forgot about that. AbiWord's WordPerfect support is a godsend.

[JKT]

FWIW, NeoOfficeJ also opens Wordperfect 3.x docs (couldn't comment on earlier versions) as well and I believe it is actually the only version of OOo to do so "out-of-the-box" so to speak, IIRC.

[bohdanz]

For those trying to use either neooffice or abiword (I keep using both in addition to pages) you'll note that only Pages allows fans of Spellcatcher to use the application.

Neither Neooffice or Abiword allow use of Spellcatcher.
Major minus for me.

That said of the two I hoped to liked Abiword since it looks nicer but it's erratic in behavior. Neooffice is slightly better though I've found a portrait-formatted file I edited last night now suddenly prints only in horizontal format.

Not bad... much better than Neooffice was in previous versions... but I wish it would replace MSOffice completely.

[Superchicken]

Have none of you purchased iWork!? Pages is AWESOME, I've been writing all my papers in it, the learning curve is a bit higher than I expected, it did take some effort, but after a few minutes of being lost I got the hang of it. It and Keynote 2 are a God send! Certainly worth the cash I shelled out.

[sminch]

bohdanz -

you may have already tried these two but check under preferences - print - printer warnings, there is a tick box called paper orientation. also, try print preview - print options - format, there is a landscape / portrait tick box.

not sure if either of this'll make any difference but give them a whirl...

sminch

[Chuckit]

Originally posted by Superchicken:
Have none of you purchased iWork!? Pages is AWESOME, I've been writing all my papers in it, the learning curve is a bit higher than I expected, it did take some effort, but after a few minutes of being lost I got the hang of it.

I can't find any use for Pages that isn't better served by either Word 2004 or InDesign. Its word processing isn't as powerful as Word's and its layout functions are annoying compared to an actual DTP program (and in fact I think both Quark and InDesign have an auto-add-page feature that makes them pretty much just like Pages).

[PurpleGiant]

Originally posted by Chuckit:
I can't find any use for Pages that isn't better served by either Word 2004 or InDesign.

The difference is that Word + InDesign costs a hell of a lot more than just Pages