June 19, 2006

OpenOffice, a neat alternative to Microsoft Office for Mac OSX

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Cameron Manderson @ 5:23 pm

I needed to install an manage some ODT files today that I have created with my Windows StarOffice (another alternative to Microsoft Word provided by Sun for much much less [and based on openoffice]) on my Mac OSX. OpenOffice is multiplatform and compatible with all other major office suites and is available and distributable for free. Considering the pricing of Microsoft Office today, it is an extremely feasible alternative. If your clients send you files it will still be perfectly compatible to open, edit and send back.

View the Open Office website here.

A Note for Mac OS-X Intel users: X11 required

You will need to ensure you do not download the PPC version as it will not run on your Intel chipset. Get the Intel Chipset builds from here.
On my mac which is running on the new Intel core chipset, you will need to install X11. Information on X11 can be found on Apples website, but you are able to install it from your original Mac OSX Installation CD. To do this follow this guide to getting the X11 user package installed:

  1. Insert the Mac OS-X Installation CD
  2. Goto the Finder
  3. Hit the “Go” Menu -> “Go to Folder” -> Type “System” -> Browse “Installation” -> Browse “Packages” -> Find and execute “X11User.pkg”
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2 Comments »

  1. In regard to Open Office have you ever installed it on your PC Cam? On 2 seperate occasions I’ve installed it and had to uninstall it due to memory issues, it just kept crashing! Any ideas?

    Comment by Richard Lee — June 19, 2006 @ 5:34 pm

  2. Hmm, I haven’t tried OpenOffice on Windows, but I am sure these sort of issues wouldn’t be occuring today. I am using Sun StarOffice on my PC which is based off the open office project, but is sold commercially. This has been very responsive and so far very reliable. The document recovery is also very good, in the case that I have lost power without saving.So far on the Mac the Open Office has been good also. Maybe the JRE needs to be updated on your computer or something..?

    Comment by Cameron Manderson — June 19, 2006 @ 5:48 pm

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