steven n fettig's Jitterin' Thoughts

...finally installing Open Office on my PowerBook (Mac). It took a while to figure out how to get the thing running properly in X (you can't run it natively on Aqua) - but the time spent was mainly because I refused to read the installation notes. No, Open Office is not for novices - especially on the Mac. With RedHat, it was part of the installation...
    My first impressions are pretty good. I remember testing StarOffice some years ago and was honestly disgusted. I didn't like the interface and I didn't like how slowly the program responded. I also didn't like the fact that interoperability between MS Office and StarOffice was poor. Many people were able to use both applications without problems, but usually it was due to the fact that they were not using many of the high-end formatting options available in Office and copied by StarOffice. Therein lies the issue, in my opinion.
    If I want to use Office as a type of layout program where I can transfer data seamlessly between components like Word and Excel, then maybe the cost can really be justified. If I use Office, however, for basic document writing and maybe some low-level spreadsheet work, I don't feel that the cost is justified. The only reason that remains for us to keep Office around is because we want to be able to read stuff that our clients are sending us (assuming they use Office, too). At some point, however, you need to say enough is enough. The technology has gotten far enough these days that creating a PDF out of a normal document has become possible. Look at the fact that such an option is offered on the Mac's right out of the box (and I think XP now, too) -- and now that I just looked, it appears that RedHat can do the same. We all know (or should know) that PDF's are as versatile as any document - anyone and almost anything can read one (and that's more than Office can claim). So, why continue using Office? Two reasons (and these reasons are becoming less and less relevant): a) everyone uses Office and b) we want to use what everyone else is using because of interoperability issues. As discussed above, a is especially becoming less and less relevant.
    In the end, I don't see enough reason to keep me paying for Office and I would imagine a great number of people out there are in the same boat. Why not give Open Office a spin? It won't cost you anything - to begin with - and you just may be as pleasantly surprised as I! I have found my experiences with Open Office on the Mac to be nothing short of surprising. I still haven't encountered any situations where the program has crashed (which has been complained about from time to time by other users), so I can say that it does work under the type of load I put on it.
    Suffice it to say, that I wouldn't be surprised if we finally have a viable alternative to Office. It looks like the past 5 years of StarOffice/Open Office development has paid off. Now we need to get some actual use out of the program to show that it works.

*Whether we actually need to perform these upgrades is debatable, but if I want to keep up with my clients (most of which are very large and have much more money than I), then I have to somehow accept this financial burden. At least, I think I do. I have learned that while some may be surprised that you can't do a certain thing because of technological limitations, there are very few who aren't willing to live with it, IF you can provide them a product they need in an efficient and cost-effective manner. So, the need to upgrade is more emotional than it is real.