cnet.com reviewed OO2 today. They gave it an average of 6.0. User
reviews gave it an 8.6.
The review is at
http://reviews.cnet.com/OpenOffice_2/4505-3524_7-31624261-2.html?tag=nav
CNET editors' review
for OpenOffice 2
Reviewed by: Jeff Bertolucci
Edited by: Elsa Wenzel
Review date: 12/6/05
OpenOffice 2 is an undeniable bargain. This robust, free productivity
suite offers full-featured word-processing, spreadsheet, database, and
presentation apps--and it won't cost you or your business a dime. Too
often, freeware carries a you-get-what-you-pay-for caveat, but OpenOffice
is the real deal and a solid alternative to Microsoft Office 2003,
particularly for small-office or home users who don't mind browsing
online forums for product support. OpenOffice reads and writes Microsoft
Office files--albeit imperfectly--and it supports multiple operating
systems, including GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, Sun Solaris, and Windows. Still,
while Sun and its allies are far from creating a multiplatform suite
that ends the market domination of Microsoft Office, they've made
OpenOffice an inexpensive alternative that's worth a look.
OpenOffice 2 is the open-source version of Sun Microsystems' StarOffice8
desktop suite, which costs between $70 and $100. In 2000, Sun made the
StarOffice source code publicly available and invited the open-source
community to join Sun's developers in shaping future upgrades.
StarOffice 8 has more extras, including additional presentation backgrounds
and clip art, as well as better administration and Microsoft Office-migration
tools.
At first glance, OpenOffice 2 and StarOffice 8 are identical. The core
applications in each suite (Base, Calc, Draw, Impress, and Writer) have
matching interfaces, but you'll find differences as you dig deeper. Take
the Impress presentations program, for instance: StarOffice provides
more than 70 visual backgrounds in its Presentation Wizard, while
OpenOffice has only three. StarOffice also comes with more than 1,800
clip-art graphics, while OpenOffice provides less than half that number
(though you can download more at the Open Clip Art Library. And only
StarOffice provides a variety of tools for administration and Microsoft
Office migration.
Like StarOffice, OpenOffice lets you save documents as PDF files--a
handy feature for sending read-only files via e-mail, and one not found
in Microsoft Office 2003. The Calc spreadsheet in version 2 can handle
spreadsheets as large as 65,536 rows (same as Excel), which is great for
importing huge Excel files.
OpenOffice 2 supports the OpenDocument Format (ODF), an open-source file
format with the ambitious goal of replacing Microsoft Office's formats
as the workplace standard. StarOffice 8 supports ODF too; Microsoft
Office 2003 does not. Does it matter? Not yet. While the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts has mandated support for ODF, most business and home users
neither require the benefits nor want the headache of dealing with another
file format.
So what's it going to be, OpenOffice or StarOffice? Businesses that want
professional-caliber support and superior administration tools should
opt for StarOffice. But for small-business and home users who don't mind
combing bulletin boards for support tips, OpenOffice is a solid,
money-saving alternative.
Because it's open source, OpenOffice relies entirely upon peer support,
so you're out of luck if you were hoping for a company rep to walk you
through a puzzling question via a toll-free call or an online forum.
Luckily, OpenOffice has an enthusiastic developer community. The
OpenOffice Web site includes community-written tutorials and manuals,
including installation and usage guides for individual applications.
These tutorials are well written but lack screenshots to illustrate the
tasks being explained. Community support, frankly, is hit or miss. We
browsed the mailing list archive and saw posts from users seeking help.
Most had one or two replies from fellow users, but it was often unclear
if they solved the original poster's problem. Such is the nature of
free, community-supported software.
John Batt
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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