OpenOffice
From Koset Surakomol
The Better Word Processing Spreadsheet Software ... and it's free!
OpenOffice Suite is available for Windows, Macintosh and Linux. It looks and works the same on all platforms. In my experience, it has all the features of MS Office and is just as easy to use.
Not on the fringe
It enjoys corporate sponsorship from Sun Microsystems, one of the top ten computer companies in the world.
Best of all, it's free. MS Office costs upwards of $300 or more for a legal copy. See my comments on copying software.
I have just installed the latest version on my Macbook Pro. However, there were two minor tweaks I needed to make to get it to work seamlessly.
Get OpenOffice
Note for Mac users, there are two versions. The X11 version looks and acts more like MS Office. The Aqua version looks and acts more like a native Macintosh application.
Opening Documents
When I clicked on a document, it would open MS Office by default (the trial version that came with the Mac). In order to change the file association to use OO instead I followed these steps (source)
- Select a document file in the Finder.
- Choose Get Info from the File menu (cmd-I).
- Under the Open with section, select OpenOffice from the menu.
- Click the Change all... button.
- Ok
You'll probably want to do this for .doc .ppt .xls etc.
Command Timed Out (two answers)
1
The first time OO starts, there is a delay and this message appears. After that it seems fine. To prevent the issue, follow these steps. (source)
- Start OpenOffice
- Let it error out (timeout)
- Select Tools/Options/Java
- Uncheck Use Java runtime environment
2
An alternate suggestion refers to installing X Windows from the Leopard disc.
Why do I get a white box when I start OO?
That's actually an xterm, a command prompt window. You don't need it and can just close it.
When editting a document, what's this black box around the page?
I find it annoying, perhaps because I'm not used to it and don't need it. To remove it,
- Pull down View
- Uncheck Text Boundaries
Resources
Instructions (start here!)br OpenOffice Mac Forumbr Manuals and PDF Guidesbr br
