Going, Going, Gone....

Office unfortunately is an issue under OS X. Since M$ hasn't provided us with a Universal Binary version of Office it is damn slow (but I still use it).
OpenOffice would be great, but there is still no native Cocoa implementation available. So you either have to run it under X or try NeoOffice which really has gotten quite good lately.

Please tell me when/if you have found a good Office suite for your Mac :)

You can also try Google Docs and Spreadsheets (http://docs.google.com/) if you're always connected to the internet. There really isn't a stellar alternative to Word on the Mac.

Hi Steve,

Try NeoOffice. It's a version of OpenOffice with native OSX graphic calls. From what I've recently heard, Sun promised to port OpenOffice to the Mac OS in the near future, but as of now NeoOffice is likely the best solution.

Good luck,

Gustavo

NeoOffice is what you are looking for. It is the cocoa version of OpenOffice and it works very well.

I first tried openOffice on my powerPc PowerBook but changed for NeoOffice as it's macosx native. No need of X11. I have forgotten about openOffice on macosx...too slow for me.
www.neooffice.org hope this helps

i don't know much about openoffce, but i am using neooffice, an openoffice port specilly for osx. i like the interface, and one software handle word and excel.

actually if i only need to read the content of a word file, i simply use the osx included textedit. i open the neooffice only if i need to open an excel file or need to see the word file more close to it should look like

I'd suggest NeoOffice, a derivative of OpenOffice.org specifically tailored for Mac OS X: www.neooffice.org.

The UI is great (no need to use X11), speed is good after you've launched it, and the developers behind it are very dedicated. It can even read the new MSO2007 file formats, if you should happen upon them.

Definitely delete that Word test drive as soon as you can!

I'm not a mac user myself, but afaik NeoOffice is better than the normal openoffice port for mac for now (doesn't require X11 and is integrated with the rest of the Aqua system or whatever it's called). Not sure, but I think I heard someone say that vanilla openoffice might become more mac friendly soon.

you should take a look at NeoOffice

OpenOffice.org is great. Feels more natural to me than MS-Office. Alternatively, if you expect to be in a 99% online world, check out Google docs. That is, if you trust google with your data. It's not fully mature, but it IS the way softwrae is heading, IMHO.

well neooffice.org is a port of OOo for mac,
it's not a native port(uses a java layer)so it's not exactly snappy but it's quite ok

Try NeoOffice. It's a custom build of OpenOffice especially made for OSX.

try NeoOffice, it's OpenOffice looking good...

Steven,

if not OpenOffice take a look at ThinkFree office suite
i for one am not unhappy with Mircrosoft's Office

I would suggest either NeoOffice/J which is a native port of OpenOffice (no need to install the X Windows environment) or a combination of TextEdit (supplied free) and Pages (dirt cheap and comes with Keynote).

Or Google Docs and Spreadsheets?

- Neil.

Steve,

I've been a Mac user since the beginning. And while I also use (and administer) PCs, the Macs are always a more pleasant experience.

Try and use NeoOffice, a version of OpenOffice. I think you'll like it.

Meanwhile, how is Ubuntu? Should I convert my PC office to it? And my Mac? Do tell!

Got another Fonero to sign up :)

You should try NeoOffice, which is a OpenOffice version better suited for the Mac.

I recently switched to Mac as well. MS Office for Mac sucks, you're right. I recommend running WinXP under "Parralels Desktop" on your Mac and keep good old MS Office for Windows.

welcome to the family ;-)

Look this www.neooffice.com is open office conversion for mac os x native.

Lots of input with the most positive for neooffice. I'll take a look at it this week. Thanks for all the input.

Also, I will post an update on the Ubuntu conversion soon. I haven't been in front of my home PC enough lately to really see what it can do. My family has been using it and I'm not getting frantic phone calls so it must be working!

I can confirm, Sun recently pledged to port OpenOffice.org natively to Mac OS X with all goodies of the Aqua API. In the mean time and may be as long term competition there is NeoOffice.

If you are looking for some help, check out my attempts to document OpenOffice.org with screencasts

K

Try Pages, which is a part of the iWork suite from Apple. It really boosts my creativity in word processing and layout. For those purposes it's the far best application I've ever used. I simply love it. I'm a devoted Ubuntu and Open Office user as well, btw.