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OpenOffice is possibly the most important piece of software ever written. It is such due to the fact that it proves there are viable alternatives to Microsoft's stranglehold on the business world.

OpenOffice is the Open Source version of Sun's StarOffice 8 which is a suite of applications that includes a word processor (Write), spreadsheet (Calc), a charting/diagram package (Draw), presentation software (Impress), and a database (Base).

Review
Installation & Documentation
Ease of use
Value for money
Price approx.	Free (GPL)
Software/Hardware Requirements	MacOS X X Windows System (e.g. Apple's X11) Java 128Mb RAM 350Mb HDD (400Mb recommended)
Available from	OpenOffice Mac Site Click Advanced Build 2.0

So how does OO2.0 compare to the previous version? Simply put, ditch OO1 and download OO2. That's all there is to it. OO2 has ALL the tools that are available to Windows and Linux users whereas not all these tools were ported to the Mac in OO1.

How does it compare to MS Office? Let's see:

Yes, well umm. Can you see the problem here? The "Professional" version of MS Office 2004 has fewer features and is 1199 times the price of OpenOffice.

The only feature that Office 2004 has over OpenOffice is an email/calendar application but seriously, Mail and iCal are more than enough for these needs and they come with the MacOS system. That's still 1199 times cheaper than Office 2004. There simply is no comparison.

So how easy is OpenOffice to use? VERY. In essence there is not too much difference between working in Office 2004 and OpenOffice. Also working between each program in the suite is very little difference allowing for an increase in productivity because you only have to learn the application specific commands.

Write is a fantastic word processor and is in fact what I've been using to write this review.

Calc is the feature I use the most as I use a lot of spreadsheets. It is every bit as powerful as Excel and a lot more stable to boot.

Base is a very welcome feature. It is the equivalent of Access on Windows but more powerful as it doesn't seem to be phased by large databases (Access has a 2Gb cap). Base can even read Access databases.

Impress can read and write PowerPoint files and is a powerful alternative to even Apple's Keynote although without all the fancy effects of Apple's offering.

I haven't really used Draw as I haven't had much need for it. However if you are wanting to create flow charts and Gant charts etc then this is a welcome app. However it won't import Visio or Project files which I feel would make it more useful for sharing between companies.

OpenOffice can handle a huge array of file formats including Office up to Office XP and even formats that are obscure. It will even create PDB files for Palm handhelds. It's native format is the much talked about OpenDocument. Right from the app you can export to PDF as well (without even the need for Apple's PDF engine) which makes sharing documents with printing companies easy although OpenOffice can't open PDFs which would be a handy feature for tracking changes.

Installation is a simple drag and drop to wherever you want to run it however you will need an X Windows setup such as Apple's X11 which is included with MacOS X.4. Java is also required for many of the backend features but this is covered by default in MacOS X with the included Java install.

The fact that this is not a standard MacOS X app may detract from it's appeal but if you're going to be superficial then you are going to miss out on an amazing application. For it's price nothing comes anywhere near OpenOffice. It simply can't be beat.

However it's not without its problems. I've found that it crashes often when using forms in Base. This makes for an annoying time when you're trying to get the layouts right only to have all your good work disappear. SAVE OFTEN. I've had the odd crash in Calc but it really only seems to be Base that crashes. Everything else seems reasonably stable.

This version of OpenOffice 2.0 is only a release candidate and as I've said there's a couple of bugs that need ironing out, but all in all this release is more than adequate for office use. If you want a viable alternative to Office 2004 then you cannot beat OpenOffice. In fact you'd be hard pushed to find the level of power awarded to you in OpenOffice anywhere else, including the open source sector.

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