Just curious as to what people thought about using Sun StarOffice 5.2 instead of Microsoft Office 97/2000/XP (or Corel WordPerfect Suite or Lotus SmartSuite).

BD

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Star Office is written in Java and that kind of makes it slow. It is very large and takes a while to start up . . . but as for as for actually using it goes, I don't see a whole lot of difference, except for the interface. I tend to use it even on my Windows box just so that damn Office Assistant will stop grinning at me. But they are both just office suites . . . either one will work fine. I have no big preference personally.

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I got it free from a the Sun booth at a conference last fall. I installed it on a Linux computer and Windows computer. The only complaint is that it is slow. I hear that version 6 will hopefully fix that problem.

BD

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Yeah, that's my opinion as well. I can see why Sun wrote it in Java . . . their "own" language so to speak, but it would be a lot nicer if it would run faster and take up somewhat fewer resources. You can use it as a browser, HTML editor, WP, spreadsheet, and so on. Most people who use Linux/Unix as a desktop use it instead of Applixware becasue of its price. Once they get the speed issue down, it'll be a lot nicer to use.

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True. I like it a lot better that Corel's WordPerfect Suite for Linux. I have never tried Applixware.

BD

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ApplixWare is really good, but it costs. I don't care much for Corel's WP suite, but I haven't used it in some time. Most of my editing I do with simpler tools anyway (usually vi or Notepad), but for any office work, I find it to be a completely acceptable alternative to MS, AW, or Corel.

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Many people that I know who have tried StarOffice down it mainly because they are directly comparing it to Microsoft Office. It just like a person who has been using WordPerfect for years and then has to change to Word (Office).

BD

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I like the MS Office better, it is more professional while staroffice it don't seem can run as well as Office product..

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Well, it is slower, that's for sure, but once you get used to it, I don't see a huge difference. It's handy if you do documents a lot on UNIX, but on the whole, an office suite is an office suite, unless it has something seriously bogus about it.

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StarOffice is definately slower, but for everyday needs, I have done the same things in StarOffice that I do in Microsoft Office. One thing that I have noticed is that it runs slower in Windows than in Unix/Linux

BD

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