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Star Office 8
Last April I saw what I was told was Gold code for a product that would be released in May 'come hell or high water'. Well it seems that it did not ship until the end of November and then only through Avanquest. I have no doubt that large corporate customers could download it sooner. Some people use the free version called 'Open Office' but that for logical reasons it will always be at least one version behind.
First the box contains five CD's, Windows, Solaris X86, Linux and Solaris SPARC versions of Star Office 8 plus the fifth CD contains Mozilla Firefox Web Navigator and Mozilla Thunderbird e-mail client. The box also contains an 84 page getting started guide and a StarOffice Support Entitlement Certificate that entitles you to three free support calls in the first 60 days, this is true free support as it is on a freephone number. The Avanquest box price is £69.
The back of the box has a comparison section but this only lists Microsoft offerings.
The basic integrated package seems today to consist of Word Processor, Spreadsheet and Presentation module, other items tend to be extras to the basic version. On the box ticking front Stat Office also has a Database, PDF Export, Drawing and Graphics, Vector Based Art, Full XML support. The Web Browser and E-Mail Client are either available in Windows via Internet Explorer and Outlook Express or via the Mozilla CD provided. Of course Mozilla is available for a free download elsewhere anyway.
While I tested the Presentation module for Power Point capability I am by no means an expert with this module but it loaded Power Point slides without any problems and even animations seemed fine.
Spreadsheets again seemed fine and once Excel sheets were in they seemed to work correctly without any problems. I would suggest that any normal user would soon adjust as the toolbars and templates seem to be very similar. Again I am no power user and advanced macros may not always work as required but I remember from my April briefing being promised that 'if there was a problem report it and a solution would be found'.
Most of my tests were on the Word Processing module, everything I created and or imported worked exactly the same as it would within Microsoft Word, again I am not a power user but I do use Word everyday and while using the Word Processor within Star Office 8 I had no problems at all. Some items are not in exactly the same place but very little searching is required.
My tests were only on the Windows version, I ran it on both Windows XP and ME. The box lists the requirements and while the ME machine has only 256MB it ran fine, in fact it does claim to be runable in 128MB and only needs 320MB of hard disc space. XP users should note that you do need Service Pack 2. The memory and space requirements for the other supplied systems are also listed on the base of the box.
Certainly you cannot get a legal copy of Microsoft Office for £69 and as far as I could tell from my tests Star Office 8 is compatible.
http://www.avanquest.com/UK/work/home-office/Office-Suites/StarOffice_8.html
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