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Review: Sun StarOffice 7
ValourX writes "Here's the Internet's first comprehensive review of Sun's new StarOffice 7 suite. With the ability to export to PDF and SWF and greatly improved conversion filters, Sun's $80 office suite is more than a match for the upcoming ultra-expensive Microsoft Office System 2003."
I am suprised that Sun's Star Office recieves so much attention from slashdot and the open sauce community.
Ability Office offers similar functionality in most cases, it can export to PDF, open all MS Office file types and doesn't use a ugly as hell windowing toolkit.
It can even be run on linux. Star Office is not very similar to Open Office at all, sun kept the best parts to themselves (database app) so why are they seen to be *cooler* to open source zealots then other perfectly good office sweets?
Also its cheaper than StarOffice, Ability only costs 69.95
There is no god
I'm use an older version of staroffice (back when it was a free download) and there's lots of things such as newer slide shows or documents with macros it won't view. Does this newer version address any of that?
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one the bus load of girls just went down.
Probably for presentations; have a read only, run anywhere presentation format. A lot more people have Shockwave than even the viewer for PowerPoint. a lot fewer still have {Star,Open}Office.
From the API FAQ for OpenOffice.
"OpenOffice implements the API with UNO (Universal Network Objects). Currently there are language bindings for Java and C++. You can implement your own language binding, and in fact we are actively looking for a volunteer to create a C language binding.
Additionally UNO allows control from scripting languages and scripting environments (for example debuggers). Currently StarBASIC (VBA syntax compatible) can call on the API and there is a prototype written for Python integration. "
If OpenOffice can di it, I'd wager StarOffice can too. The StarOffice SDK should have all the details.
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
http://udk.openoffice.org/common/man/tutorial/offi ce_automation.html
I haven't tried it, but the following project seems to imply you can: ooo-macro
Even if its not FUD, its FUD if you don't cite it or specify it.
meh.
I'm not actually sure I understand the question. It doesn't take any more "tech savvy" to use an .swx file than it does to use a .doc file.
.swx file format the more tech savvy among your people will quickly discover that the .swx file format is nothing more than a zipped XML file; and thus easily extracted and converted even without an "app" to do the deed for you.
.swx file format is a complete nonissue.
You open the file with your app, and there ya go. Use is transparent to the user.
I started using StarOffice in my business ( and use OpenOffice and KOffice now) some years ago and have never looked back.
Should anything ever "happen" to the
In any case you could always take the tack I have. ASCII for all internal documents and RTF where needed for external documents. If nothing else it serves to concentrate the mind on actual content, rather than pretending to work by wasting the afternoon on pointless playing around with graphics and formating.
Presentation software is for presentations, i.e., sales.
Internally if anyone tries to show me a pie chart I know that:
A)They don't actually understand what they're talking about
B)Think I don't either
C)They are up to something
D)They have already wasted a lot of time I'm paying them for
So go ahead, take the step to StarOffice. You'll find that a few of your people don't even notice, it's that "MSey." The
But also don't be afraid to use even lower level standard formats, like plain ASCII. Doing so will open up a whole world of free and open possibilities.
Sometimes the technological "advancements" advance to the rear.
KFG
You are trying to substitute one broken tool for an even more broken one. Write your assignment using Latex and plot your graphs using Gnuplot.
the ability to export to PDF and SWF
First it was jobs, now it's women.
If we keep exporting all of the Single White Females, who will geeks date and marry?
Single Black Females?
Japanese?
Native American?
Latino?
Korean?
Chinese?
How about we just import more Russian Mail Order Brides?
"Live Free or Die." Don't like it? Then keep out of the USA
It's NOT "one package with everything in it." The last release that was was StarOffice 5.2.
The article simple explains that the apps use a common "shell" that wraps around the GUI. Instead of each app having its own design, they are framed with the same toolbars. This, in theory, adds consistency and reduces code.
It sounds to me like you use other applications to get your work done and not StarOffice or OpenOffice.org. Those that do use them, those that are best qualified to comment, generally say that the consistency from one app to another is a nice feature.
Hi
I am a Pro-OpenOffice (or pro-staroffice), and have been using it since quite a long time. If i only have to use it for myself, then there is not a single time that i thought "Damn.. I should have got MS-Office". However, there are still a LOT of issues with document conversions, specially if you have stuff like drawings and all in your document. This even forced me to use MS-Office when i have to mail the documents to other people (Its too sad that everyone i know uses MS-Office). Even in my university (www.usc.edu), none of the public machines have OpenOffice/StarOffice, they all have MS-Office. so its increasingly difficult to use OpenOffice as others dont have access to it.
Hope they install OpenOffice at more places or do something about the MS-Office compatibility issues. (installing is a better, cheaper option. I feel that openoffice/staroffice is still used by more "technical" or "IT" people then the general user.
To begin with, I was comparing StarOffice 7 with StarOffice 6. That's very clearly stated in the article.
Secondly, it's not "Really crazy" at all to say that it works with Word .DOC files flawlessly. Between the two of us, only one of us has tested the software extensively using a variety of files, from the heavily formatted instructional articles with embedded graphics to 300-page manuscripts. If embedded graphics don't show up properly in non-Word applications it's because whomever created the document didn't properly anchor the graphics. It's not the fault of the conversion filter.
To me, a flawless PDF is one that doesn't have formatting errors, extra page breaks, improperly rendered fonts, etc. OpenOffice.org 1.1RC4 has this problem and I even linked to the issuezilla number in the article, which listed at least two duplicates. It's apparently been fixed but not yet implemented. StarOffice employs third-party conversion filters and therefore didn't have to go through this mess.
It's my opinion that word processors shouldn't have fancy drawing tools -- that should be left to programs like Draw and pro graphics utilities like Illustrator. Word processors are for processing words, not graphics. Less bloat in the word processor is a good thing; Writer 7 didn't seem to offer any significant advantages in the drawing tools arena. But as with any review, some things are overlooked and some things are left out -- no one wants to read an exhaustive 30-page report on every little thing that a program can do. I certainly don't want to write one.
-JemHere's my experiences working with the latest OpenOffice RC (I believe that is what StarOffice 7 is based upon):
Writer is pretty good, but has some serious flaws with page numbering. Namely, there is no concept with OO/SO of sections in the same way as MS Word. You have to bend over backwords to make it break a document so that the table of contents, for example, is numbered using lower-case roman numerals while the main body is numbered starting from 1 using Arabic numerals. Creating a document that excludes the page number from the first page but prints it on all other pages is also a pain in the ass. Importing MS Word documents that are set up this way is broken. Changing formats for heading styles half way through a document is also broken. Resetting numbering for outlines half way through a document is also broken. Every complex document I've ever worked on utilizes all of these features. OpenOffice is very nice, but these features are a necessity for me. In my opinion, this makes OpenOffice unusable for complex documents, and makes its use for interoperability somewhat limited (although interoperability is less likely an issue when dealing with complex documents).
Calc is very good, and I have only noticed a single obscure problem. Excel allows spreadsheets with 65,565 rows, while Calc only allows spreadsheets with 32,767 rows. This is an obscure limit, and I would recommend against creating any spreadsheet that pushes this limit. However, if converting an entire organization to OpenOffice/StarOffice, this may be a problem. A bigger problem for conversion would likely be the lack of Visual Basic support. I don't consider the row size limit to be a show stopper (whereas the Writer limitations are show stoppers, imho). Calc is very good as a whole. However, if your organization relies heavily upon VB macros, then you should consider the effects this will have on any migration.
I have not stress-tested Impress enough to notice any limitations/bugs. So far, everything I have thrown at Impress comes through fine.
As for formatting, I have only had minor issues regarding formatting (like a single line being thrown onto the next page with a document). These issues are similar to those encountered when changing printer types under MS Word. They are a nuiscance, but not a show stopper.
This "comprehensive" review was anything but. If the author had investigated OO/SO's shortcomings even a little bit, the page numbering issues would have been apparent. But, hey, that's what Slashdot is for, no?
--Be human.
Its already stable and done but not with aqua. Look at the screenshots? The MacOSX port uses X from Unix. Uno which is the internal api language of Star/Openoffice is highly complex and the gui's use Windows/X11 calls integrated in.
As soon as the gui portition is done being aqua-nized my guess is sun will release it for the mac. There are some screnshots that are aqau native but that portition is extremely alpha and buggy.
http://saveie6.com/