02-06-2007, 05:56 PM

I recently switched my workstation (at the office) from a PC to a 17' MacBook Pro - great machine, love almost everything about it, except the lack of stability from Office 2004 for the Mac.

Now I know some of you will say "It's a MS product and they are the devil" but that aside, and as a "workstation" in a work environment where 99% of documents shared and created are based on some version of MS Office the Mac seriously chugs!

I have more problems opening MS Office documents and having the entire application crash almost daily! I've resorted to opening most word docs in the office version installed on Parallels.

My rant aside, what alternatives are out there to MS Office? The only caveat to the alternatives is that they/it has to open MS Office documents otherwise the alternative is a PC.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

02-06-2007, 06:26 PM

What version of Word are you using? I am using Word 11.2.3 with no problems. I know there is a later version, but my wife is working on a major project. So I am standing pat at this time.

02-06-2007, 06:44 PM

Originally Posted by rman

What version of Word are you using? I am using Word 11.2.3 with no problems. I know there is a later version, but my wife is working on a major project. So I am standing pat at this time.

I am using Word 2004 for Mac version 11.3 (Build 060914). The only thing I can do to fix the problem is restart the machine, which is not bad but when you have 10 applications, multiple browser windows open each logged into a different system it get's to be a pain.

02-06-2007, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by arai_speed

I am using Word 2004 for Mac version 11.3 (Build 060914). The only thing I can do to fix the problem is restart the machine, which is not bad but when you have 10 applications, multiple browser windows open each logged into a different system it get's to be a pain.

Can't say that I've had any problems with any of the Office 2004 suite myself, but then again, I haven't used it exhaustively either. I'd imagine that some of the instability is likely caused by having to use Rosetta emulation as it's not an Intel or Universal binary (Office 2008 will be a Universal binary).

Your best alternative in my view is to try NeoOffice (which is free), based on OpenOffice.org, it's compatible with the major Office document types and works fairly well. There is also a Mac version of OpenOffice.org, but it requires X11 and doesn't use the Mac's UI.

It's a bit slow to start, but once it's running, it's very fast.