Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Finally a office product that is truly amazing
I've been using StarOffice 6.0 and its truly amazing in the features it offers and the PRICE you pay. I was a MS Office user before trying this out and have been able to transition to this very smoothly. I think the support for MS Office documents is seamless. XML file format, thats the very best, no more tied to proprietary formats, a very powerful move. I have used StarOffice 5.2 and this one's much superior to it in terms of performance. One of the nice change is the ability to launch standalone applications, which was missing in StarOffice 5.2 with its integrated desktop. Also nice is the ability to work with it on a variety of platforms including Linux, Windows and Solaris. That surely gives me a choice of editing my office documents on the platform of my choice.
Rating: - Here Comes the Sun
StarOffice 6.0 is a rather nifty software package and is a heavy duty alternative to either Microsoft's Office or WordPerfect Suite. Cheaper than its competitors, StarOffice offers an interface that is similar, but also manages a unique identity of its own.Installation of the product on my three laptops, however, yielded mixed results. Installation on Windows XP Professional and Home versions progressed with absolutely no problems. A Windows ME computer offered the blue screen of death seven times and did not recognize the program's restart. After the restart, Windows ME began scanning the hard drive claiming an illegal shutdown. Regardless, the program did install correctly despite the various misadventures, obviously adopting the Borg philosophy that 'Resistance is futile.' StarOffice offers quite an assortment of templates and examples easily accessed by the butterfly icon ensconced in the system's systray. The program's tips, help, and manual are extremely useful in order to get an experienced user started. Perhaps Microsoft offers more bells and whistles, but, for the price, StarOffice is a powerful home replacement. In fact, most businesses could use StarOffice and not miss the absence of Word, Excel, or Access in the least. The StarOffice spreadsheet is an adequate number cruncher. From simple auto sum, to complex formulas, one can easily manipulate numbers and create classy layouts. The Autopilot feature allows a person possessing weak mathematical skills to eventually figure a needed formula. The Presentation feature falls in line with the other programs as more than adequate for most people's needs. A database and draw program round out the package. What about those who have to use Office at work? Can Word, PowerPoint, and Excel files be read by StarOffice? I found most Word documents were easily handled by StarOffice, though some Excel graphs were misplaced. All in all, StarOffice is a powerful program for those needing to present data, handle mass mailings, write the great American novel, and manipulate numbers. For those who are considering Works or WordPerfect as an alternative and cheaper route from Microsoft Office, give StarOffice a shot.
Rating: - StarOffice 6.0 rocks
OK, we all know it had its little Ways, its little idiosyncracies, in 5.2 and before. Good features, if only you could find them. But god in heaven, they've really done a good job with this release. The notorious unified desktop is GONE, they've done something to make the files smaller so you don't clog your hard drive with huge files, and it all just seems cleaner. Conversion from MS Office is slick. Price is fair, I think. Everyone was fussing about Sun charging, but for cripe's sake, it's only [price]. That's a month's worth of lattes. It's worth it. Some of the most useful features are still hard to find. After a year with StarOffice I still have to look up some things every time (how to change to multiple-slides-per-page in Impress, what window some of the tools options are in) so make sure you've got a book. Draw is still great. Image (not separate but in all the apps) lets you do a lot of things really easily, simpler than Photoshop. It's certainly a lot easier to make a color transparent. Schedule went away but it was a little cumbersome, and I'm not sure if anyone used it much. Calc has some major new functions I need to get around to playing with. Logic would dictate that soon only Bill Gates, people under direct orders to waste money, and license agreement masochists will still be using MS Office.
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