Usually i’m a strongly addicted to Microsoft Office, but since moving to OSX i havent quite been able to settle with it… So today i desided to take the bull by its horns and try some diffrent office packages for OSX. .. here is how it went…
One thing, if you are looking for a big review of offices packages for OSX.. you have come to the wrong place =)
Test machine:
Dell D430, 1,33ghz, 2gb ram, 60gb SSD running OSX 10.6.4
My Requirements:
Small in size on HD, fast, support for opening MSO docx/xmlx/pptx documents, general good features like mso2007 on Windows
Products tested:
Apple iWorks, openoffice.org (latest), MSO2011 (latest beta) and Lotus Symphony
iWorks from Apple
Link: http://store.apple.com/us/product/MB942Z/A/iWork-09?fnode=MTY1NDAzOA&mco=MTM3NDc5MDI
Price: 79$
Review: http://office-software-review.toptenreviews.com/mac-office-software/iwork-09-review.html
Well..it might be good.. but seeing that it takes close to 2GB on my 60gb ssd is kinda scary – also, i have to admit that i can’t quite get used to how the interface looks.. its like something is missing.. like a good and use full toolbar…
+ Ok performance
- Installation went a bit slow compared to the other candidates
- Weird interface when you are used to MSO2007+
- Takes a lot of space on your HD
- Feels like its a incomplete product
Points: 4/10
Microsoft Office 2011, latest Beta
Link: http://www.microsoft.com/mac/office2011features/office2011.mspx
Price: ???
Review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nczNtM8ZewA
Finally.. the interface is starting to look good, but like iWorks, it takes up quite alot of storage space.
One of the big news is that Outlook have replaced the much hated Entourage, wich off course is “suppose” to be a good thing.. but to be honest.. it still looks ugly and feels like entourage .. * disappointed*
+ Good selection of applications
+ Much better design than its former versions
- MESSY!!.. when trying to remove it, it find microsoft folders all over my HD
- Slower than iWorks
Points: 5/10
Oracle Openoffice.org
Link: http://www.openoffice.org/
Price: FREE
Review: http://www.openoffice.org/product/reviews.html
Easy to download and install, a living hell to use… never have i tried anything so unstable…Ok, i can understand if not all application will run perfect on my hackingtosh, but this just happend to be the first one, it crashes on random occasions.
+ Free, easy to download and install
+ Nice clean interface
+ decent space usage
- ALOT of bugs
- Unstable
Points: 2/10 stability .. 7/10 for a clean design
IBM Lotus Symphony
Link: http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.nsf/home
Price: FREE
Big review: http://osrevolution.com/os-software/ibm-lotus-symphony-1-3-review-office-alternative
I have to admit, here is a product that really surprised me, it starts up fast, dosent take to much space… its great!!
+ Startup fast
+ Tabs!!!
+ Nice design
Point: 9/10 (i’m not giving it 10, because it still lacks the function to save docx documents).
//Leon
