Favored Freeware: OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute.

Pros: OpenOffice.org is a free and easy-to-use alternative to most commercial office suites, including (but not limited to) Microsoft Office. OpenOffice.org is a cross-platform application for Mac, Windows, Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD.

Cons: OpenOffice.org for Mac OS X requires the use of Apple’s X11.app window system.

Note: NeoOffice is a Mac-only build of OpenOffice.org that runs natively, supporting such native features as fonts and printing, under Mac OS X.

4 responses

  1. Well, gosh. No significant cons? I guess. But I have to say it’s really slow. And big. Not that it’s much worse than the paid alternative, and that it’s OSS makes up for the speed problems.

    I suppose there aren’t many cross platform choices for most of the programs covered by OO.org. However, for word processing, I find that Abiword is simply awesome. And, I should mention, it already has a native OS X port.

  2. Well, I have never had any speed issues with OpenOffice.org, and I can justify the large file size by the simple fact that you can’t make an office suite any smaller.

    I chose OpenOffice.org over AbiWord because it was a full office suite rather than just a word processor, but thank you for posting a link to it. I’m sure that other readers might find it useful if they don’t want the full office suite.

  3. […] I’m out of new Favored Freeware entries for now, so I have decided to list off all of the cross-platform Favored Freeware applications in this week’s entry. Developing a cross-platform application means a lot. It means that you, the developer(s), are willing to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to please a much broader audience by providing your application(s) for more than one platform. […]

  4. […] word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and drawing programs) for Mac OS X. Based on the OpenOffice.org office suite, NeoOffice has integrated dozens of native Mac features and can import, edit, and […]