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verT
11th September 2006, 14:00
Looking for a open source office suite that can open and save documents in a microsoft file. I am looking at OpenOffice right now but was wondering what other people have used. I am just tired of throwing money out to Microsoft just to have some exploited software.

Esscentially I need a word processor, spreadsheet and email client. Presentation software is a bonus. OpenOffice doesn't fill all my needs as the email client portion doesn't exist.

Any ideas? I have heard of Star Office but haven't given it a good look yet (read I haven't downloaded it yet).

Cheers

Trev
MikeTimbers
11th September 2006, 16:28
OpenOffice 2 is an excellent product which can open/save MS formats but also the new Open Document formats and MSOffice 2003 (.xml)

If you want a great Windows e-mail client, look at Thunderbird from the Firefox people. I use it and love it.
TDKozan
11th September 2006, 19:42
Second Mike's recommendation. I'm not thrilled with Open Orifice but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye. Hopefully by the time M$ discontinues support for my Orifice 2K, there'll be a better option.

Not much better than T-Bird though.
phil
12th September 2006, 07:44
I use Open Office also
verT
12th September 2006, 22:37
Good to know I found the better of the bunch. I did find after posting that Star Office is a pay for play game although at only 70 US green backs is certainly a heck of a lot cheaper than the M$ option.

I have been playing about a bit with OO and it does seem to do everything I want it to so far anyway...
X-Calibur
14th September 2006, 19:01
OOffice down here too.
As far as e-mail goes, I used Thundebird for a long time before switching to gmail so i don't need it anymore.
verT
27th September 2006, 14:22
Well I've been using TBird and I am coming around to liking it very much. I appreciate the suggestion on it. It seems to be getting easier and easier to use non MS programs each day.

With some luck I will be done with MS products for good :)
Daniel, Laura, and Nora
28th September 2006, 00:46
I'm a big T-bird fan too. Gotta love the way it eliminates spam. With firefox I surf without ads. The two of them together make the 'net a mellow place indeed.
X-Calibur
1st October 2006, 20:58
Gotta try Opera for web browsing (sometimes though page are not rendered well, and some scripts don't work) But overall I love the way it handles.