I formally denounce Microsoft Office.

Office 98 for Mac was nice. When I got my PowerMac 6100, Office 98 was already installed on it, and I actually liked it. It was a far cry from Word 5.1 that I'd used on my Mac Classic and fervently refused to use on my subsequent 68040-based machines (the LC, Centris and Quadra).

I went through versions of MacOS like underpants and, when running a dual OS9/OSX setup on my G3, I tried out Office 98 under the Classic environment and I learned that, though it was great under OS9, it sucked under Classic. So when I finally updated completely to OSX 10.4 in 2005, I also updated to Office 2004.

Well, I've updated again. This time, I've gone from a PowerMac G4 with 10.4 to an Intel-powered MacBook with 10.5 happily chugging along. I decided that, with the switch of processors, it was time to up the Office version. And so, I procured Office 2008.

And what a frikkin' mistake that was.

Office 2008 runs like a goat on waterskis. It's awkward, it's ugly, it's just... terrible. A lot of people like to malign Microsoft, but I've never really felt that way. Office has always been a good suite of applications, Messenger has always worked nicely enough and is being actively developed (more than you can say for ICQ). But Office 2008 makes me feel the pain that everyone else talks about.

So I took a trip over to my old friend OpenOffice.org, which has always had a decent-working alternative for MS Office. I swear by OpenOffice on Windows systems (I don't like to shell out money if I don't absolutely have to for a silly word processor and spreadsheet).

The thing I don't like about OpenOffice is that it is dependant on X11 (other link here) to run, and that annoys me.

I, therefore, put my formally endorse...

NeoOffice!

NeoOffice is based on OpenOffice, but it runs natively in MacOS X without needing X11 to fire up. I used to be a little iffy about it, because when I first tried it out, it was a bit buggy and didn't work too well... but since I installed it the other night, I have nothing but good things to say about it. It did a fantastic job helping me edit a paper for my friend Jamie, and displays with style the random PowerPoint presentations that my mom and Molly forward to me on a regular basis.

I highly recommend switching. Unless you're on Windows. Then you should stay... with OpenOffice.

In other news... that Quadra 660AV I mentioned earlier? I brought it home from my parents' attic. I also found my 2.1GB Quantum Fireball SE (SCSI!!) and an Apple Basic Color Monitor: my very first Apple monitor. I also have my old MacOS 7.6.1 install CD. I intend to fire this system up, just for nostalgia's sake. I'll be sure to toss a screenshot, if I'm able (lord knows how I'll transfer it).

Okay, that's it for now.

AJH

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Edit 17 September 2008 09:13PM: I brought my Quadra home FROM my parents' attic, not TO it. Dur.