M$ Office 2007 announced- More Bloated, More Expensive

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-02-17 07:34am

StarOffice (which I'm finding hard to differentiate anyway between OOo)

That's because it is OOo with different icons and more helpdesk/training support.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-02-17 07:36am

Bounty wrote:
That's because it is OOo with different icons and more helpdesk/training support.

I'm aware of that. But what are they adding to it to make it worthy of being an independent GPL concept? If I want StarOffice, I'll get the free version online anyway. OOo, from what I've heard, should be getting more open source stuff thrown into it. All I've seen are some new dictionaries and skins and that's it.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2006-02-17 07:41am

But what are they adding to it to make it worthy of being an independent GPL concept?

Not much - it does run on more platforms.

If I want StarOffice, I'll get the free version online anyway

$69.99 isn't exactly free, unless you count the trial version.

From what I've read, with StarOffice you're not paying for the software itself - since the basic programs are distributed as OOo for free - but simply for use of Sun's support infrastructure, making it more attractive to businesses.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-02-17 07:47am

SO was free to me, there was the option of the student edition from Sun's site and I got that. OOo 1.1 was said to be better by some, so I opted for that. As it is, I'm checking reviews of v2.0 now given that's what's on my Linux boot as opposed to 1.1 on my Windows XP partition.

According to ZDnet, OOo can work a little quicker and seems more robust for future formats and gimmicks since it's always evolving in public faster than SO.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-02-17 09:28am

Durandal wrote:As for OpenOffice, it's not going to beat Microsoft Office by being a cheap imitation of it. They've got to actually try and be better, rather than just trying to keep up all the time.

That reminds me of a comment on some Microsoft developer blogs - in short, they were not concerned about OpenOffice because they seemed to be trying to emulate Office 97 and Office 2K rather than actively innovating.

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-02-17 09:40am

phongn wrote:
Durandal wrote:As for OpenOffice, it's not going to beat Microsoft Office by being a cheap imitation of it. They've got to actually try and be better, rather than just trying to keep up all the time.
That reminds me of a comment on some Microsoft developer blogs - in short, they were not concerned about OpenOffice because they seemed to be trying to emulate Office 97 and Office 2K rather than actively innovating.

But for a basic user, isn't that enough?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-02-17 09:57am

Ace Pace wrote:But for a basic user, isn't that enough?

Enough functionality, yes. OTOH, they could try new user interfaces to try and differentiate themselves rather than just be "another office suite."

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-02-17 12:05pm

How many basic users buy cheapo OEM boxes that come preloaded with the latest version of that godawful MS Works and never want for anything more?

I don't think Microsoft's concerned about losing the enthusiasts and some isolated home buyers. They're concerned first and foremost with their big business customers.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-02-17 01:25pm

I can't stand Works, it's a piece of shit. I always get rid of it and install my own Office CD along with OOo, though I'm going to check out other alternatives like K-Office to see how they're going. Last I heard, the latter was trying to be different and varied, but that was years ago.

General Soontir Fel · Post by **General Soontir Fel** » 2006-02-17 02:08pm

RedImperator wrote:So if it's $149 for the basic version, and $399 for the standard version, and the only extra program in the standard version is Outlook...........am I missing something or are they charging TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS for Microsoft Outlook?

Guess who's going to continue using Pages? Which, by the way, both easily opens .doc files and easily converts .pages files into docs.

BloodAngel wrote:Okay, I have never ever used the Office version of Outlook, so someone enlighten me...

What, in the name of the Great Maker, would justify a business spending $250 on Outlook, rather than using something more...economical, like Eudora, Thunderbird...

I mean, does MS like, require them to use it as part of their license, or something!?

$250 for a piece of shit like Outlook? Highway robbery is an undertatement.

I wonder how many people (like me) don't use any of the functions of Outlook other than the email client? If you do, Thunderbird is tons better.... and it's free.

I would switch to OOo in a second, if it wasn't for one thing: the fucking equation editor. I tried a number of equation editors, from Appleworks, Microsoft, Corel, and OOo, and Microsoft is the most convenient to use, and the OOo one the worst. Since I use it a lot, using OOo will waste too much of my time.

I might buy the basic edition. Or not. I really don't need much more. Except for the equation editor, there probably are reasonably easy to use alternatives.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-02-17 05:04pm

General_Soontir_Fel wrote:$250 for a piece of shit like Outlook? Highway robbery is an undertatement.

Well, if the company paid full retail price for Office, which is highly unlikely. In the absence of any real competition it'll continue to be priced high unless market forces bring said prices down.

I wonder how many people (like me) don't use any of the functions of Outlook other than the email client? If you do, Thunderbird is tons better.... and it's free.

Um, Outlook 2003 is actually a fine email client - and I use both, daily. At any rate, Outlook is not targetted at the home user, it is targetted at the corporate user, in conjunction with Exchange.

I would switch to OOo in a second, if it wasn't for one thing: the fucking equation editor. I tried a number of equation editors, from Appleworks, Microsoft, Corel, and OOo, and Microsoft is the most convenient to use, and the OOo one the worst. Since I use it a lot, using OOo will waste too much of my time.

OOo's equation editor, IIRC, uses the TeX equation syntax, so if you learn that it becomes very easy to use.

CelesKnight · Post by **CelesKnight** » 2006-02-17 05:05pm

Any news on a release date? I've been considering upgrading to the student version of Office 2003 this summer (when I'm a student again...). But might hold off until if this version is going to be released in late 2006 early 2007.