OpenOffice on OS X - any way to salvage this piece of crap?

[Tolya]

At work, Im using a G5 Mac with OS X. Unfortunately, because of software shortage (no Office for you sir!) I had to install OpenOffice to be able to handle all the necessary documents (mostly XLS's and DOC's). Problem is, it's a barely run-able piece of shit. It locks up frequently during start-up and is slow as hell.

It's the newest version from about a month ago, a PowerPC version. I would gladly impart knowledge about the version number but unfortunately the "About" window is broken and doesn't pop up.

EDIT: Oh wait, it just worked - its 3.0.0, build 9358

Any way to make it useable? An older, stabler version? Maybe a configuration problem? Or is there any other open-source office software package I could use?

[Genii Lodus]

3.1 was released today, it may well have performance improvements. Review I read said it was a bit faster on Windows, maybe MacOS will benefit too.

[Starglider]

Early builds of version 3 were horrible on x86 as well. It seems to work fine now though. I'd suggest reverting to version 2.4, unless you absolutely need .docx support. Unfortunately PowerPC support is a very low priority for most developers these days.

[MKSheppard]

Any way to make it useable?

Don't fucking use OS X. I'm using the Windows version of the same build you have right now, and it works; though it locks up from time to time. But that's acceptable to me for the price $0.00; and the fact I save regularly.

[Bounty]

3.0 has been solid as a rock on Linux for me (even moreso than 2), so it's the port or the computer, not the base software. Have you tried a reinstall?

[Stark]

lol @ shep 'don't use an entire OS because one piece of shit freeware doesn't work'. Don't we all appreciate his ignorant, myopic outbursts?

Anyway, I haven't even tried to use OO on OSX for some years, but I recall that back then the port was utterly rubbish (and their website sucked too). I ended up using something else (like... neo office or nova office or something, an independent port) that was slow to startup but actually worked, actually used the OSX UI properly, etc etc. But it was SLOOOOOOOW to start. I'm not sure if this situation is still the same, ie there are non-OO ports of OO to OSX that are superior.

[Uraniun235]

lol @ shep 'don't use an entire OS because one piece of shit freeware doesn't work'. Don't we all appreciate his ignorant, myopic outbursts?

not as much as i APPRECIATE people futilely complaining about shep

(edited for STARK)

[Stark]

not as much as i love people futilely complaining about shep

The WORD is APPRECIATE!

[MKSheppard]

lol @ shep 'don't use an entire OS because one piece of shit freeware doesn't work'.

Nor do a billion other things, like semi modern games; nor actual real working OCR software.

[Stark]

Uh oh U235 you set him off...

Now Shep, you should at least try to not be obviously wrong; I've been doing OCR on OSX for weeks now.

OOPS WRONG AGAIN! Maybe you can come back in the bonus round? I'm sure you have a piece of anti-Mac FUD I've never heard before.

Then again, maybe not?

[MKSheppard]

Now Shep, you should at least try to not be obviously wrong; I've been doing OCR on OSX for weeks now.

With what? The professional OCR (aka, not the stuff bundled with your scanner) market for OSX is pretty damn pathetic.

OOPS WRONG AGAIN! Maybe you can come back in the bonus round? I'm sure you have a piece of anti-Mac FUD I've never heard before.

How about you put a gun in your mouth and pull the trigger? We'd be all spared your incompetent gibberish bilge that you shout at the top of your lungs like it's some great secret.

[Stark]

With what? The professional OCR (aka, not the stuff bundled with your scanner) market for OSX is pretty damn pathetic.

What have you been trying? Are you even using it right? I'm just OCRing out of pdfs; works fine and is pretty accurate given the terrible quality of the scans involved. Are you really complaining there's no free OCR software?

How about you put a gun in your mouth and pull the trigger? We'd be all spared your incompetent gibberish bilge that you shout at the top of your lungs like it's some great secret.

Oh, so you're NOT coming back in the bonus round because you have nothing to say that isn't 'wah OSX doesn't do the three things I want ergo it SUXXXXXX'? For shame. OSX sucks for games. So... what?

[Tolya]

Don't fucking use OS X. I'm using the Windows version of the same build you have right now, and it works; though it locks up from time to time. But that's acceptable to me for the price $0.00; and the fact I save regularly.

Brilliant idea. Could you help me convince my boss to buy me a proper pc and also throw in the Adobe CS4 package that Im using on a regular basis?

[Edi]

Ravencrow has been using OO 3 on Mac and she said it runs like a dream, so I don't know what it is on your machine. Is it 3.0 or 3.0.1 that you have?

Not that I can help you a lot, as I don't have a Mac myself.

[Tolya]

Ravencrow has been using OO 3 on Mac and she said it runs like a dream, so I don't know what it is on your machine. Is it 3.0 or 3.0.1 that you have?

Not that I can help you a lot, as I don't have a Mac myself.

It's 3.0.0. I'll try and upgrade it and see what's what.

[phongn]

The PPC MacOS X build of OpenOffice is much lower priority than other platforms.