OpenOffice.org or Lotus Symphony for Mac?
I purchased a new Imac a couple of days ago since my powerbook G4 is on it’s last leg. That has been such a great machine for 3 years and 4 months. It stopped recognizing the 2nd GB of memory, the temperature sensor below the trackpad has gone bad and the result is that is puts itself to sleep constantly, and trying to run 10.5 on it is just doggish at best.
With the new Imac home, I started downloading all the software I like to use, and started looking for Intel or Universal versions of the power PC only software that I had purchased for the powerbook.
This lead me to the online debate of which is better Neo Office, OpenOffice.org, or Lotus Symphony. I didn’t realize there was such a debate on which “fork” of the Microsoft Office alternative to use.
I’m not a heavy user of Word, Excel, or Powerpoint, but I’d like to have the functionality to do some business document processing as needed.
I’ve downloaded OpenOffice.org and the beta of Lotus Symphony and pretty much ruled out Neo Office.
I just wanted to probe the community and ask for your opinions on the two pieces of software.
3 Responses to “OpenOffice.org or Lotus Symphony for Mac?”
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I vote for OpenOffice. I used to use NeoOffice, but I prefer OO3 on the Mac. It’s a little unstable at times, but generally good (and like you I don’t use office products that much anyway).
Symphony could be a contender I guess, except it’s based on a very old version of OpenOffice, so I’d rather use OO3.
I’m just wondering… why have you ruled out NeoOffice? I tried moving to iWork and kept coming back to NeoOffice because I just couldn’t do in Numbers things that I wanted to do…
I haven’t given Symphony or the newer OpenOffice a chance yet.. but I’ve never had any problems with NeoOffice..
Through I’m not a zelot about it… It doesn’t matter to me as long as the functionality is there in a place I can find it.
Personally speaking, I’d go with OpenOffice. Whilst Symphony is a superb product and works really well in conjunction with Notes/Domino, the user base of OO is far larger and people are more aware of it. Asking for help on the various forums is more likely to get a response for those who can help rather than the astounding silence that is facing you if you ask about Symphony.
Failing that. Go with what your heart tells you. If you’re a Notes/Domino guru then probably Symphony is your only choice.
(Or go with both for the best of both worlds and serious loss of disk space and sanity).