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 - Very impressiveI was waiting for this program to be back in stock, so I recently donwloaded the 90 day evaluation from Sun instead. It converts files created in Word 97 and Word 2000 just fine, as well as PowerPoint (the exception so far is opening a PowerPoint as a read-only file, saving it in StarOffice XML format, modifying, then exporting back to PowerPoint ... some of the graphics lost their colour, perhaps in the zip compression process?). But why use PowerPoint anymore? I can export slideshows to Flash, and then package as an .exe that anyone can view on any Windows system! Plus, the files are much smaller, and the open XML schema should insure file compatability for years. The greatest use for me, is in creating documents that are web- and email-friendly. Instead of bloated .doc, .rtf, or .pps files for download (or sloppy HTML export from Office), I can publish PDF and Flash files that integrate well with web browsers, take up much less space, and improve access to the information being posted (no expensive software required - only free readers that most people already have, and are available on multiple platforms). As for the comment above about no email client, I'd highly suggest Mozilla over Outlook/Internet Explorer any day for small business and personal use (large corporations requiring collaboration would be the exception) ... it is free, stable, and has junk mail filtering built-in among other features. And it keeps getting better with each release. Rating: - Better and faster than MS OfficeI have been using Star Office and Open Office suites for a while (since 5.1) and the improvment of product quality has been great. I use it all time interchageably with others using MS office and other office programs. Now both Star Office or Open Office is in the mainstream and I am in the process of eliminating all MS office software from my systems. MS's has a vision where they are going to try control how you think and their office software show this by all the auto-formatting is does while writing. If you are not sure if you would like it, try openoffice.org first. Star Office is a much more polished version of Open Office with extra bells and whistles. I give it 5 stars in all areas except price and that is why it is only 4 out 5 stars. Rating: - still a wide room for improvementI heavily rely on Word and PowerPoint but also use Excel at basic level. From time to time, I shift to their StarOffice counterparts for change of air. I have tried StarOffice since the time it was produced by a German company. Over time, I think StarOffice improved itself greatly with the immense support of open source community. In its current stage of evolution, the software is still behind Microsoft Office, at least in my area of use. Word processor does not have a grammar check utility which is very useful for me. It is hard to change languages in the same document unlike Word which has a handy button. on the plus side, StarOffice has a tool to convert documents to pdf files albeit without url functionality. Presentation software poorly filters Powerpoint, most slide effects are lost. I am not even an intermediate user of Excel but I have seen loss of formats in cells in the files I created with Excel and tried to open them with StarOffice Spreadsheet. Overall, I think the Sun's software can use a lot of improvement, particularly in areas of linguistic tools and MS Office compatibility. finally, the package must eventually include an email program. Still, it is very useful in its current form too and would certainly save money for most people. Rating:  - The transition could not be easier !!If you work in or work with corporations, this is the software for you. Holy cow, it runs on windows, mac, linux, and solaris. (Unlike MSOffice) As an MCSE I have solely used MSOffice since it beat out Wordperfect many years ago. Well this transition to StarOffice is just as easy. It has more windows compatibility than MSoffice. It doesn't remove the backwards compatibility like MS does. So you can work with all your old archived files and still save them in WHATEVER format you want. If you want it as pdf go right ahead. This is awesome. Highly recommended! Most things that SUN Micro puts out does require a slightly higher level of computer savvy. So if you are not willing to learn where the button locations are, you might want to stick in the dark ages with MSoffice. Rating:  - The low-downFirst off, this has to be the worst Office suite I have ever purchased. It does not convert files correctly, or if it does it must be in a foreign language or something. There is NO email application? What the heck do use for email, well I guess there is no market for email any longer..... Anyways, I find that the icons in the applications are hard to read, something to do with Java. Just do yourself a favor and just use MS Office it works!
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