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 - Not worth a star ***First off you need to install Sun's Java, on a dial up connection the download is huge and would take hours to install it. This is required and once installed it takes over the machine generating Java exception errors. Second, it does NOT convert Excel spreadsheets correctly leaving ### (hash marks) in the cells. Third, I cannot think of anything this can do other than consume tons of memory and generate java errors. Rating:  - A Non-Monopolistic Alternative to MS Office!Whether you're a power office suite user or just someone who dabbles in spreadsheets and word processing documents, this product covers your bases! With the new copy protection schemes in all the Microsoft Office products, it's no longer possible to use the same copy of MS Office at work and at home. That reduces your options to 1) paying a lot for an office suite for home use, or 2) searching for an alternative. I chose the second option, and I'm glad I did. First of all, StarOffice 7.0 actually reads and writes most Microsoft Office documents perfectly without "converting" them or taking them through a filter. This means you'll have seamless read/write capability on documents prepared by MS Office users. You'll have a powerful spreadsheet that finally gives you a cut and paste function without the quirkiness of the one in Excel, and which provides 98% of the functionality of Excel. You'll have a fantastic word processor that comes with tons of fonts and a look and feel that's very similar to MS Word. You'll have a fantastic drawing program, and you'll have a presentation tool that rivals MS PowerPoint. Oh... and one more thing you'll have... a few extra c-notes in your pocket. I have used Microsoft Office XP and StarOffice, and to be honest, the Office XP is a more refined interface and has a bit more polish on it, but SUN has come close to the MS Office product's look and feel, and has given us StarOffice at a very attractive price. Plus, they've chosen to omit the crazy hardware-level copy protection scheme that Microsoft "threw in" with MS Office. You'll be impressed... It's clean, doesn't "take over" your system, runs great, and gives you a full-blown office suite at a fraction of the cost. I would have given 5 stars, but there are OCCASIONALLY formatting inconsistencies that cause Word documents to have a slightly different appearance in StarOffice. Rating:  - MS office compatibility isn't perfectI have heard that equations entered in the writing program do not transfer to MS word. When opening in MS word, the equations are simple missing. Also, complicated formulas in the spreadsheet software do not translate well. Saving a MS excel program in the staroffice format can mess up the formulas. Also, graphs set on a separate sheet do not show up nicely on Staroffice. Just some considerations. Otherwise it seems to work well. If you need to go from MS office to Staroffice regularly, it might be better to stick with MS office. Rating:  - Exvcellent for the money.Star Office 7.0 has been hugely improved since I tried it a couple of years ago. The interface is tidier and the font rendition is much clearer. Setting up styles for laying out text is straightforward and it's good, that when using two monitors, the style list can be placed onto the other screen out of the way. This can also be done when working on two separate documents of the same or different types. A spreadsheet on one screen and a word processor document on the other, for example. Another useful feature is the 'Export to .pdf' option so that any document can be sent to a recipient, confident that it can be opened and viewed as intended. Star Office 7.0 is a good choice for many users at a very modest cost. Rating: - Great intuitive softwareI'm very happy with my SO7, it's saved me heaps of time with my thesis and I can switch quickly between my Linux and Windoze boxes with the documents. Would recommend it to anyone that wants a full featured office suite at a very acceptable price.
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