Miscellany: June 2007 Archives

I just upgraded my NeoOffice installation to the latest 2.1 version, with the latest patches, and I have to point out how much faster this fantastic Office replacement loads and responds to user input.

Please don't do the Evil Empire any favors by purchasing Office 2007. It's really unnecessary now that such a comprehensive suite of free programs can do everything Word can do (and then some) and can still read and write Word-formatted files for those unwilling to give up the proprietary format (because, let's face it, it's easier to just go with the flow than it is to adapt and use the best tools available…it's too haaaaarrrd to switch from the PC/Office).

In case you think this is just a fly-by-night fancy, and that it's sheer folly to think that anyone can compete with the Evil Empire, the OpenDocument format, the native format of OpenOffice is good enough for the State of Massachusetts and the Belgian government.

If you're holding on to the Word document because "that's what everyone else uses," then you don't have a very wide circle of friends. That's just not the case any more.

Try out the alternative to M$ Office: OpenOffice or, for Mac users, NeoOffice.