Rating: 
Summary: Finally an office for the rest of us
Review: I have use the expensive ms office for years. Its cumbersome and too expensive. Finally, a truly easy to use and great alternative. Im done with the m$ office. The calc program and the presentation program are better than the m$ but I think the best is the word processor. As a teacher I recommend this. It is truly easy and fun to use.
Rating: 
Summary: Life after installing this nightmare
Review: Needless to say, after installing this Office Suite made by Sun my problems began. It does require Java to be downloaded for it to work correctly and the screen fonts are one word 'horrible'.If you need to save money or on a budge go ahead and buy Microsoft Office 2003 Student and Teacher edition or you can get it when you buy a new pc. I will use these Star Office cd's as coasters on my computer desk.
Rating:
Summary: Nothing but problems
Review: Anyone who writes reviews on StarOffice as excellent have not used this 'office_suite'. For starters when converting files from MS Excel it converts some columns to '#' signs. This is a great concern because this was my billing cycle that was messed up because of this. Next the whole deal with SLOW loading, plus it gets some java run-time errors. Then I started getting java script errors, to say the least it messed up my workstations and I had to re-load the operating system on another. If you want files that are incomplete, data that is missing, or overall total file destruction this is for you.
Rating:
Summary: No email client and java is very buggy
Review: After using this I came to the conclusion you get what you pay for. This does not include an email client, so therefore this not complete. Plus, you have to download java and the buttons are impossible to read in the applications like writer and so on. If possible I would give this a negative 5 star rating, so in closing I purchased Microsoft Office 2003 and I am very pleased with it.
Rating:
Summary: Requires Java to run
Review: This has to be the worst office suite I have ever used. It caused my computer to crash because of java. Since this episode, I have purchased MS Office and spent even more money. Do yourself a favor and just use software that works. MS Office 2003 is like a life saver!
Rating: 
Summary: The Good is Great and the Not-so-good is Awful
Review: I've only used StarOffice 7 for a couple of weeks now. I got MS Office XP 2003 a few months ago and have been satisfied with it, especially with how well documents scan into Word. Since they came with my computer, I also have Wordperfect 11 and Quattro Pro 11. The only reason I got StarOffice was to be able to convert long WordPerfect files that need reworking. I haven't had any trouble whatsoever opening my Word and Wordperfect files with Writer. I also find that Writer is easier to use than Word. However, documents scanned into Writer turn out so poorly that they are unusable, and for some reason I'm not 'allowed' to scan into Word anymore(!). Calc is a real problem for me. I like and use both Excel and Quattro Pro, but now my Excel files open with configuration changes and they will not return Excel format. It's worse with Quattro Pro. Not only can I not open my existing files; since installing StarOffice, I can't open Quattro Pro itself! StarOffice's automatic format changing was somebody's very bad idea. Format changing should be an available option, not an uncontrollable inevitability. And both Writer and Calc open very slowly. As I said, I just got StarOffice a short time ago. I'm hoping that a call or two to Tech Support will help iron out the problems. If not, I will have to uninstall it, unfortunately, as I need reliable scanning and spreadsheet capabilities.
Rating:
Summary: From Star Office 5.2 to Open Office to Star Office 7.0
Review: The reviews here are interesting and the negative ones all sound like they are written by the same illiterate person. On a daily basis at work in my Tech Writing shop we use FrameMaker 7.0, Word 2000, Excel, and Powerpoint. As senior writer, I also use OpenOffice 1.01. Did you know that when Word says a file is corrupt and cannot repair or open it, OpenOffice and StarOffice will usually open that file and save it in Word format? For that alone it's worth having OpenOffice or StarOffice on your computer. At home we have WordPerfect 7 (very fast), and 8 (Linux), WordPerfect Office Suite 10, Word 97, Lotus Suite 2000 (my old file cracker), Open Office 1.01, and a copy of Star-Office on my Linux partition I keep available just in case. I'm ordering Star-Office 7 for home and will remove some of the others--Open Office, WordPerfect 7, Word 97, and Lotus, at least. One of the most amusing things in the reviews here is the bogus disclaimer that Word works. Our company switched to FrameMaker for its technical documents for the very reason that Word does not work. The ways in which it does not work are legion and legendary. Did you know, for example, that there is a website
http://groups.google.com/groups?num=25&hl=en&group=microsoft.public.word.numbering&start=25&group=microsoft.public.word.numbering
which has 18,000 threads on Word numbering problems alone? StarOffice numbers pages and paragraphs correctly, even in complicated documents. It opens and closes MS Word documents with very few problems. No software does a perfect job of that, but only a fool would expect it too. (Heavens, MSWord 2003 cannot save a document in WordPerfect format newer than WP 5.2.) StarOffice can. It can also save in XML which FrameMaker likes alot. Unless you or your bosses are rigid and opposed to a less expensive solution, StarOffice 7.0 offers a change in software that can save you money, time, effort, and frustration. And you won't be penalized for not upgrading at every opportunity. Not sure? Download OpenOffice for free or order their free CD + $5.00 S&H. If you like that and want software with support from a well established company, buy StarOffice and get the extras--spellchecker and thesaurus, database, select fonts including Windows metrically equivalent fonts and Asian language fonts, select filters, including WordPerfect, additional templates, and extensive clipart gallery. StarOffice offers updates/upgrades on CD, user documentation, 24x7 web based support, help desk support, training, and professional help services for migration and deployment. So, if all those extras are important to you, buy StarOffice 7.0 here, get rid of MS Office, and enjoy your work for a change.
Rating:
Summary: What's SUN trying to prove?
Review: I think $69 is even too much for a software that an undergratuate student can even put together for a project. Not intuitive or functional in any sense I would use either MS Office or WordPerfect Suite. Don't waste your money this software will be free soon. Another failed attempt @ Microsoft, way to go SUN :-)
Rating:
Summary: Most features for documentation
Review: StarOffice suite allows us to do all that Microsoft Office allowed but only at a fraction of cost. After paying hundreds and hundreds dollars to Microsoft, we needed a cheaper solution for our office needs, so we bought this. StarOffice menus are almost the same as MS Office and the migration was not painful. I use the Export to PDF and Flash features all the time. The drawing application is very powerful and can generate impressive 3D graphics.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't get it if you want it all / if you care for compatib.
Review: The product is fine for people who don't really need all the sophisticated features of MSOffice.
I tried to use it as an alternative for Excel and Powerpoint, but there were big! problems with compatibility when I tried to exchange files with my colleagues and friends. Only the most plain Excel sheets and presentations can be exchanged without losing some style information or document intelligence.
MS Word files can be handled quite well, but there will be always something missing, esp if you make use of some specific features (e.g. automatic inclusion of chapter caption in the header, macros, .. there is a lot of that). And very very often there will be some objects that lost their right position. The product is o.k., esp. considering the price. But don't get it, if you want it / need it all!
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