Rating: 
Summary: Do Not Buy
Review: I have been using a computer etc. for 15 years, most of the time with Microsoft software... if you wish to buy a simple package for home use buy MS Works. Star Office is simply unusable by a professional who can not afford to employ an IT specialist. The "help " and downloads on the Sun website uses terms I have not encountered before --probably easy for information professionals but not for the simple businessman attempting to load software to help individual productivity.The installation is complex and disrupts Windows locking it on at least two occasions -- requiring two uses of Norton utilities to sort out and several re-boots of the system. The data base function is inaccessible, despite my 18 hours tinkering. The documentation beyond the first few pages is unreadable by anyone other than a specialist completely familiar with the program (this includes the separately sold "Star Office Companion"). The templates provided with the program only add to the frustration -- showing you what you cannot achieve, and have no idea how even to attempt. ...
Rating:
Summary: A Waste Of Time & Money, a Bonus of Frustration
Review: After four instalations, all of which are described as "sucesful" by the product, the system is still not working as described. Time has also been wastd in visits to Sun's Website (downloading a substantial patch, trying to find help etc.) and to the database manufacturers website. It is aparently impossible to get the accompanying data base (Adabas) to execute or operate -- having spent 6 hours going over the information provided, altering my autoexec.bat file etc. The "Star Office User's Guide" (bundled with the software) and "Office Suite Companion" (a separate purchase) are both written in a passive aggressive style: apparently breezy and friendly but utterly incomprehensible after the first three pages that lure you into believing the system is easy. Both texts in their explanations assume you are completely conversant with the programme, its predecessors, and its language and terms. The "Help" provided within the program is similarly incomprehensible. A typical error -- the website url for the database manufacturer's "Help" is incorrect. I had to make a google search to find the correct information. The DOS "echo" commands given to check correct instalation for the database simply do not work. You are left wondering how many errors there are in the literature that are beyond ones knowledge to discover. The added version of Java made the systems tools in my windows operating system (ME) unusable - locked the windows desktop and required a fix by Norton System Works and two re-boots before Windows operated without siezing up. The enclosed templates for documents etc. are less use than those enclosed in the simple package "Microsoft Works." No doubt all the prior reviews are true if you are an IT or systems professional with time to burn paid for by an employer, however this writer (a self employed consultant) could have earned the cost of the Microsoft equivalent product and substantially more in the time spent in the abortive fiddling. If you value your time at anything (let alone wear and tear on the psychie caused by the frustration of the hopeless attempting to understand the incomprehensible) do not bother to buy this product. For me the experience has been unpleasant, as well as a substantial waste of time.
Rating: 
Summary: You too can become "Redmond Free"
Review: As part of my 12-step Program to become Redmond Free by 2005, StarOffice is a MAJOR step forward. Is it perfect? Hardly. Even at twice the price this Suite is an outstanding value. I was first introduced to this software when I loaded my Linux server over a year ago. I was so intrigued that there was actually a competent alternative to MS Office in the Windows environment that I decided to use it exclusively as a test. I am very impressed with the capabilities of StarOffice. The only time I ever need to dust off the MS Office shortcut is when I have to open an Access Database (Another foul antique from MS). Don't get me wrong, I used to be a supporter of MS until they started squeezing their devoted customers with rediculous License fees, planned incompatability, unstable & bloated Operating Systems with an attitude to match. I've migrated everything possible to the Linux platform and StarOffice 6.0 is my standard for work and home. I still have the dreaded MS XP as a dual-boot, but StarOffice has allowed me to cover about 85% of my computing needs away from that side of the drive. StarOffice 6.0 is an incredible value that will only increase with time. You simply cannot go wrong.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice price: functionally complete
Review: Star Office suffers from the obligatory Bells-and-Whistles disease that we have come to know and loath in That Other Office Suite, but, everything becomes pretty bareable once you've switched all this featurism off. After that... well, how enthused can anyone get over office software? It is functionally complete and capable of eveything you'd need from it. What's more, it can open and save more different Microsoft Office file formats than any ONE copy of Microsoft office can. I also notice that files created with Word become as much as 75% smaller by saving them with Star Writer. No doubt I'm losing some vital bit of proprietary Word markup by doing so (like the invisible "you can't delete me" character, for instance, or the one that causes the bullets half way down the next page to reformat themselves when I insert a newline, perhaps), but I think I can live without such amusing quirks. And if you do find yourself having trouble using some obscure bit of Microsoft Officerey that some gifted genius in the Pointyhaired Department has included in an Excel spreadsheet, or something, so what? I can live without comic "boing" noises as I move between cells (or whatever other piece of mature, industrial-stength finery I'm missing out on by using this software). If we have to standardise on something, can we all standardise on the $75 software, please?
Rating:
Summary: Alternative to MS
Review: I purchased StarOffice as an alternative to MS Office 2000, and have not yet been really disappointed, although I have been less than impressed by some issues. To begin with, the price difference between MS Office and StarOffice alone should justify the purchase of StarOffice. At roughtly ($$), StarOffice blows the doors off MS Office XP, currently listed at ($$$) Secondly, StarOffice currently runs on Linux, Solaris, and Windows, while MS Office only runs on the Windows platform. StarOffice can save in file formats for both native StarOffice, as well as the usual MS Office formats. The biggest disappointment is that MS Office does not support the StarOffice formats. So, if you wish to have cross-application files, you'll need to save in the MS Office format. The other part about StarOffice that I am not really happy with is the sometimes slow response to open or perform some tasks. This is due in part to the JVM being installed which I can only assume handles many of the internal StarOffice utilities. Since MS doesn't really recognize Sun's JVM, you'll wind up with 2 different installations of Java on your machine. I have spent some of my time since purchasing StarOffice in migrating my systems away from Microsoft products. To date, I have been happy, and have only run into an occasional problem. My Solaris, Linux and Windows systems all seem happy with StarOffice.
Rating:
Summary: Affordable alternative to that other expensive office suite
Review: Finally, an office suite with powerful apps but at a price the budget-conscious among us can afford. Sun's StarOffice 6 is the latest and greatest office suite aimed at those who want an alternative to spending an ungodly amount on office suites from you-know-who. It is compatible with all of Microsoft's office apps. StarOffice uses the XML format for storage which is one of the best cross-platform file formats today. But enough of the tech talk. StarOffice allows me and anyone else who buys it to just get things done--at an affordable price. It doesn't have to be expensive to be good and StarOffice proves it. It comes complete with a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation app, and a database. It could very easily be used to run and operate a small business. Come to think of it, it is: MINE! If you're tired of paying more for your office suite than you did for your computer, buy StarOffice. It is worth every penny you spend and will save you money many times over the purchase price.
Rating:
Summary: PLEASE bring us Star Office for Mac OS X soon !
Review: I have been using Star Office since version 5.2 and it is an excellent replacement for Microsoft's ... Version 6 picks up on a lot of small things and carries on the development very well.
I miss the email, but if you let me choose, I would say put future development into the database. ... An appeal to Sun - please make Star Office available to OS X users out there.
I have a new iMac as well as my pc, and a good office suite is all that is lacking.
MS Office X has no Access, yet they dare to charge US$$$ for the suite !!! Outrageous... Well done to Open Office, who have brought out the first beta for OS X, but I hope Star Office will also bring it out too, with perhaps a more sophisticated version. We all buy Macs to get away from ..., and to only have the choice of MS for a serious office suite on a Mac is somehow rather perverse ! Well done Sun, keep going !
Rating:
Summary: I use StarOffice for graphic design, technical illustrations
Review: Everyone's fussing so much about Word versus Writer that no one's given any comments yet on how great it is for graphic art and just anyone who wants to do a drawing. Illustrator and Photoshop, fine, use those if you're a turbo illustrator and have the money. But I LOVE StarOffice's Draw program and anyone who has to do any drawings, just once in a while or if you're a techwriter or programmer or just arty regular person, will find it fabulous and easy to use. For instance, let's say you want to do an org chart or some sort of diagram. It's really easy. You draw some squares, fill them in with a color or gif or anything, then double-click in them and write "Peter Hanson, Vice President," or "Home Interface" or whatever. To connect it to all the other things in the diagram, use the Visio-like connector lines that stay connected to the boxes no matter where you move them. Or if you want to crop and mess around with the photo you took on your hike last summer. You can crop easily, make it black and white, and increase the blue or green. The 3D features are absolutely amazing. Just download OpenOffice.org and try them out, or buy StarOffice today and you'll be blown away. Globes, donuts, pyramids, and you can draw them sticking into each other like that XFiles episode where people started intersecting. You have to see it. You can do a bunch of stuff with FontWork. Draw absolutely any line, type absolutely any text, and you can make the text conform to the line, and then make the line invisible. You can export your drawings to absolutely anything, including GIF, JPG, TIFF, SVG, and EPS. Open up the SVG in Illustrator and it's totally editable. It also comes with some good basic clipart, and you can add your own to the gallery and just drag it right in. I think that Draw, and its corresponding slide-creation program Impress, are fantastic. Let the techy Word and Excel fans beat each other to death on whether StarOffice or MS Office is better; it doesn't matter. StarOffice is worth it just for the art and presentation features. Get it today. You'll have the most fantastic holiday newsletter or holiday web page ever.
Rating:
Summary: Absurd to pay MS prices; StarOffice opens MS Office, WP
Review: It's new, yes. Does that make it bad? No. Give it a try, or download the free OpenOffice.org version. StarOffice is more compatible with MS Office than MS Office. Try opening a Word 95 file with Word XP. Then try it with StarOffice. StarOffice is worth it if only for the drawing program, which is excellent, easy to learn and use, and exports to not only GIF and JPG but SVG, EPS, and a host of other formats. StarOffice opens WordPerfect files, on Windows. If you're looking to switch from WordPerfect, here is your chance. Word files litter the Internet; college students are required to submit Word files often for simple essays; elementary schools publish lunch menus in Word. Government agencies publish calculation forms for the public in Excel. StarOffice is particularly appropriate for people who simply want to create some documents, and read other people's documents, and not pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege to read what ought to be in an open, nonproprietary file format. StarOffice costs as much as you're going to spend on a sweater for your mother at Christmas. What you'd spend on Microsoft Office would cover two of her car payments. If you're one of the many people who doesn't have money to throw away, and you're looking for the value that a product actually provides instead of just continuing the same expensive habit, then you're going to be delighted by StarOffice.
Rating:
Summary: Amazon sells worldwide, but only Rebate to US customers.
Review: I love StarOffice 5.2 (Free) and cannot wait to get my hand on the latest 6.0. Although it is not free, but the money is well spent. Even I do use Office XP at work, I find StarOffice (SO) very easy to use. With the default XML based file format... who need to wait for MS Office 11 to experience XML's difference? :) I will remove my OfficeXP from work for StarOffice, since one license give me the right to install on up to 5 machines that I use. Office, Laptop, Home PC... umm need to think. Hey Amazon. Why cannot offer us the overseas buyer the same rebate offered to US people?! Your customers are worldwide. PLEASE OFFER REBATE TO ALL (OVERSEAS) CUSTOMERS!!!
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