Hi Jerry,
I don't consider KOffice even close to being ready for prime time.
You are right, but I put it on my list as the long run contender for moving Linux into the "office age." :-) It's the first office suite I have used in Linux that *feels* good. It doesn't feel like a cheap MS copy, nor does it take such a radically different approach that it feels uncomfortable. In essance, it feels just like the rest of KDE.
But, I can see from your remarks that you have not taken either SO 5.2 or 6.0 for a *serious* spin.
I tried 5.2 for a long as I could tolarate it, and then ran to the quasi-comfort of WordPerfect 8. I was one of the first to download SO 6 Beta, but sadly it crashes whenever I try to do anything on the toolbars or menus. :-\
SO has a great vector graphics package and an excellent presentation manager package. Your light publishing can be handled well.
Actually, I did try SO for light publishing, but I couldn't figure out how to do a greeting card in it. I also dispised the bloat of 5.2, which, frankly made MS Office seem like it hadlost a few hundred pounds. Also, I should point out that a word processor and publisher are pretty much exclusively what I use an office suite for. For the most part, I do not use presentations software (although I hear KPresenter is quite good), and generally I stick to a bitmap or bitmap-vector hybrid for graphics.
Grammer checking isn't in the package, but Microsoft's grammer checker isn't that great. You end up ignoring most of it's recommendations - don't you just get tired of it telling you about the passive voice. -- and just not using it.
Well, I admit it was annoying at times, but overall I came to really appreciate the grammer checker. I'd rather hear about five passive voice problems, and then have it catch a stupid mistake (like their needing to be they're, etc.) then to publish something that has incorrect grammar because I typed it at 12:50 a.m. one night. Granted, it does making you lazy when it does stuff like this for you, but if I doesn't have a grammar checker, for most purposes KWrite fulfills most of my other requirements. To be honest, if Microsoft was ever to release Microsoft Office for Linux, I would line up at CompUSA at the midnight launch to get a copy. Microsoft has two strengths, IMO - intuitive interfaces and the Office division. Office may be bloated and buggy, but it's an office suite that - simply put - has what people want. This is not something I say lightly, since I am actually more in the free software (versus Open Source) camp than probably the majority of active posters on this list.
With PostgreSQL attached via ODBC SO allows for some serious tables, queries, reports, forms and other database manipulations. All smoothly integrated. JLK
That sounds pretty cool too - although once again I don't use that kinda stuff. See I'm a pretty hard sell on an office suite, ain't I (opps, the grammer checker should have caught that <g>)? -Tim -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy R. Butler | Universal Networks | http://www.uninet.info tbutler@uninetsolutions.com ICQ: 12495932 AIM: Uninettm Christian Portal and Search Tool: http://www.faithtree.com Open Source Migration Guide: http://www.ofb.biz ============== "Christian Web Services Since 1996" ==============