Despite the speed and convenience of Nextel’s i85s, we prefer
the Ericsson R380, with just one reservation—the Ericsson’s
steep price. It costs $600. For $300, we could buy a full-featured
cell phone and a Palm OS-based PDA. Freeing up a little more
space in our backpacks definitely isn’t worth an additional $300.The smartphone category shows a lot of promise, but we have
yet to see anything even remotely close to perfection.O P E N O F F I C E. O R G 1. 1. 1
T H E U P S H O T
JUNE 2004 MAXIMUMPC 21
A
s much as we like to root for the underdog, we have to
call ‘em like we see ‘em, and Office Professional Edition
is clearly the better product in this match. It’s fast, easy
to use, and replete with useful features. Office is also your
best bet if file compatibility is a major concern. That said, for
the average home user, Office is overkill, and its exorbitant
price tag puts it out of the running for a Kick Ass award.If you can get by with just the basics, like creating
spreadsheets, typing papers and letters, and building mul-
timedia presentations, then OpenOffice.org is a capable
alternative at a killer price. Over time, we expect to see this
free software suite improve in quality and performance, so
Microsoft had better enjoy this advantage while it has it. nExpensive, and a bit too feature-rich for basic use.
For basic productivity duties it does a good job.
And it’s free.JERRY RICEBURNT RICE
Slow, and not as feature-rich or easy to use as
Microsoft Office.
Free, http://www.openoffice.orgMAXIMUMPC VERDICT 7
Features: OpenOffice.org includes many of the
same adaptive formatting features as Office ,
and even tries to one-up Microsoft with word-
completion technology that guesses what word
you’re typing and fills in the rest. But just about
the only thing we like about this “feature” is that
it can be disabled. OpenOffice.org also lacks many
of Office’s coolest features, like Smart Tags and
language translation, and comes with far fewer
document templates and wizards. OpenOffice.org
does have a few tricks up its sleeve, though,
including the ability to export documents to PDF
or Flash formats with a click of the mouse—that’s
nice. Winner: Microsoft OfficeApplications: Aside from its three core
applications—a word processor, presentation
program, and spreadsheet— OpenOffice.org
also includes rudimentary drawing and web
page creation apps. Predictably, however,
OpenOffice.org can’t hold a candle to Office
Professional Edition, which comes with a desktop
publishing program, a database, and an e-mail and
scheduling program. Yes, we know there are plenty
of free e-mail programs out there, but none can
rival Microsoft Outlook’s powerful features, like
its integrated scheduler and comprehensive spam
filter—and even if you already had an e-mail app,
OpenOffice.org would still be missing the database
and desktop publishing capabilities.
Winner: Microsoft Office, by a mileValue: This one’s an open-and-shut case. Microsoft
Office Professional Edition 2003 costs $500.
OpenOffice.org costs $0. You do the math.
Winner: OpenOffice.orgCompatibility: We applaud Sun’s choice of
industry-standard XML as the file format for
OpenOffice.org documents. As for compatibility
with other popular file formats, OpenOffice.org
opened most of the files we threw at it without
a hitch, but a few Word and PowerPoint
documents containing special formatting were
displayed incorrectly. Microsoft Office isn’t
perfect either, but its compatibility issues
are fewer and farther between than those of
OpenOffice.org. Plus, so many people have
Office that compatibility can be assumed.
Winner: Microsoft OfficeEase-of-use and interface: If you’re used to Microsoft
Office, it won’t be hard to make the transition to
OpenOffice.org. Many (though not all) of the menus
and shortcut keys are similar to those of Office , and
the interface is fairly straightforward. However, some
seemingly simple tasks, like moving toolbars around, are
less intuitive in OpenOffice.org than in Office. The help
system is adequate, but lacks the ability to automatically
connect to the Internet for updated help files. And why
the hell does each app take three times as long to start
as its counterpart in Microsoft Office?
Winner: Microsoft Office, but it’s closeOne of the biggest sources of hesitation about moving to a different productivity
suite is the terrifying thought of having to adapt to a new interface. But as you
can see, there’s little to be afraid of with OpenOffice.org’s familiar layout.