I have used a Mac and a buggy old version of Microsoft Office for years now.

Lately, I have been exploring different Office-like alternatives like using Textedit more for drafting documents, and started to poke around for open source alternatives.

The big gorilla in the Open Source Office space is Open Office (technically called OpenOffice.org). Open Office has most of what you need to totally replace Microsoft Office. Unfortunately I found it to have a few bugs that sent me scurrying back to Microsoft to get things done.

1) Open Office is sloooooow. Slow to open in general, slow to open a new document, even the first time you type on a doc you see a noticeable delay before the letters show up. My sense this is a Mac thing and perhaps because I have a old Powerbook G4.

2) Then there are little things...like in the Excel-like spreadsheet program they don't have the fabulous "accounting" format for numbers (it left-justifies the $ and right-justifies the number when you do financial spreadsheets). The interface seems a bit wonky at times, they don't seems to like the floating mini-window for style/formattign stuff, and well the aesthetic is a bit square.

But the big thing is the slowness. Curious about concepts of open source marketing...I dug into the Open Office marketing stuff (which is interesting) and was shocked to find no mention of user perception of slowness. Their biggest challenge is not risk of change or any of that stuff...it is slowness.

But I still have hope. Today NeoOffice released there updated version of a Mac-centric version of Open Office for free.

The story here is that NeoOffice used to be the only way for mac users to get Open Office...then Open Office caught up and started giving Mac users a version directly. NeoOffice has languished without a major update and fallen behind on the features of Open Office...until now.

My first pass today gives me hope. It is much quicker than Open Office...still slower that Microsoft but no longer a crazy pain.

The little problems are there but I might be able to live with it. [Though they have to get that "accounting" cell format in the mix. I am telling you we are a small but loyal fan base.]

Best things in life are free.