bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Being a bit of a Mac zealot, there is nothing I find quite as irritating as a Windows zealot. His pro-Windows argument is always two-pronged: price and the number of software titles.

 The price question is ignorance, but the software title point is correct. Of course, when pressed, you will find that most Windows users make little use of this supposedly vast software title advantage.

 They use Netscape or Internet Explorer, a few games and Microsoft Office. Microsoft Office in particular has become a de facto standard.

 With the possible exception of Mirabilis' rather anaemic implementation of ICQ, as a Mac user I have never really felt the effects of any software disadvantage.

 However, after installing StarOffice 5.1 on my Windows machine, I did feel a twinge of jealousy. StarOffice is available for Linux, Solaris, Windows and even OS/2, but not for the Mac.

 Recently acquired by Sun Microsystems, StarOffice is not the most petite office suite I have ever seen.

 It weighs in at about 150 megabytes for a full installation, but unlike Microsoft Office, you are likely to use everything it installs.

 StarOffice is a complete package. With this installed, your average Windows user would only need a couple of games to fill out his software needs.

 The package includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, drawing application, HTML editor, e-mail software, database reader, calendar, news reader, address book and a Web browser.

 The software's Linux/Solaris roots are immediately apparent. Once the StarOffice is launched, you see not a new document but a file browser which shows you what you have on your desktop. Like many Linux/Solaris applications, StarOffice is able to be customised. You can even change the program's windows to look like a Mac with close buttons in the upper-left corner rather than the upper-right.

 The most impressive feature is definitely the autopilot function, which walks you through setting up a letter, presentation, e-mail or any other kind of document StarOffice can create.

 Letter Autopilot allows you to choose a business or personal letter, classic or modern styles, and will even allow you to create a custom logo and header with things such as order reference numbers and an inside address and even your preferred printer and printer settings.

 The inside address bit was my favourite. Decide how you want the address laid out, create the document and the letter will appear in a split screen with your address book at the top.

 Type your letter, select the recipient from the address book and click the merge button. The address is added into the document and the document is immediately sent to the printer.

 Once you have gone through the autopilot function you can save the settings as a template which can be accessed directly the next time you create a document.

 Many of the features in StarOffice are similar to Microsoft Word. It can underline a mis-spelt word, for example.

 More importantly, it can read and write Word files so you do not have to worry about problems with your Word-wielding colleagues.

 StarOffice can actually read documents from quite a few word processors the Microsoft Word cannot.

 I had only two complaints with StarOffice. The Web browser is really just for viewing Web pages that you have created using the HTML editor and is not practical for surfing the Web.

 My other complaint was with the layout. For some reason Linux and Solaris users always seem to have a 20-inch monitor. StarOffice's layout seemed a touch cramped on my 15-inch screen.

 While all these points make StarOffice a great alternative to Microsoft Office, there is another point which makes it even better: it is free. You can download it from Sun's Web site at http://www.

sun.com/dotcom/staroffice.

html.

 However, be warned, the download is 65 megabytes. On a good 56K modem connection, you can expect a download of three to six hours.

 You can also order a CD from Sun, which will cost you US$9.95 plus shipping.

 Considering the high risk of corruption over such a long download time, ordering the CD is probably the better choice.

REVIEW PROS AND CONS Product: Sun Microsystems' StarOffice 5.1 Pros: free; fantastic autopilot function; few unusable bells and whistles Cons: three- to five-hour download with a high probability of file corruption; somewhat cramped on a smaller screen 



StarOffice offers free alternative to Microsoft