Re: [tlug] OpenOffice.org & Japanese Windows

[Micheal E Cooper <mec@example.com>]

One more difference between OO and StarOffice is that the help system in the Japanese version of OO has not been translated to/ modified for Japanese, but StarOffice has a wonderfully detailed Japanese help system.

A developer friend of mine (Japanese) has been using StarOffice recently to see if he can reduce his development costs. He presently develops Access-Office apps for small and medium-sized companies. He said that while the Word processing and spreadsheet capabilities of StarOffice are easy to use and powerful, the Basic-like language included with StarOffice is really difficult to use for Japanese people. He said it is difficult to understand. I have not looked at it yet. This developer friend has not touched Adabas yet, and neither have I, so I can't comment on it.

While StarOffice is not open-source, I do think you could recommend it to your friends as an alternative to expensive MS products. It costs 10600 at DeoDeo, and you get 5 licenses for that price, meaning that you can install it in 5 different machines. The illustration software included is really easy to use, and I have heard that the database software is good, too. I personally like the word processor in StarOffice more than Word. The best thing is that using StarOffice (or OO for that matter) really preps someone for the change over to Linux.

Micheal