NOTE: I had to come back and edit this review because Sun is no longer offered free, although it is still a great deal. The rest of the review remains intact.

Now you can download Star Office 5.2 Suite directly from Sun Microsystems website - (almost) totally free. This product in incredibly compatible with Microsoft Office, including Excel, Powerpoint and Word. There are input AND output filters for sharing documents with Microsoft users. No longer do you have to spend hundreds of dollars to get the flexibility to share documents with your office from your home computer.

I received StarOffice 5.2 installed on my new AshtonDigital notebook computer. I use Microsoft Office at work and at home, so I was able to test its import/export features on live documents. It works extremely well.

Here is a summary of the features of this powerful program:

The StarOffice Interface
The StarOffice interface is very Explorer-like This is where you access all of the StarOffice features. StarOffice components are listed on the left column, while a list of files ready to be opened (by default it shows your Desktop) are listed in the main part of the screen. A bottom section gives helpful tips to help you get started. All sections are customizable and can be hidden or expanded. The Autopilot feature helps you get started with predesigned templates in any of the available modules.

Word Processing
StarOffice Writer comes with all the features of the more powerful Word Processors. Automatic spell-checking, automatic word completion, merging, tables, columns, indexes, HTML programming, Graphics (including drawing), Database connections, styles and templates, integrated calculator functions and more. StarOffice Write can open documents from the following formats: Microsoft Word 95-2000, Word for Windows, WinWorks, Word Perfect, AmiPro, Lotus 123, Word Star, Windows Write, and other less know formats. It can import graphics from 26 different formats. There is no limit to pages that can be typed. HTML features give offer you WYSIWYG HTML editing functionality for creating Web pages

Spreadsheet
StarOffice Calc is a full-featured spreadsheet program that is fully compatible with Excel. You can successfully import spreadsheets with graphs, multiple sheets, and complicated calculations. Excel sheets with Macros can be imported, although you will need to either "preserve" the macros so they can be exported and used in Excel again, or you can convert them to Star's format (in which case you shouldn't export the macros again). There is no problem with changing formulas and data and then exporting to Excel again. AutoPilot will help you compose complicated formulas.

Presentation
StarOffice Impress is a web enabled presentation software that is again fully compatible with Microsoft Power Point. The AutoPilot features walks you through setting up a slide show with graphics, sounds and animation. Presentations can be packaged to run on any system, even without StarOffice installed. Compression utilities keep files sizes smaller and allow presentations to be stored across multiple disks if necessary.

Drawing
StarOffice Draw is designed to provide a variety of drawing tools and templates to make designing graphics easy. Easy it is, but powerful it is not. You'll still want to keep your favorite shareware photo editing software on hand. But for presentation graphics, basic editing and design, this integrates well into the whole package.

Database
StarOffice Base is a relational database which is compatible with Access97, Oracle, dbase, DB2, ADO, Informix, MS-SQL and any other database with ODBC connectivity. The AutoPilot feature leads you through the process of creating a database table, designing forms for users to enter data into, or forming queries for report designing. AutoPilot can also assist you in importing data from non-ODBC type databases. All common data types are supported, as well as industry-standard formatting options. Visual Basic is not supported. The SQL query language is fully supported in StarOffice Base.

Scheduling
StarOffice Schedule is a built in calendar, events, and coordination tool designed for web-enabled scheduling. Use it to keep track of schedules for your whole work team, or your kids baseball team. Coordinate team members and track tasks, events, projects, and contacts by the day, week, or month.

Charting
StarOffice charting allows you to quickly create charts for use in any of the StarOffice applications.

Master Document
Creating a Master Document allows you to easily manage complex projects such as books and manual which incorporate many smaller documents. By combining these in a master document, you can increment your design process, create indexes to sections and chapters in your book, and design in a structured way. Once again, the AutoPilot feature leads the way.

Frame Set
A Frame set is similar to a Master Document, except that the various subdocuments are arranged into frames on the parent (FrameSet) document. Frame sets are used primarily for Web design. This allows the user to quickly move from one section to another by clicking the desired frame. Frames can be resized and adjusted as desired. Contents of each frame can be edited and saved, and characteristics of the frames (i.e. colors, borders, etc.) can be changed.

E-mail and Newsgroups
StarOffice Mail and StarOffice Discussion are the companion modules for basic email and newsgroup reading. E-mail is fully MIME compliant for sending from any Windows application. "RULES" for emails allow you to filter content. E-mails can be sent in text, HTML and StarWriter formats.
E-mail is cumbersome to set up and not easy to figure out. I probably won't use it, even if I use the rest of this Office Suite.

----------------------
So, how good it it? It's really great. Certainly not as POWERFUL overall as Microsoft Word or Word Perfect, but for the price (FREE, remember) it is a great option for home users or small businesses -- especially if you find yourself bumping into Microsoft products all the time. I often get email attachments from people that are Microsoft Word or PowerPoint presentations. StarOffice can let you not only view them, but edit them and send them back.

You can even make the Microsoft formats the DEFAULT FORMAT for your Star Office application so that you don't need to import and export all the time.

StarOffice is tightly integrated, user-friendly (with the assistance of a VERY THROUGH help menu system), and effective. I think you will like it once you get used to it.

There are dozens and dozens of sample documents to look at and experiment with.


OH, and this suite works with Windows, Linux, Solaris, and by the end of 2000, MAC. System requirements: Pentium 90, 110MB of hard disk space. Available in these languages: Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish.

--------------------

Drawbacks. It would be nice to be able to access certain features without opening the whole Suite. Also, you don't have access to some of the advanced Microsoft Office features like Visual Basic programming, but if it did it would probably cost us all hundreds of $$$. And then you would go buy Microsoft Office, wouldn't you?

For more info, or to get the Free download, go to: http://www.sun.com/products/staroffice/5.2/ where "The ultimate free, full-featured, integrated, interoperable office suite just got better."



Another drawback... The 64MB download.

Recommended: Yes