In answer to a question from Chewy – yes. OpenOffice is available on Mac. More information about system requirements and downloading of installation files can be found by clicking on the image below.

OpenOffice has been ported to a number of different platforms, including:

• Mac OS X
• Linux PPC
• Linux/AMD64
• FreeBSD
• IRIX
• openvms

The Mac version requires X11 installed – if you are not sure about this or need a step by step instruction manual on how to go about this, there is one on the site for you to download (PDF format) and follow.

Links for OpenOffice for Mac:

• Instructions (with pictures) for installing OpenOffice
• Life Hacker on OpenOffice for Mac

I”ll add more links as I find them.

Well this site must start with one post, so here it is.

I have a number of clients and friends who have expressed frustration with Microsoft”s products. Not because they are bad, or inferior, but mainly because they are costly. I serve a number of SMEs – and they are mostly S”s (smalls). I know there has been press and a lot of effort gone into by Microsoft to argue about total cost of ownership and such, however the bottom line is that often small organisations do not have the financial resources to purchase the software licences required.

Rather than encourage piracy, I am offering a support mechanism whereby people can ask me questions, or post problems that they are having in converting from MS Office to Open Office, or even in using Open Office as their first office productivity suite.

This site is small because it is brand new – but it will build up over time, and with questions and answers it will hopefully be a comprehensive resources for Open Office users.