Word processor for MacBook?

[proud2BlibKansan]

I just bought a new MacBook and unless I am not looking in the right place, it appears to have no word processor. Is there a free program I can download? What do you guys recommend?

Thanks!!

[SeattleVet]

1. I use NeoOffice

http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php

It's based on the OpenOffice Suite, and I have been running it for a few years now without any problems at all. I'm on a PowerMac G5, but your MacBook should have no difficulty with it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. I am looking for something that is free

[moggie]

6. NeoOffice is free

It's open source.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. They are asking for a donation to download it

That isn't free.

[moggie]

10. The donation is optional

You could also go to www.openoffice.org and download OpenOffice from there.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. It won't let me proceed without making a donation

I tried 3 times. I know it's only $2 but it isn't really just a donation if they force you to make it.

[moggie]

13. Could have sworn I got it free

Perhaps the donation feature is a recent addition. Since it's distributed under the GPL, you're entirely within your rights to obtain a copy from anyone else without paying for it. The donation is to help support the work of the two people who work on it in time they could otherwise use to make real money, and to go towards their hosting costs. A few bucks seems more than reasonable, and I'll be donating.

You could also google for hacks which will let you continue to use the Office trial indefinitely, though I can't condone that.

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Thanks! I found the link n/t

[SeattleVet]

15. I just followed the links, and you can hit the "skip donation"

and once you get to the next page just go ahead to the downloads and select the disk image for your system.

It's still free; all of the donation links and stuff really are a bit 'in your face' though, and I can see how it can make you think you can't proceed without donating.

Having said that, I upgraded very recently, but will make a donation when I install the next update. It's a good package of programs, and I don't mind supporting these guys.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. I did that and it took me back to

the make a donation page.

[SeattleVet]

18. Go directly to this page. Select the download you need.

(PowerPC or Intel)

http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/maindownload.php

That will take you to a page with a listing of disk images from different servers. Select one of those and the file should download.

(Maybe you're not looking far enough down on the pages?)

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. Duh you're right

I didn't scroll down far enough. Thanks!!

Boy do I feel stoopid now. LOL

[SeattleVet]

20. Nah...not stupid at all

I almost missed that link myself when I stepped through the last time, which is how I thought that you may not have scrolled far enough. (Their donation requests do seem to be a little bit 'over the top', but I can understand why they have to do it.)

[moggie]

2. Did you buy it new?

If so, it'll have a 30-day trial version of iWork, which includes the Pages word processor, and a 30-day trial version of MS-Office, including Word. iWork is affordable (though not as much as NeoOffice!), while MS-Office is expensive, unless you qualify for the education version (or your employer can supply you with a legit copy).

If you bought it used, you should reinstall, and that'll give you the above trial versions again.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Yes I bought it new

But I sure didn't see that program on it.

[moggie]

5. Hmm

Go to "Applications" in the finder, switch to list or column view, and scroll down. You should see "iWork '06" and "Office 2004 for Mac Test Drive". Or use Spotlight to search for them!

I can't comment on MS-Office, since almost the first thing I did with my Macs was remove it!

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. Wow that looks great

But it costs money. I don't use a word processor enough on my personal computer to pay for it. I want something free.

And it blows my mind that I have a brand new computer and it has no word processor included??

[moggie]

9. Welcome to the world of unbundled software!

It sucks if you need a word processor (I don't), but you'd be in the same boat if you bought a PC. And I'm kinda surprised that you didn't check before buying. Caveat emptor!

Apple used to bundle AppleWorks with new Macs, as far as I remember, but not any more.

[proud2BlibKansan]

11. I honestly never assumed I would have to check for a word processor

I sure looked for other features before I clicked 'buy'. But a word processor?

Oh well, expensive lesson learned.

[alfredo]

22. It does have TextEdit, for your more casual writing. It's in

applications. It's quite powerful.


Bean is pretty good too.

http://www.bean-osx.com/Bean.html

Tex-Edit is shareware, but he doesn't nag. I paid for it after about two weeks. It is a fine piece of software.

http://www.tex-edit.com/


BTW you can convert any document into a PDF by using the print menu.

You can also create documents in the Terminal.app using Pico.

[Poiuyt]

16. Have you tried Abiword?

http://www.abisource.com/

I tried it a couple of years ago, and it seemed slow to open. I haven't tried the latest versions though. I'm sure it's better and it's free. My favorite word processor for the Mac is Mariner Write, but it's not free. AppleWorks has a good word processor, but that's not free either. I still use MS Word, just so that I'm compatible with the rest of the world, but I don't really like it.

More can be found here:

http://www.pure-mac.com/textword.html

Of course, you can use TextEdit for just general putting words on paper. That's included with your software.

[bullimiami]

21. how about open office

openoffice.org

i use it on my pc laptop but there is a mac version. it has everything and cross compatibility.
i have microsoft office and appleworks on the macs but i usually use the word processing in appleworks which is the evolution of macwrite.

[133724]

23. Open Office

it is open source and free but a small donation would,i am sure be appreciated....

[ChairmanAgnostic]

24. i use neo 4 my office. when i share, I either save it in PDF or Word

I much prefer my neooffice over word.

And for envelopes, I simply use a widget called easy envelopes.