Hi Jeff, You're correct about the email, browser, etc. However, I prefer NOT to have my Office software so tightly integrated. You must realize that it's that kind of integration that causes Outlook to be able to be attacked by the same viruses, malicious macros, scripts and such, as IE and Word documents. Unix is many small programs that each do 1 thing well rather than 1 large program that tries to do everything. Open/Star Office give an alternative to MS Office for Unix types. The ability to share document and data formats WITHOUT having to take out a loan for the software. Mozilla is a better browser than IE, and there are many email clients available for Unix, although admittedly few with the same 'features' of Outlook. I haven't tried it yet, but you might wish to take a look at Evolution from Ximian. There's a very detailed article at http://www.infoanarchy.org/story/2002/5/1/64850/34022 which compares it favorably to Outlook, and you can download it from Ximian at http://www.ximian.com/products/ximian_evolution/download.html. It is also a free Open Source program. I don't want to take up too much space cutting and pasting its features, but just a couple will give you the idea of how well things have evolved since StarOffice v5: Flexible Message Formatting View and send email in either HTML or text formats. iCalendar Support Arrange appointments and schedule meetings with users of other personal information management tools, including Microsoft Outlook... LDAP Compatible Extensive Interoperability Work with a broad range of corporate messaging environments such as Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Domino using IMAP, POP, SMTP, and Authenticated SMTP protocols. Remember, I haven't tried it yet (plan to soon), but it does sound as though it might be worth taking a look at in both home and enterprise environments, doesn't it? Enjoy! Jim ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 02 May 2002 15:16:32 -0700 From: Jeff Needle <jeff.needle@xxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [1stPickSoftware] Re: OpenOffice Jim, since StarOffice 6.0 (and thus OpenOffice) eliminated both the e- mail/news, browser and PIM features, doesn't this hurt the product's chances of really succeeding? Is it worth the download when you still have to use other software to do these every day tasks? I used StarOffice for a while, but since I spend most of my day with e-mail, their terrible client was a problem. I had great hopes for a better client with 6.0. But they've just dumped the whole idea. I'm very disappointed. --------------- Jeff Needle jeff.needle@xxxxxxxxxxx or jeffneedle@xxxxxxxxxxx ~*~*~*~*~ For a complete list of email commands for our list send an email to ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with a subject line of "info 1stpicksoftware" without the quotes. If you wish to unsubscribe from our list send an email to 1stpicksoftware-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=unsubscribe To contact the list moderators send an email to 1stpicksoftware-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ~*~*~*~*~