[Techtalk] Report on CrossOver Office
L J Laubenheimer
ljl at rahul.net
Tue Jun 18 11:26:25 EST 2002
Malke,
Can I post this as a software review?? Or do you want to format/change it first
for web posting?
Linda
Marian Routh wrote:
> Hi - Several list members expressed an interest in a report on my
> experience with CrossOver Office, so here it is. I've taken you all at
> your word that you really want to hear this, so this report is a big
> long.
>
> Specs on this box: Athlon Tbird 1.2GHz, 512 SDRAM, dual boot w/WinXP,
> SuSE 8.0, KDE 3.0.1. SuSE is very stable and wonderful.
>
> Ordered CXOffice 1.10 on CD because I thought it would have a bit of
> printed material, but it didn't, just the CD. A mild disappointment,
> but no big.
>
> Installed as user (as opposed to root) since I'm the only one on this
> box. Printed out installation instructions and followed them.
> Instructions were written very clearly and completely, and installation
> was easy. I only installed MS Office 2000 - Word, Excel, and Outlook.
> You have to have IE 5.0 at least, so I went with the standard install
> of it.
>
> I had some problems with the first installation. Word and Excel opened
> fine, but Outlook crashed and then would never open again. Word and
> Excel opened, but were frozen. I uninstalled the whole shebang and
> reinstalled. Everything worked.
>
> Issues with Word and Excel - They seem to work great, I just can't get
> my stuff to print in color. I'm working with CodeWeavers tech support
> on that. I had some configuration questions; i.e., where to put my
> custom templates, and tech support quickly solved that.
>
> Issues with Outlook - Outlook is still too fragile for reliability. It
> says it can't import my Calendar backup file and quits the import with
> an error message, however it looks like my Calendar entries are in
> there. Normally, I would backup the whole Outlook Personal Folders in
> one .pst file, but because of the Calendar problem it didn't import my
> Contacts. So I backed up the Contacts file separately and was able to
> import it easily. Where I have found instability - tried to add
> additional email accounts and Outlook crashed and disappeared. Was
> typing an email (actually this report so it was lengthy) and it crashed
> and exited. It should be noted that CodeWeavers has said that Outlook
> is still buggy. They are extremely upfront about any shortcomings in
> CXOffice. I'm working with their tech support on the Outlook problems,
> but I think we all agree that true stability may not be available until
> a later version.
>
> So basically, as soon as we get the color printing issue in Word
> resolved, I'm using Word and Excel just like I did in Windows. I must
> say I'm incredibly impressed with font handling. Fonts appear onscreen
> and print out exactly as they do in Windows. Totally cool. As for
> Outlook, I'm still using Kmail (which is OK, but I hate the
> addressbook) and KOrganizer, (which is also OK). I'm committed to
> CXOffice and am happy to wait for the Outlook bugs to get ironed out.
>
> Now, I _must_ add praise to the skies for CodeWeavers tech support.
> These people are incredibly awesome. The response to problems is
> amazing. Even as I'm typing this, there is another email from them
> regarding the Word printing issue. There have been at least 10 emails
> a day back and forth on all the issues. I have never seen better tech
> support - or any other kind of support - in my life. I simply cannot
> say enough nice things about the good people at CodeWeavers.
>
> So there you have it. I consider CXOffice to be well worth it and plan
> to continue to support it.
>
> I hope this was useful to some of you. Let me know if you want to know
> anything else.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Malke
>
--
Linda J Laubenheimer - UNIX Geek, Sysadmin, Bibliophile and Iconoclast
http://www.modusvarious.net/ - consultants available
http://www.laubenheimer.net/ - personal demo site
http://www.geocities.com/laubenheimer/ - web design gaffes (I wouldn't
disgrace a real ISP with these) and rants about bad design.
More information about the Techtalk
mailing list