word processing on mac?

Download NeoOffice. Make a donation when you have the chance. It is free and compatible with Microsoft Office Files.

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

open office (need x11)
http://www.openoffice.org/

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

abiword
http://www.abisource.com/download/

and for your other needs 😉
http://www.opensourcemac.org/

Is there somewhere to find a comparison review of the free word processing software options for OSX?

You might also want to give Google Docs a try.
You'll need to use Firefox instead of Safari, but it is very functional and they have a spreadsheet app too. Not to mention is would be very easy to collaborate with classmates if you needed to.

Message was edited by: jagreenwood

Meg, you may want to talk to the people at your college's computer lab or cs department. Some colleges will purchase bulk licenses from Microsoft and in turn, give them away to students. All you need is a blank CD. Check into it.

I wish I could recommend NeoOffice, but free doesn't always mean good. I found NeoOffice to be very slow and very "unMac" like. iWork is another good alternative. It is very inexpensive and works great. And if you use Firefox, Google Docs is a good choice too.

As far as solutions that come with the MacBook, OSX's TextEdit application is a decent word processor that will let you open and edit Microsoft Word files.

Message was edited by: Brian DePardo

http://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/Archive/WordProcs/

reviews on word processors 😉


i use neooffice (for my macbook) and microsoft 2004 for mac (for my mini)

Message was edited by: no read_nowrite

Another good choice is the iWork suite which I use all the time. Also textedit is an amazing program that works well w/ word and comes free with your mac. And while this isn't a word processor per se, OmniOUtliner is great for students and it comes free with your mac.