Is X11 worth it?

[travisbell]

Simple question. Why (or why not) do you think X11 is worth downloading.

Been looking into using OpenOffice, looks decent...but how cool is X11?

Thanks,

[AKcrab]

I believe that you will find this crowd to be overwhelmingly FOR X11... So let me be the first to say, NO. Just remember that it's there if you ever NEED it. (and you'll know if you need it)
To me, it's like adding another flavor of unix to the unix that's already there. That's a complete simplification, perhaps even just my own twisted interpretation.
Maybe wait till open office is more complete, and then give it a shot.

[travisbell]

Ya, I was reading through their docs and they say an Aqua version of OpenOffice is coming, but not until 2004!

Has anyone used OpenOffice with X11? Work good? Fast?

[sao]

wrote:
Been looking into using OpenOffice, looks decent...but how cool is X11?
If you plan to use OpenOffice soon, then probably is worth downloading.

But, I tend to agree with AKcrab, if you don't see a need for it, at this point for you, it's probably not worth the download. Maybe just as a learning experience, to peek into another world, which will become familiar to you in the long run.

Then again, there're many implementations of X11 for running X-windows within MacOS X, you have as free solutions, the Xonx project XFree86 release, Fink implementation, Apple's X11, VNC, WiredX, and then the commercial ones like Tenon XTools and eXodus 8.

Apple's X11 release is a Public Beta version, and at the moment has a lot of things to be ironed out. Still, it shows great potential (includes Quartz rendering and accelerated OpenGL) and I'm very confident the next release will be a more robust and solid implementation.

[Glanz]

With the new script that corrects library appellation and path probs, it definately IS worth it. And yes, Open Office is indeed worth it. I have used it since it earlier versions and have written dozens of Linux articles with it. I was on a continual "back and forth" with my editors at ExtremeTech who were on Windows XP with XP Office. They never noticed, graphics and all. We never had problems, except for the occasional M$ Office-specific macro. Open Office is better for math, languages and dictionaries. It is quite good. It is worth the download if you have a fast connection. If not, you may hit the download button around 9 in the evening, and in the morning, you should wake up to a working Office environment after installation.

[Phil St. Romain]

travisbell, we have threads going in here about apps that people have enjoyed using in X11. Maybe you could look that up.

OpenOffice is the biggest plus for me. It handles Word files better than Appleworks/Maclink Plus, and since I don't have Office X, that's quite a help.

I've enjoyed a few other apps as well. There are better Carbon and Cocoa apps for almost everything that X11 makes available, but some people like using X11 ones anyway. Now Apple has made that easier, and that's a good think, imo.

[machiavel]

Whether X11 is worth is tends what your needs are. If you are on a tight budget and you can't afford expensive commercial applications, XWindows apps can be an adequate alternative. True enough, they're probably not going to be as good as the commercial apps, but they'll get the job done nonetheless. KOffice and Open Office are obviously not on par with MS Office, but they're $400 cheaper.

If you are going to explore X11, however, you're going to need to fink up in running. Then you'll literally have hundreds of apps to choose from.