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Review: SoftMaker Office 2006

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C:Amie Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 7:17 AM
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In 2002 German developer SoftMaker conquered the mobile world, taking its users by storm and redefining what it took to create truly astonishing software for embedded platforms.

Five year on, and SoftMaker are still innovating. Having added PlanMaker to their product line in 2004, inexorably the company has raised its standard high and is focusing its targets squarely on Microsoft with the inaugural release of its flagship Office Suite, the aptly named SoftMaker Office 2006.

Clinton Fitch explores the Office 2006 release to see what this new bundle has to offer.

Read the review and have your say here on the forums.

View: SoftMaker Office 2006
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Hurricane John Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 8:09 AM
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It's unfortunate that the folks at Softmaker still haven't figured out what a CAB file is and insist on making HPC owners use their desktop installer with Activestink....I mean ActiveSync.....to install the software!
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cmonex Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 8:52 AM
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1) you can install it without activesync. i've never used activesync to install my copy of textmaker.
just copy the files from temp over to your hpc. (exe, iwr, dwr and similar files)

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Further, for most .NET users, functional editing is no longer an option. In this version of Windows CE - commonly found in the NEC 900c and Smartbook G138 - you only have viewers, and at best on other devices rudimentary editors


how can this be stated? what about pressing the hotkey for pocketword on your 900c. a document (.doc, .rtf, .pwd, .txt, etc) editor will come up. it is basically the same as on hpc2000. what is missing is the spellcheck and wordcount (which is solvable).
smartbook has the same. go to start menu to run it.
so it is not true that you only have viewers on these two devices.

on the sig3 and on ce.net core devices (PNA's and the like. and my dotel dot 340 ) you indeed have nothing like that (but, downloadable if that's an option for you - sig3 for example has a spreadce version in the official updates).

on the other hand textmaker 2006 is great.. i didn't like 2002 but this one is great. just not so fast as pocketword/wordpad.








................so, please, can someone tell me, why this common mistake of saying cenet has viewers *only* shows up again and again? thanks

Edited by cmonex 2007-07-09 9:00 AM
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C:Amie Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 9:14 AM
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cmonex - 2007-07-09 1:52 PM
what about pressing the hotkey for pocketword on your 900c. a document (.doc, .rtf, .pwd, .txt, etc) editor will come up. it is basically the same as on hpc2000. what is missing is the spellcheck and wordcount (which is solvable).
smartbook has the same. go to start menu to run it.
so it is not true that you only have viewers on these two devices.


I knew you would say that, I just knew it. tehe. The point is of course without fault, though in my opinion you are making too much out of a small thing.

The review does state "functional editing" and "at best on other devices rudimentary editors". Compared to TextMaker Wordpad doesn't offer functional editing. There is no recoverable functionality for Excel either, and this is a tandem review of both office apps.

If you disagree on functional editing / functional viewing of course that is fair however this is after all Clint's review and Clint's opinion.
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clintonfitchdotcom Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 9:34 AM
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It's hard for me to add anything other than what Chris has stated here but the point of the comment in the review was to point out that, when comparing the built-in applications to Office 2006, there isn't a comparision. The ability to do advanced editing, if at all in SOME cases, is simply not there.

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cmonex Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 11:09 AM
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clintonfitchdotcom - 2007-07-09 3:34 PM

It's hard for me to add anything other than what Chris has stated here but the point of the comment in the review was to point out that, when comparing the built-in applications to Office 2006, there isn't a comparision. The ability to do advanced editing, if at all in SOME cases, is simply not there.



that's very true. though, what is easily misunderstood is that hpc2000 word is not much better (excel etc. is). this means softmaker is a good addition for hpc2000 too (even if pocketexcel is quite good).

so the statement i commented on is misleading, i think.

i'm complaining only because i get asked all the time "does cenet really just have viewers"

Edited by cmonex 2007-07-09 11:11 AM
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cmonex Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 11:12 AM
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C:Amie - 2007-07-09 3:14 PM

I knew you would say that, I just knew it. tehe. The point is of course without fault, though in my opinion you are making too much out of a small thing.

The review does state "functional editing" and "at best on other devices rudimentary editors". Compared to TextMaker Wordpad doesn't offer functional editing. There is no recoverable functionality for Excel either, and this is a tandem review of both office apps.

If you disagree on functional editing / functional viewing of course that is fair however this is after all Clint's review and Clint's opinion.



i knew you'd know i'd say this

it is not a small thing for me, because really a lot of people get the wrong impression, i *think*. i got asked yesterday too..

wordpad = pocketword.. neither offers "functional editing", i guess.

btw, the full hpc2000 functionality is recoverable for the 900c but that's another thing, and it was not meant to replace softmaker.

Edited by cmonex 2007-07-09 11:14 AM
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encore
encore Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 11:18 AM
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funny old debate

I agree that the "lightweight" text editors are very functional but I think that they undersell a lot of these HPCs the folk on the forums own. I mean they were always meant to be "business class" articles and should have "business class" software in my reckoning.
Whenever softmaker get back to me about whether academic pricing exists for the CE.net version I'll inevitably purhcase it.

If only for the justified button..


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C:Amie Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 11:30 AM
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Yes wordpad is very similar to pocket word, but in the greater scheme of things, Pocket Word in its final edition (the H/PC Pro version) is now almost 9 years old. Wordpad was put in against CE 2.10. That is what this review is addressing. We are only talking really about RTF editing here, there are no native editor substitures for any other part of Pocket Office. It lacks some of the OLE and spell checker functionality of HPC2000 and sits on its own, not offering a real solution.

What you're really saying it boils down to is misunderstanding over what Pocket Office is. That we can do something about.

encore is well reasoned on his stance, Pocket Office was sufficient in 1998. For business class software in 2008 the hardware is better than the app suite.
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encore
encore Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 11:50 AM
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C:amie, yup entirely.

I'm in the process of switching from a omnibook 500 thats physically falling apart and on the face of it my 900c its hardware boils down to the same features but still lighter, smaller and cooler. Even the speaker is better!

I'm hoping that I won't have to shell out for the software (if linux has sound before september it'll be coffee shops, wifi and mp3's all the way with my new friend tux )

On a review related question @ clinton or anyone who has this new softmaker on their HPC i.e. what kinda fonts do you get with it? In particular if someone could confirm if my fav Lucida Sans is on it?!

:edit: hey btw cmonex the spell check/wordcount etc. works a treat

Edited by encore 2007-07-09 12:02 PM
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cmonex Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 2:03 PM
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C:Amie - 2007-07-09 5:30 PM

Yes wordpad is very similar to pocket word, but in the greater scheme of things, Pocket Word in its final edition (the H/PC Pro version) is now almost 9 years old. Wordpad was put in against CE 2.10. That is what this review is addressing. We are only talking really about RTF editing here, there are no native editor substitures for any other part of Pocket Office. It lacks some of the OLE and spell checker functionality of HPC2000 and sits on its own, not offering a real solution.

What you're really saying it boils down to is misunderstanding over what Pocket Office is. That we can do something about.

encore is well reasoned on his stance, Pocket Office was sufficient in 1998. For business class software in 2008 the hardware is better than the app suite.



glad it is clear now. yes, softmaker is very well justified for hpc2000 too.. it should be appreciated more how lucky we are that softmaker still supports the hpc.

(just to be absolutely precise: DOC also works on ce.net )



encore: even wordpad seems to support this font if you copy the windows xp lucida font (.ttf) into \windows\fonts on the 900c.
so i'm sure textmaker does too.

Edited by cmonex 2007-07-09 2:07 PM
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rgisondi Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 2:08 PM
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All right, but the problem is that Texmaker on the 900C (most used CE 4.2 HPC) is unusable.
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C:Amie Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 2:12 PM
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rgisondi,

In what way and which TM version 2002 or 2006?
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rgisondi Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 2:41 PM
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Both version.

Like most of the user I prefer HPC because I have to write long test on the moove typing fast.

Unfortunately the 900C has a wonderful keyboard but with Texmaker you can type only slow otherwise you miss part of words, and you have to pay attention and correct all the text step by step. All this in painful.

Softmaker says that the problem is under the focus of their programmer, but for now they haven't found any solution.
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C:Amie Page Icon Posted 2007-07-09 2:49 PM
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Oh right, I see. Worth noting then for all you MP900C speed typists.
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