Last week, Microsoft announced that the release of Office 2008 for the Mac would be delayed from the fall of 2007 until mid-January 2008. Craig Eisler, general manager of Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit, attributed the delay to “quality issues.”

Whatever. In any case, the extra months until the software's release will give Mac users another excuse to look for alternatives. The world has changed a lot since 1997 when Bill Gates appeared on a giant screen behind Steve Jobs at the summertime Macworld Boston show to promise that Microsoft would continue to develop the Office suite of software for the Mac for at least five years. Back then, Apple was struggling and could ill-afford to lose Office, for which there were no practical alternatives.

Last week's collective yawn over the delay of Office 2008 shows just how much the situation has changed. Not only is Apple thriving, it no longer needs Microsoft software to remain viable. Mac users now have alternatives. In addition to being Intel-native, Microsoft's Office 2008 should offer Mac users the best compatibility with the Windows versions of Office, but it will be the most expensive option by far.

For instance, Apple can sell you iWork '06 for $79, though it includes just two programs, the Pages word processor and the Keynote presentation software. Both programs are compatible with files produced by their Office counterparts, Word and PowerPoint, but the suite lacks a spreadsheet (though it's remotely possible iWork '08 will add one).

But Mac users can do even better. One of the benefits of Mac OS X being Unix-based is that Unix operating systems have a long history of “open source” software development. Open-source software is usually written by a loosely organized group of programmers in their spare time and offered to the community for free. Anyone with the skills can fix bugs and enhance the software, though with the understanding that their improvements will become part of the public project.

In 1999, Sun Microsystems bought a German company called StarDivision, which made a software suite called StarOffice. Sun turned the software into an open source project known as OpenOffice.org and has since shepherded its development on multiple platforms, including Mac OS X. The problem with the current Mac version of OpenOffice, however, is that its Unix roots require an extra tool called X11. This drawback not only forces an extra step during installation (the X11 tool must be loaded from the Mac's included system DVD), but also means OpenOffice does not adhere to the Aqua interface that governs the look and feel of native Mac programs.

Enter NeoOffice, an open source side project based on OpenOffice.org code but focused entirely on creating a Mac OS X version. NeoOffice 2.1 runs natively on OS X – no X11 required -- while still offering all the compatibility benefits with Microsoft Office of the Sun Microsystems project. And because it's open source, NeoOffice is a free download. Unlike iWork or the Web-based Google Docs and Spreadsheets, NeoOffice actually gives you more modules than Office for the Mac: word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, database and drawing.

As I have tested NeoOffice, I've found that it mostly gets the job done, but is not as fast nor as smooth as the programs that comprise Office for the Mac. While using the word processor module to compose this blog entry, for example, I'm having no trouble. But when I opened up an old, heavily formatted resume originally saved as a Word file, all did not go well. To NeoOffice's credit, the file opened with most of the formatting intact. The trouble started when I tried to manipulate the paragraph and character style sheets; I had problems getting them to work, particularly in regard to my fonts. Maybe it had something to do with my huge collection of nonstandard fonts, but that's what's on my system.

I haven't spent enough time with the software to offer a full review (although I found a very thorough one here), but my first impression is that NeoOffice could well serve the basic needs of many Mac users. If you don't need all the frills of Microsoft Office but need the ability to open and save Office-formatted files, NeoOffice could fit the bill.

My greatest need at home is for a word processor (no surprise there), with occasional dabbling in spreadsheets and rarely in presentations. (I did adopt Entourage for my e-mail long ago, but if I hadn't I probably would be using Apple's free Mail program.) Apart from Word I tend to use the other Office modules mostly for opening files sent to me by others, and NeoOffice has proven very good at opening Word, PowerPoint and Excel files.

My advice to Mac users contemplating the purchase of Office 2008 for the Mac is to download NeoOffice – remember, it's free -- and give it a trial run. Even if you decide on iWork for word processing and presentations, you could still keep NeoOffice around to deal with spreadsheets and databases. That option would still save you money. Microsoft hasn't announced pricing for Office 2008, but the least expensive version of Office 2004 costs $149 – and only if you qualify for an educational discount. The upgrade version is $239 and the full version a wallet-straining $399.

NeoOffice isn't perfect, but the open source developers regularly release patches and continue to fine-tune the code. It will only get better with time, so if you don't think it's quite good enough to meet your needs now, check it out again a year from now. This much is for sure -- you'll never find an office productivity suite for a better price.