So you love Mac OS X. We love Mac OS X. But you don't have the money to pony up for Office 200whatever, or maybe you don't even like it. Microsoft Office is overkill for most people who just need a simple word processor. We've used Open Office, but it's probably too much to play around with if all you want to do is write a document.Enter the Bean.
We've mentioned Bean before, along with other Mac "toolkit software", but a new version came out late in April (version 1.2.0)l, so we felt it deserved another look.
Bean is incredibly lightweight, free, and completely customizable. You can make the toolbar display whatever you like, set your own margins, make a table, all of the basics you'd expect from Microsoft Word.
Of course, free is the immediate draw, but this little app is jam-packed with the features that you need. Nothing more, nothing less. You can even save files in Word '97, XML, or TXT formats.
If you're looking for a lightweight version of Microsoft Word at the right price for Mac OS X, then Bean is all you need.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-28-2008 @ 11:44AM
James said...
What I can't understand is who would want to just "write a document." It's true, if you don't have a job that demands it or you're not in school Office is overkill. But if you're not doing those things then what really do you need to write and save on your desktop. Journal entries? Grocery lists? Of course someone will probably find it useful but the word processing market seems a little crowded already though. Even on the free end.
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