This guide was just a perfect tool to beat Quake II for me. It reminds me so much of the Doom II Guide by Prima ; a lot of helpful strategy with a sense of Marine humor. I probably wouldn't have beaten the game without it. The add-on disk was awesome!

To the best of my knowledge, this is one of the first books to try documenting the StarOffice suite. A bold challenge since much of the exhaustive documentation is either in German or scattered in a several newsgroups. This book has met that challenge rather well. If you are working with StarOffice, and need more than just the online help (who doesn't?), this book is currently (as of 10/99) probably one of the best out there.

The problem that I usually encounter with references which cover the entire "suite" is that there is very little coverage of of the advanced features. This book is only partly guilty of these kinds of omissions. The advanced features ARE covered but just a tad lightly (I suppose we'll be seeing very in-depth, application-specific books someday in the future). Having used StarOffice for about 8 months now, this book made me aware that StarCalc had its own version of Microsoft Excel's Pivot-Tables.

This covers version 5.1 as was released by the original StarDivision or as is available now from Sun Microsystems. It covers both the Windows and Linux/Unix/Solaris versions and identifies subtle differences which you might encounter. Overall, it's a very good first reference with enough advanced topics.

Unfortunatly this was the third Star Office Help Book that I bought - I wished there was a review that discussed the book, instead of the progam - prior to my two other purchases.

The Special Edition book is a volumous tome of information that every skill level can use. The book is written in a manner that appeals to both the computer expert and the newbie user.

Each section of the book discusses the basic techniques that are used on a regular basis and then it progresses to more powerful techniques. Examples and illustrations are plentiful - which many people find helpful.

The index and table of contents is written is plain english - so it is not difficult to find the answer to any question you may have. The book also discusses the compatibility of StarOffice and other major office suites.

For expert level user tasks - macro designing, the book offers very little information on this area. But to find the answers on building the macros - I simply went to the Sun Microsystem's (The Makers of StarOffice) website and did some poking around until I found my answer.

Sadly, StarOffice 5.2 will debut this year and this book may be obsolete by teh time you read it - but if you plan to use or continue to use StarOffice 5.1 - then consider buying this book.

The price may be a bit higher then some of the "thinner" books - but in this case - you get what you pay for. Don't be a "Dummy." Purchase this book!

This book is an in-depth reference to the StarOffice functionality. The book is huge, fine print; and still the book does not touch on the new database capability of Adabas.

The StarBasic programming section is particularly instructive. The book's programming tutorial nicely complements the SO Online Help system and the SO SDK downloadable from the internet.

For old hacks, like me, this material (and Linux) is the best of times for computing.

So I read the reviews and thought, hey, great, and went to the bookstore and bought it and lugged it home. And then I had to actually try to find out what I needed to do. I now know a fair amount about kernel parameters and buffers or whatever they are but it's not really what I wanted. Though looking back on the reviews now the reviewers seem to be going on about how much StarOffice does and how Koch is an expert and don't really say that the book actually makes using StarOffice easier.

I'm not a Dummy or beginner, I've used StarOffice for a while, and this book is a bit too much for me. It might be good for system administrators and geeks.

This is the book that you get if you want to know allllll about how stuff works. If you're the one who can't stand to just tell time and wants to know about the gears, this book is for you.

There's some good coverage of StarBasic, how to get down and dirty with it, and apparently it was given a tech review by someone on the StarOffice team, so one would assume that it's all accurate. I was also impressed by the depth of coverage of how to have forms and form fields interact with databases.

He gets reasonably down and dirty with spreadsheets, too, how to do some good stuff with all the functions.

One thing made me snort, though. Koch actually defines cutting and pasting. (If you don't know what cutting and pasting is when you open this book, you're in trouble!) Talks about how it's a process by which you take data and put it into a holding area called a "clipboard" on Windows, or some kind of buffer, on Linux and Solaris. I think the only place anyone might call it a buffer is in the Ph.D program at MIT.

A first-class user guide on OpenOffice.org/StarOffice has been written, and that book is Michael Koch's Special Edition Using StarOffice 6.0. This book, actually a second edition, covers the new version and gives fuller treatment to StarOffice writer and the HTML editor. Despite the use of "StarOffice" in the title, this book actually covers both StarOffice and OpenOffice.org in depth.

An an aside, let me compliment Que editions for the legibility and usability of layout. (Que also produced the excellent Ed Bott's Special Edition Using Microsoft Office XP). Nice readable texts, lots of boxes, tips and cautions. Every chapter finishes with a helpful troubleshooting section.

Two immediate reactions: 1) Gosh, I didn't know OpenOffice/StarOffice could do all that! I was pleasantly surprised, for example, to learn the number of graphic capabilities the program has. 2) This book covers functionality in considerable depth, with enough content to satisfy the newbie as well as the advanced user. In addition to documenting the office software, the book also includes reference sections on StarOffice Basic, using data sources, building forms and macros. It also includes a chapter on Adabas, the database that comes as part of the StarOffice package (but not with OpenOffice.org).

Koch benefits from the fact that users already start with a good conceptual framework of what MS Office products are supposed to do. The biggest conceptual challenge in moving from MS Office to Star/OpenOffice is getting used to the idea of applying styles to text instead of just clicking on an icon for formatting. MS Office actually has terrific styling capabilities (and a usable interface for managing styles),but Microsoft's friendly GUI discourages users from thinking about document structure. Contrast that to OpenOffice.org, which nudges the user more firmly towards styles. Managing the different layers of styles in OpenOffice.org can be tricky and confusing, so Koch spends a considerable amount of time and space on that. Another chapter on sharing and exchanging information with MS Office users goes into exquisite detail about compatibility and formatting losses when converting documents, as well as the StarOffice XML file format.

Generally, the book had the most reliable and in-depth information. That was especially helpful when trying to perform a complex action (like creating a table of contents). But the majority of my inquiries had to do with using the interface, not functionality. Often the sheer size of the book made daunting the simple task of finding a function on a dialog or a keyboard shortcut. This book was perfectly clear most of the time and provided generous explanations (unlike the online help, which generally was inadequate). Still, the kaaredyret and oodocs websites have been growing more helpful.

The book is a little behind on what's new in openoffice. Also, it's a bit heavy and sometimes it's hard to find things in the index. For the overwhelming number of users, this will probably be the only book about star/openoffice that you'll ever need.

The book is written by three veteran New York City reporters who were immersed in Koch's politics during his administration. Now, on the eve of his successor's inauguration for a second term, Koch is still in the news almost daily, making this book on his City Hall past -- what he does and doesn't want you to know -- a must for interested parties.

This book helped me in Street Fighter Alpha A LOT. I was getting beaten all the time by my friends. I could never beat the game on a higher difficulty level than 2 stars. (1 star is the lowest, 8 is the highest) This book helped me learn some tough combos and 2-in-1s. I mastered Sagat and was able to beat the game with 6 stars.

The best part of all was totally beating one of my friends in the game without getting hit once. I sure showed them. :)

The absolute worst book ever

I have used this text with high school seniors. It is superb, covering the key issues that seniors face in trying to shape a Christian lifestyle. The book is filled with wonderful anecdotes and hard-won wisdom.The teaching manual is equally superb.I have heard that the publisher is updating this book; I hope they leave it pretty much as is because it's terrific.