The first alpha release of the native version of OpenOffice.org for Mac OS X (no X11 needed) has been released. “This is an alpha test version so that developers and users can find out what works and not, and make comments on how to improve it. There are a number of things that do not work in this version.”
NeoOffice is nice, but it uses more CPU and RAM than Parallels, Windows 2000 and Star Office 8 combined.
Can’t wait for this to be stable.
Well I’m glad that there will finally be an official OpenOffice for Mac that will hopefully keep up with the rest of the platforms when complete.
Mac users are not keen on using X11 based apps, so this makes OpenOffice a real alternative for the Mac. Having a cross platform OpenOffice strengthens the possibilities for ODF to become the normal way to store office oriented information.
This is nice but…
What is actually wrong with continuing the development of NEO-Office instead of creating a competing fork???
http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php
Personally I find that NEO-Office works well enough for my needs already.
Here NeoOffice is the competing fork. The team there has basically refused to work with the “official” team. I’d much prefer an offical version that tracks the Linux and Windows versions more closely.
Here’s a comment from the NeoOffice team about the issue:
http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/faq.php#11
“What is actually wrong with continuing the development of NEO-Office instead”
NeoOffice is a Java app. Java is not quite as fast to load. Other than that there is nothing wrong with it.
Note that I have nothing against Java. To be clearer, it if is C#/Mono vs Java I pick Java every time.
Edited 2007-06-06 20:44
I am opposed to Mac pkg’s in their current state since there’s no built in mechanism to uninstall them. OpenOffice X11 comes to me as a standalone app and that’s how it should be.
I am opposed to Mac pkg’s in their current state since there’s no built in mechanism to uninstall them. OpenOffice X11 comes to me as a standalone app and that’s how it should be.
Sure, but the uninstall instructions are prety straightforward :
http://neowiki.neooffice.org/index.php/Uninstalling_NeoOffice
And there’s always AppZapper ( http://appzapper.com/ )
It’s not exactly difficult, but then it’s not very intuitive since it’s not the usual way of deleting an app on the Mac platform.
as a mac user myself i hate to say it, but deleting an app on the mac platoform sucks bad. Yes, you can drag it to the recycle bin, but the problem is it only removes part of the application in most cases.
if you want to fully remove an application on a mac, you need a third party app like app-zapper or AppDelete unless you know the darwin underpinnings well.
“as a mac user myself i hate to say it, but deleting an app on the mac platoform sucks bad. Yes, you can drag it to the recycle bin, but the problem is it only removes part of the application in most cases.”
If you plan on ever re-installing said app again in the future, dragging to the recycle bin works out great, as upon re-installation, all your settings are intact.
If you prefer a totally clean uninstall, all you have to do is use spotlight to search for the app, and all it’s associated pieces/parts will also be located and you can deleted them all from there.
If you don’t want that hassle, just pick up the $12 or so AppZapper and let it do the searching for you.
In other words, you have 2 main ways to delete apps from a Mac, one is partial – retaining settings, and one is total, complete removal.
Apples documentation on this sux, but the OS gives you options for deleting apps that that other OS doesn’t. Ever ‘delete’ and application in Windoze only to find all the crap in the registry and files left scattered about?
Thanks for uploading this, it gave me something to read on my lunch break.
————————————–
http://www.zuneconverter.net
I wonder if, based on these improvements, OpenOffice.org could be convinced to integrate into the GNUStep desktop?
Edited 2007-06-06 08:27
I think that this Mac OS X port is written for carbon, not cocoa … so no hope for a compatibility against *Step API.
Anyway, even if it would have been written in Cocoa, fighting with the least common denominator between cocoa and GNUStep would be a waste of time, especially for office apps that needs a lot graphics manipulation (barely to not at all portable) and not only standard widgets (which are highly portable).
Interesting, this is cool, nearly made my day.
ipod software
http://www.zuneconverter.net
As a user of NeoOffice; I know the developers have done a fantastic job using limited resources to cover an astonishing amount of ground.
It would have been seriously great if the OOo and NeoOffice folks had found a way of reconciling their differences. If I were within OOo then I would prioritize getting these guys co operating or even on board given the insight and productivity they would bring. Make no mistake: the OOo code base is stupendously big and it must take (even the best) developers a longish while to be understand enough to be productive.
Some folks complain about NeoOffice being slow to load and to some extent they are right. However, show me a full featured Office suite that isn’t slow to load. The new iWork might make the grade but the existing one lacks a spreadsheet.
My own sense of OOo (and therefore NeoO) is that the word processor is good and leads the pack. Other areas like spreadsheets need strengthening to reach a comparable standard.
As a NeoOffice user I would prioritize resources going towards strengthening the core of OOo rather than being diverted to an Aqua+Carbon port.
You know you’ve got a problem when MS Word 2004 loads faster than NeoOffice writer. Especially given that Word is running on Rosetta and is being emulated.
What toolkit does this port use? It doesnt even remotely look at a mac app. Neo Office uses the mac widget set, this looks like something you would expect from windows 98.
Mac’s packages are still a thousand times better than Windows installer/uninstaller. Actually it’s the Windows Registry that is the biggest piece of s**t in Windows. It would be much better if Windows installed programs like the Mac does.