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Arkham_c · Mar 30, 2004, 04:27 PM

On a whim, I downloaded the latest OpenOffice.org release for OSX.

I'm very impressed. Someone could actually use this day in and day out for regular work. It's quite nice. Microsoft may actually have a competitor in this product.

With the new rules here on posting images, I'll refrain from doing so. If you'd like to see some screenshots of their word processor and spreadsheet opening some complex Word documents I have, and some Excel files, look here:

http://david.theresistance.net/ooo_pics/

Pretty awesome for a free product.

gorickey · Mar 30, 2004, 04:32 PM

Yeah, I was impressed by this as well...

mitchell_pgh · Mar 30, 2004, 05:24 PM

Originally posted by gorickey:
Yeah, I was impressed by this as well...

I've said it in the past, and I'll say it again...

Why doesn't Apple, IBM, Sun and everyone anti-Microsoft get behind this project. Yah, it's not going to give them any money short term, but it gives more people the option to switch to Mac/Linux... and I think that's a good thing.

wataru · Mar 30, 2004, 07:41 PM

Are you talking about OO.o 1.1.1? If not, I suggest NeoOffice/J instead.

I haven't had time to try 1.1.1. I don't want to go back to X11, though!

Fothb · Mar 30, 2004, 07:44 PM

Are those e-mail addresses and phone numbers in the spreadsheet real? If so, you might want to block them out, or replace that screenshot with one that doesn't have such private data...

-Q- · Mar 30, 2004, 07:54 PM

Who should I write on that list to get a job at cingular?

JKT · Mar 31, 2004, 07:17 AM

Originally posted by wataru:
Are you talking about OO.o 1.1.1? If not, I suggest NeoOffice/J instead.

I haven't had time to try 1.1.1. I don't want to go back to X11, though!

The screenshots they posted are of 1.0.3 so, yes, they should try out NeoOffice/J instead. Apparently the OS X version of OOo 1.1.1 should be out "soon". I hope Patrick can update NO/J to be based upon it as well.

mitchell_pgh · Mar 31, 2004, 11:07 AM

Originally posted by JKT:
The screenshots they posted are of 1.0.3 so, yes, they should try out NeoOffice/J instead. Apparently the OS X version of OOo 1.1.1 should be out "soon". I hope Patrick can update NO/J to be based upon it as well.

While these programs are great to have, I think the GUI alone would cause most mac users not to use them.

wataru · Mar 31, 2004, 12:22 PM

Originally posted by JKT:
I hope Patrick can update NO/J to be based upon it as well.

There's a good thread about that over at the trinity board. In short: it would take a lot of work to move to 1.1.1, so it doesn't look good for the short term

Arkham_c · Mar 31, 2004, 04:26 PM

Originally posted by Fothb:
Are those e-mail addresses and phone numbers in the spreadsheet real? If so, you might want to block them out, or replace that screenshot with one that doesn't have such private data...

Nah, they're public information from the phone book. Nothing private there.

ghotirking · Mar 31, 2004, 04:51 PM

I really hope that 1.1.1 for Mac is released soon; being more than a full point release behind everybody else's version is not a great 'selling' point when trying to bring in potential users (As far as linux and windohs users go, switching to OO.org an 'easy sell' for me).
Before somebody chimes in with a "why don't you contribute" stab, I can't program...

Fothb · Mar 31, 2004, 05:47 PM

Originally posted by ghotirking:
Before somebody chimes in with a "why don't you contribute" stab, I can't program...

Open source projects can be contributed to by other means besides code. Word of mouth, feature requests, bug submissions, and of course financial donations...

Contribute to OpenOffice.org

I'm not directing this towards ghotirking at all (he probably already knows this) but to anyone who feels helpless when it comes to pitching in on open source projects.

[APi]TheMan · Mar 31, 2004, 07:30 PM

We were just discussing this matter in another thread a few weeks ago... NeoOffice/J is an awesome solution. I have NeoOffice in my dock right now, and I used it to type up, format, and print (through native Mac OS X print dialogs) a few essays for classes last week.

Another interesting open source project is AbiWord 2.11 for Mac OS X, though it's only a Word processor. Great things come from Opensource projects. I contribute most by spreading the word. Check out AbiWord's progress here:

http://www.abisource.com/download/development.phtml

JKT · Apr 1, 2004, 08:07 AM

Originally posted by wataru:
There's a good thread about that over at the trinity board. In short: it would take a lot of work to move to 1.1.1, so it doesn't look good for the short term

I just took a look as I hadn't seen that thread - it's in the Developer section which I don't tend to read... yup, a shame it is going to be so much work, but I hope it does happen even if it takes a while.