OpenOffice.org for Mac OS X Goes Final Beta 46
WizardOfFoo writes "Time to break out the bug hammers, the Final Beta of OpenOffice.org for Mac OS X is now ready for testing. It still requires X11 though... I want my Quartz OpenOffice.org..." I tested it, and it works great with Apple's new X11 for Mac OS X.
Ouch (Score:2, Funny)
openoffice speed (Score:1)
Abiword/office-x win hands down.
Re:openoffice speed (Score:2)
The clueless Sun people seem to want to use Aqua widgets instead of making a proper Mac app. In other words the Aqua appearance without the Aqua behavior.
Well.. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Well.. (Score:2)
Re:Well.. (Score:1)
Re:Well.. (Score:1)
Re:Well.. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Well.. (Score:1)
My Review of OOo X11 Beta (Score:5, Informative)
So OpenOffice.org [openoffice.org] released [google.com] the final beta version of OpenOffice.org 1.0.1 X11 for Mac OS X [openoffice.org] yesterday at MWSF. I'm surprised to have not read about it on any sites yet. I managed to download it pretty quickly off of one of the mirrors (probably because the downloading frenzy hasn't begun yet). My first impression is that it does appear to be very stable, but it's not quite polished enough to replace Office X for the everyday Mac user.
Yesterday Apple also quietly released a beta version of X11 for Mac OS X [apple.com] which is an optimized version Xfree86's X server that also includes a speedy quartz based window manager. It works much like Orobourosx but much faster thanks to Apple's optimizations. I bring this up because it looks like the new OpenOffice build was unfortunately built before anyone know about Apple's new X11. After installing OpenOffice.org, a nice "Start OpenOffice.org" icon is created in your Applications folder. Double clicking it the first time asks you what program to use as your X11 server. I choose Apple's X11, but after a minute or tool, Console is nice enough to report that soffice.bin has crashed. So no go with a nice double click to start up OOo. I'm sure this will be fixed by the time it is finally released though. Fortunately, I had no problems starting it from within an xterm or adding it to the X11 Applications menu by entering the command "/Applications/OpenOffice.org1.0.1/program/soffic
On from there it looks to be very stable. The few Word and Excel documents I opened loaded perfectly and printed without a hitch. I didn't have to do anything special to make this happen. Just open and print and done. So the basics are definitely there.
Printing is a little confusing though from a user feedback standpoint though, as it does not go through Print Center. And it prints so fast through CUPS (on a TiBook 667) that I wasn't even sure anything had been printed until I went to the other end of the office to check the printer. Maybe if we are lucky it will use Printer Center in the final release.
My last gripes are that as far as being a Macintosh program it's just not there yet. I don't fault anyone for this as this release based on the X11 version does not attempt to be a full fledged Mac program anyway. No attempt has been made with this version to follow the Aqua Human Interface Guidelines of course. And since it uses X11 instead of Aqua, menu bars are of course within each window instead of in the standard menu bar (as with any X11 program running on Mac OS X). All the shortcut key combinations use Ctrl instead of Cmd. This means that you hit Ctrl+S to save and Ctrl+P to print instead of Cmd+S and Cmd+P respectively. I was also not able to hit some of the key combinations such as Ctrl+F7 to bring up the Thesaurus. These problems should of course be addressed when OpenOffice.org completes their native Aqua port which is currently under development.
All and all it looks like OpenOffice.org has built a very solid application that anyone coming from Unix/Linux should feel very comfortable using and save them from having to fork over cash to Microsoft in order to edit Word documents on a Mac. For people that are used to the beauty and consistency of Macs and Mac apps, they are probably still better off spending the money to purchase Microsoft Office X if they need to work with these documents everyday. But for anyone that doesn't spend much of their time in a word processor, perhaps less than once a week, this is definitely a great alternative to spending $500.
Re:My Review of OOo X11 Beta (Score:3, Interesting)
The notes with Apple's X11.app says that any application should be able to use Apple's fonts as well. So, for example, you can use Monoco in Xterm (which I have done). However I know AbiWord didn't access them. Before I d/l this huge distro, I'm curious if it will.
Re:My Review of OOo X11 Beta (Score:1)
Re:My Review of OOo X11 Beta (Score:3, Informative)
cd
Starting up OOo now has many new fonts and they are even anti-aliased. Very beautiful!
Re:My Review of OOo X11 Beta (Score:2, Informative)
Execute these commands in Terminal: If you get an "Can't find an appropriate resource fork in
Re:My Review of OOo X11 Beta (Score:1)
Re:My Review of OOo X11 Beta (Score:2)
Aqua isn't just an appearance and I doubt Sun will ever understand that.
Install procedures? (Score:2)
The OOo X11 beta installs X11 with the OOo install. Is there any way around that? Would that overwrite Apple's X11?
Re:Install procedures? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Install procedures? (Score:1)
The 1.0.1 release runs on the Mac OS X 10.2 and Darwin platforms. It requires additional software to run, such as the XWindows windowing system from the XFree86 project (included in the install package).
Maybe it's optional install. I guess I'll check it out then. Thanks!
Re:Install procedures? (Score:1)
Re:Install procedures? (Score:4, Informative)
Slightly OT: OS X and X11 (Score:5, Interesting)
Not being a developer, I was wondering how menus are implemented in X11 apps. I know that it's different depending on whether you use Motif, KDE or Gnome, but my main question is whether or not these menus could be "automagically" relocated to the Apple menu bar so the app would look more like a Mac app. I suspect this will never happen but I know very little about it.
I like Apple's new X11 very much. Nice and snappy. Quartz-wm is amazing. It's great using a WM that respects my theme (I use Rhapsodized b/c I hate Aqua and quartz-wm takes this since it uses Quartz...how about that!)
The only thing I don't like is that the menu bar just says X11 and there's no indication of how many X apps you're running, so you can't ALT+tab between them or use the dock to change the app of focus. You actually have to click on it with the mouse or use the 'window' menu on the X11 menu bar.
Re:Slightly OT: OS X and X11 (Score:2, Informative)
The lack of command-tabbing between applications is listed in the Known Issues of the installer, which could imply that Apple will fix this before the release of a final X11. I quote:
Eventual iOffice, anybody? (Score:4, Insightful)
Apple seems to be straddling the Open Source thing perfectly, using it in a way that should benefit everybody. (Granted, they aren't perfect, but who is?) They're using the power of OS to build their items (such as kHTML in Safari, Darwin for OS X, etc), then putting on a nice wrapper on the front, and contributing their improvements to the core system. Which is just as it should be - they're not trying to break interoperability with an OS item and claim they did it to make it better, but don't submit the changes to the community (like Kerebros and one company we won't mention).
So I'm watching the X11 and Open Office thing with a lot of interest. Keynote, the new application which is really a Powerpoint replacement, uses XML as its native file format - which again is a Good Thing(TM), as it will allow others to tweak, make improvements that both Apple and the rest of the world could use.
I'm wondering how long it will be until Apple starts up with something like iOffice. Oh, I know they have Appleworks - and there hasn't been any new announcement yet. I can see Keynote this year, maybe Keynote 2 in about 18 months with a dual announcement of Counter (an Excel like system) - powered by the work in Open Office, or some other OS project core.
My current calculations show that Linux will overtake Microsoft in about 3-4 years on the server end. With Open Office, just about every business I've talked to recently has been installing the system, and only getting Microsoft Office for 3%-5% of their business (after all - if you don't have to spend the money for 100% of the company, why bother?).
If Apple/Sun/Open Office/other contributors eventually make the Open Office system as good as Excel (and really, it's all about the Macros, ask any accountant) - then what then? Will a business look at the 3%-5% of their business and say "Well, let's just switch them over too?"
With that, MS Office itself will eventually face the same compition that Microsoft Server products are really starting to face now, and within 7-10 years, MS Office may become marginalized.
Now, think of what happens then. You don't need Windows to run Office. You don't need MS Office - Open Office/Star Office/iOffice does the same, and since they all tie into the XML file format, who cares if you decide to put your business on Linux/Sun/Mac? People who want to stay cheap can go to Linux, others can go to Apple and get a good GUI/easier administration with the same ability, but with a higher cost in hardware/software. Because applications are now spread across operating systems, the operating systems themselves become nearly worthless.
I think Steve Jobs/Apple Co know this, and they're putting the chess pieces on the board. Microsoft will always be around - they'll be like Intel. But I honestly believe that 10 years from now, we'll talk about MS just like we did about IBM back in the early 90's. "Oh, yeah - remember when every computer had Windows on it?"
Microsoft makes money from 4 things: Windows client, Windows server, MS Office, Exchange. (There may be others, like their hardware, but overall, all their other huge investments (Xbox, MSN, handheld, etc) are losing money, boyed by the 85% market we pay for Windows/MS Office). If Windows Server and Microsoft Office become marginalized or have true competition they can't buy out/bully out, how long until the other two become insignificate as well - or until Microsoft truly starts making Office/Exchange for other platforms not as a token "Look, we're not a monopoly", but because they must.
Competition. I believe about 10 years - a long time it may seem, but it feels about right. And Apple is making the right moves to be right there when it happens.
Re:Eventual iOffice, anybody? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Eventual iOffice, anybody? (Score:2, Informative)
I'm sure you are joking. Apple owns Filemaker Inc.. Filemaker Pro 6 beats the pants off MS Access. Filemaker is the secret weapon of so many companies... MS Access is more the achilles heel of the companies that choose to use it.
If you need to see the pros and cons of filemaker over Access go here. This document is outdated but there is plenty of material when you search for "filemaker vs access" on google:
http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:PRK03pY0GFcC: www.filemaker.com/downloads/pdf/fm_access_comparis on.pdf+filemaker+vs+access&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Also available as PDF:
http://www.filemaker.com/downloads/pdf/fm_access_c omparison.pdf
Usual care taken with story (Score:2)
I FIRST asuume you mean you want OpenOffice the app, not the domain name.
SECOND, I assume you want an OpenOffice that works in Aqua(written in native-Cocoa). Apple's new X11 DOES take advantage of Quartz Extreme, so that request has already been fulfilled.
Re:Usual care taken with story (Score:3, Insightful)
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Re:Usual care taken with story (Score:1)
Re:Usual care taken with story (Score:1)
If you're anywhere near Austin, Tx and you want to call me a fuckwit again, I'd prefer you did it in person.
Re:Usual care taken with story (Score:1)
Re:Usual care taken with story (Score:1)
Well, no, he meant he wants his quartz openoffice.org (the app). Openoffice is taken as a name. so openoffice(the open office suite based off of sun's staroffice) is officially called openoffice.org (OOo)
Re:DAAAAMN (Score:1)
Mod me as a troll all you want, but this is what you get when code monkeys double as UI designers.
X11 (Score:3, Interesting)
Please note this is a question. And I am confident enough in my abilities to ask it. I rather be a fool for 5 minutes and loose some karma then be a fool for ever and not get the facts straight. I am sure there are other people that have more time to find the answer. This paragraph is posted because asking question often lead to ridicule. Which dosent really answer the question.
Re:X11 (Score:2)
Open Office DELETED ALL my applications!!! (Score:1)