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OpenOffice for Mac OS X Developer Build Available

Posted by pudge on from the mmmm-chocolate-babies dept.

colaboy writes "As of today, the folks at OpenOffice.org have successfully built OpenOffice.org 638c for Mac OS X using the X11 windowing system from XFree86.org. It works. They need, more than ever, help to finish it, so that it uses OpenOffice.org 1.0 and Aqua, and is bug-free. Download it now, and join the project and mailing list. Hunt for bugs; test features; make suggestions. They have proven the concept: OpenOffice.org can run--and it looks beautiful--on Mac OS X."

32 comments

  1. No Aqua UI? by jefflinwood · · Score: 1

    It would be a lot nicer if they could use the Aqua UI. Of course, they'd probably have to rewrite all of their UI code. Just check the screenshot that compares MS Word and Open Office, and tell me which one looks better.

    --
    Tips and Tricks for Mozilla
    1. Re:No Aqua UI? by rakarnik · · Score: 3, Insightful
      It would be a lot nicer if they could use the Aqua UI.

      Sure it would. And they are asking for help with this. OpenOffice.Org is tremendously limited on resources, especially considering the scope of the project.

      Of course, they'd probably have to rewrite all of their UI code.

      This would be on the scale of porting the app to Windows. Luckily, Sun/Staroffice had done a great deal of work for the Windows port even before OpenOffice.Org got started. No such established codebase exists for an Aqua version. I am not sure what levels of the architecture can be reused.

      --
      Genebrew
  2. OpenOffice... by autojive · · Score: 1

    How does this stack up to M$ Office? If it is a viable altertnative, I would gladly convert. Any input appreciated.

    --
    I wish my lawn was emo, so it would cut itself.
    1. Re:OpenOffice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      SimpleText has more features than the open office "word processor"

    2. Re:OpenOffice... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      'nuff said.

      I know this is probably going to get marked as a troll, but come on, look a that. That's just terrible.

    3. Re:OpenOffice... by autojive · · Score: 1

      Yes, I know that the interface is not up to par with MS Office. What I was asking input for was whether or not the feature set of the OpenOffice (or StarOffice) is comparable to that of MS Office. What if it was "Auqa-fied"? Would it still stand up?

      --
      I wish my lawn was emo, so it would cut itself.
    4. Re:OpenOffice... by kwerle · · Score: 2, Informative

      Depending on your needs, OpenOffice is a great alternative to M$ Office. We used it on Windows instead of M$, and it has been sorely missed on OSX. I'm glad they have the X11 port done, as I do not fear X11 (see also fink.sf.net for an "easy" X11 install).

      If you're looking for something that works, give it a shot - it is free, after all :-)

      (I can't speak to the quality on OSX, but on Windows it was very stable)

    5. Re:OpenOffice... by nedrichards · · Score: 1

      It's not ready on OSX yet, a few more months. This is the 638c build that was released for Win/Lin/Solaris midway through 2001. To put it in perspective.

      --
      http://www.nedrichards.com
    6. Re:OpenOffice... by mr100percent · · Score: 1

      As I understand it, text formatting is fine, but I heard there might be bugs in the tables and images on the page. That was several builds ago though.

  3. Apparently by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Steve Jobs' sheeps say 10-11 and 10Free86.

  4. In the words of Laurie Anderson, "Let X=X" by cei · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Apple seems to have devalued X over the years. Back around 1988-89, there was the Mac II, followed closely by the Mac IIx. Their other big seller at the time was the Mac SE, which, naturally, should have been followed by the Mac SEx. But NOOOOOooo. Instead, they came out with the Mac SE/30. So back then, X=30, and now they're telling us X=10.

    I don't buy it for a second.

    --
    This sig intentionally left justified.
  5. The ironing is delicious by onShore_Jake · · Score: 0

    The screenshots are png which my IE on OS X appears not to be able to render (although I may have something screwed up here). Wassup with that?

    1. Re:The ironing is delicious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Go to preferences. Select "File Helpers". Sort by MIMEtypes. Look for image/png and image/x-png. Click Change..., and look for the "Handling" box. Select the plug-in option, which should auto-select Apple Quicktime plugin.

      Now you can see them.

    2. Re:The ironing is delicious by blues5150 · · Score: 1

      Don't you mean "The irony is delicious".

      --

    3. Re:The ironing is delicious by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Simpsons man...the Simpsons.

    4. Re:The ironing is delicious by onShore_Jake · · Score: 1

      yes. yes it is.
      thanks

    5. Re:The ironing is delicious by mr100percent · · Score: 2, Informative

      MSIE on Mac OS X can handle png images, but for some reason the browser ignores them by default.

      In the Explorer Menu, go to Preferences. go to file helpers. Where it says under MIME type "image/png" click change and change the bottom drop box to "View with Browser."
      Reopen the page
      Voila!

    6. Re:The ironing is delicious by Corvus9 · · Score: 2

      You have something screwed up; .png files look fine on my OS X machines.

      Do other image types appear? If so, open your IE Preferences, click on the "File Helpers" item, scroll down to the image/png data type, double-click it, select "View with browser" for handling, then "OK".

  6. The Quickening... by Big+Sean+O · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've noticed that when fun projects reach a certain level of completeness on *nix, the Cocoa developers come out of the woodwork. Take a look at Chimera, a cocoa port of Mozilla.

    I know that getting XDarwin is a hassle for lots of "vanilla" Mac users, but this is going to be a must download for bleeding-edge Unix weenies.

    I predict a Cocoa version will be under weigh by the time this message is posted and we will see an alpha by Xmas (ten-mas!).

    .

    --
    My father is a blogger.
    1. Re:The Quickening... by dthable · · Score: 2

      Why wait for the Cocoa programmers to port their stuff over. Why not make Aqua backwards compatable with X. Then you can run traditional Unix applications without a huge porting effort. Of course, to use some of the best features, you need to develop for Aqua.

    2. Re:The Quickening... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How is Xdarwin tough? I download it and click on the install and off it goes. It's all packaged up nice. Are you doing it the hard way or are we talking about something else??

  7. Yuk, UGLY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The fonts are ugly as hell. I wouldn't use it if it won't look better.

    1. Re:Yuk, UGLY by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AGREED...

      Aqua is beautiful, and while the OpenOffice port is an accomplishment in and of itself, a Aquafied makeover is in order...

  8. stupid q by paradesign · · Score: 1
    the two small icons in his menu strip, what are they from? the one looks like a netstat icon, the b\w one i dont know.

    any info on these people. ive been OSXing for a year now and ive never seen them before.

    TIA

    --
    I want 2D games back.
    1. Re:stupid q by daeley · · Score: 2

      One is for Massinova, a spiffy online electronica radio station. You can access it via Radio Stations > Electronica in iTunes, or by downloading their menubar plugin or Dock extra.

      The other is ProcessWizard, basically a GUI to re-nice processes.

      --
      I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
  9. We NEEEEEEEEED Open Office by soapvox · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Oh I wish I could program like this, I would spend every waking moment on Open Office, not because it is free but because we desperately need an alternative to Office. While I think Office for X is amazing, we need competition and we need to be prepared for when the Apple-M$ deal goes south (it's closer than many think). Unix geeks and Mac Lovers should unite for a common goal in Open Office, the biggest problem is many users have no idea what fink is and are scared of the command line so we need a true OS X port of it, but I will be downloading it today!

    1. Re:We NEEEEEEEEED Open Office by kwerle · · Score: 1

      not because it is free but because we desperately need an alternative to Office.

      Yuppers.

      we need to be prepared for when the Apple-M$ deal goes south (it's closer than many think).

      What a load of crap. There is no indication the deal will go south, and when it does, 2 things will happen:
      1. M$ will be ruled a monopoly and broken up, because M$/Intel will be the only game in town because:
      2. Apple will die because it is not M$ compatable

      So tell me, why would M$ dump a money making venture like OfficeX when they have already done the port? No, never mind, don't tell me.

  10. DEvelopers Build NOT CONSUMERS by nedrichards · · Score: 2, Informative

    People, this is a barely stable developers build. It's not ready for the public yet. Eventually it will have an Aqua front end, but not yet because they've only just managed to hack this build together!

    It's put out there for the Apple WWDC for people to take a look at and come along and give a hand. Please do not think that this is anywhere near the quality of OpenOffice.org 1.0 on Linux, Windows or Solaris. Yet.

    --
    http://www.nedrichards.com
  11. Dear Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait
    Dear Apple,

    I am a homosexual. I bought an Apple computer because of its well earned reputation for being "the" gay computer. Since I have become an Apple owner, I have been exposed to a whole new world of gay friends. It is really a pleasure to meet and compute with ther homos such as myself. I plan on using my new Apple computer as a way to entice and recruit young schoolboys into the homosexual lifestyle; it would be so helpful if you could produce more software which would appeal to young boys. Thanks in advance.

    with much gayness,

    Father Randy O'Day, S.J.

    1. Re:Dear Apple by Genesishep · · Score: 1

      Wow....you are seriously homophobic and macphobic. Tell me were you hurt by a mac in your youth? Or perhaps by a homosexual? Or are you struggling with your own sexuality at this point in your life? Maybe struggling with a case of platform envy?

      It's ok, take a deep breath and relax....count to 10(OS 10)...these feelings your having, well, I'm sure you'll make it through just fine. The sooner you come out of the closet with an iMac in hand and admit to your parents your lifestyle change all will be well again.

      The anger will fade and your need to strike out will disappear. Until then, please stay off these message boards.....continue to eye the Macs at your local Apple store in secrecy and be careful while eyeing the other boys in the locker room lest you be slapped silly which now that I think of it...doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.

      As far as the OpenOffice project goes, I can't wait to play with this a bit on my Mac,. I used StarOffice for awhile but hated the way it took over my desktop...now that OpenOffice removed that "feature" I'm sure it rocks. Good work! and thank you to all the people putting time into this.

      --
      "Whenever you find you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect."
    2. Re:Dear Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      your obviously a stupid kid, because any mature adult who has lived a life and been exposed to people outside of the school yard, cafeteria or internet, has probably known at least one gay person they respect and perhaps even care (really!) for, in which case they wouldnt dream of using such dehumanizing language even in jest. Your a fool, and they fact you would expose yourself as such to insult the sexual orientation of computer speaks for itself. And in case you didn't realize, not only did you dehumanize homosexuals, but you devalued the serious of the crime of pedophillia by using it as a butt of a inane joke. Congratulations!

      You probably have problems with people who look different than you too.

  12. XDarwin by Big+Sean+O · · Score: 1

    Well, my mom, with her dialup, probably won't ever bother to install Mac OS X, download XDarwin, install it, learn how X is different than Aqua, learn about different Window managers, tweak her dotfiles, and then download OpenOffice. I'll probably just tell her to continue to use Mac OS 9 and AppleWorks.

    (Interesting aside: I know 5 mac users in my circle of non-geek friends, and I'm the only one that's running Mac OS X.)

    FYI, I installed XDarwin by using Fink. It's simultaneously easier (Fink can d/l and install all sorts of groovy stuff and handles the dependencies for you) and harder (you actually have to fire up Terminal and sudo something).

    Until OpenOffice is all yummy Aqua goodness, it's not going to be adopted by the Mac Multitudes. AppleWorks is gratis when you buy an Apple (at least it was on my computer) and is good enough for lots of people. The people who need the full power of MS Office probably have a company willing to pay the Microsoft Tax.

    Doesn't mean that OpenOffice isn't cool or important, it's just that it's not ready for Prime Time.

    --
    My father is a blogger.