At Long Last, NeoOffice/J 1.1 Released

VValdo writes "After nearly five years of development, NeoOffice/J has made it to its first stable release. NeoOffice/J 1.1 is a Mac OS X-integrated office suite based on OpenOffice.org 1.1.4 that includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and drawing applications. Key Macintosh features include a standard Mac OS X installer, a native Aqua menu bar, use of the native printing system, full clipboard support, drag-and-drop, Mac "command" key shortcuts, mouse scrolling, integration with major Mac email clients and native support for Mac fonts. The full announcement is here."

Comments

What if it were written in Java?

[Dancin_Santa]

I have begun to think that most, if not all, free software applications ought to be written in Java or a reasonable facsimile. Ideally, a common language and runtime that all free software could target would be available that would allow immediate porting to take place.

To some extent we have this now with Linux as a standard OS, but even with it there is a lack of common binary compatibility. Java takes care of that such that the same binary application on one platform works on another, only relying on the base runtime to be ported.

How much quicker could we have had NeoOffice on MacOS if it were written in an easily-ported language like Java?

Are there any plans for such a common language runtime to which applications can target themselves in the free software ecosystem?

Re:What if it were written in Java?

[ssj_195]

GCJ can compile a lot of Java apps to native code (and possibly toolkits...?). There are compiled versions of Eclipse (and maybe Azureus, too) floating around somewhere.

Re:Just when they get if finished....

[harvardslacker]

Will that be a huge setback to the project, or will they just be able to check a box and recompile, as Steve Jobs suggested in his keynote? I guess it's probably the former, since they're probably not using XCode. Alas. I'd check the Wiki to see, but it's /.ed.

Greg

Allegedly this is a patent issue...

[argent]

fonts on Linux are a bit "blurry"...that is, they are not as clear/crisp as their those on their windows counterparts.

According to this it's a patent issue. I think there's something deeply wrong with patents on operations required to render fonts correctly, above and beyond the already troubling issue of software patents in general. Remember that in the US fonts are explicitly not copyrightable to prevent even the potential of copyright being used to prevent free speech. Shouldn't this easement be extended to any communication or presentation technology.

Re:For the Mac but not Mac like.

[Dystopian Rebel]

Mac People

UI standards aside, it's interesting to note that this phrase "Mac People" now also means "BSD-UNIX users of Intel-based computers... ~with~ two-button mice."

Re:Question:

[Anonymous Coward]

You are surely trolling? My fonts on Debian are crystal clear and far better than what I get from OS X - regardless of what antialiasing setting I use on the Powerbook. In fact, the slightly fuzzy fonts on the Apple were particular disappointing having gotten used to nice sharp gliphs on Debian.

It'd probably be easier

[CdBee]

OpenOffice on OSX was almost cancelled several times due to the amount of x86-specific code in it, apparently.

The big question: Is it made using XCode?

[Mr. Cancelled]

... And thus easy to make a universal binary from? Or will this be harder to port once the Intel switch begins?

Good app, but I hope it can move with the Mac as Apple transitions to Intel processors. Seems like kind of a waste of effort if it's tied to a specific architecture, in light of Apples recent announcements.

The Desktop Wars

[chia_monkey]

Are the desktop wars over as many had previously assumed. "Microsoft has won". There still seem to be some coals on the fire though. You've got a couple of these open source projects (OpenOffice, NeoOffice, etc). Then you've got Apple doing their thing...starting with Safari, then Keynote, then iWork...Then you've got the whole Apple moving to x86 and everything that brings such as developers showing how easy it is to port to x86 by doing a full conversion during the WWDC and nutty statements like Michael Dell saying he'd sell OS X if Apple decided to sell it as a standalone product.

I'm not really sure the desktop wars are over. Each announcement of stable, full-featured M$ replacement seems to solidify that assumption. Thoughts anyone?

Great for files from those 'other' computers

[NardofDoom]

My wife was working on a presentation for her masters class and was getting files from her Windows-using classmates to produce the final Powerpoint. For some reason Office v.X couldn't open the files, but NeoOffice/J could.

For that reason alone (and the price), I recommend NeoOffice. I've been using it as my sole office application for some time now with no problems.

Re:They recommend MS Office :)

[Arker]

Actually there's no built-in facility in OS X to do uninstalls.

True, it doesn't ship with the OS, but OSXPM is an easy add-on and does the job fine.