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NeoOffice 2.0 Alpha 3 Released
ndansmith writes "NeoOffice, the port of OpenOffice.org to Mac OS X, has made their 2.0 Alpha 3 release available for download. From NeoOffice's site: 'This release is based on the OpenOffice.org 2.0.2 code and includes all of the new OpenOffice.org 2.0.2 features,' including the utilization of Open Document formats. Currently only the PowerPC version of the software is available publicly, but users can download the Intel version by purchasing a membership."
Normally I hate the people who complain that a new version of some random piece of software isn't really news, but come on. It's a new alpha release.
Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
This is an Alpha release yes, but if you've used OOo 2.0.2 you know what features you're getting, and that's huge, plus I've only had the last Alpha crash twice on me, and it's far/far more useable than my old Office X. Really, with this and OOo out for OS X I can't see any reason that a normal user would need to buy a 300$ office suite (and I think that's a 'good thing')
fak3r.com
It's great to see a new version of NeoOffice coming out, but what I really want to know is if the latest release is any faster than the previous versions. The older versions work great but are painfully sluggish.
Transistors and Beer!!
The subscription stuff is a very small window. According to their site, the release will be free starting July 1st. That's only two weeks away.
I think when NeoOffice goes beta, THAT will be news. Why? Because the current plan for beta includes an aquified version.
Take a look at how this is progressing here. Pretty amazing, especially when you consider that NeoOffice has two developers. TWO. And they aren't even full-time.
Also, a new graphics, file icons, splash screen, etc. are in the works for 2.0 beta. Check out the forums.
And FWIW, I've had absolutely no problem with the alpha series so far.
W
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This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I broke down and bought MS Office (for the third time, once for every major architecture/OS combo of the Mac) a little over a year ago because nothing else on the Mac was quite "prime time" enough for my wife to use, and using Office98 in Classic was flaky. I was willing to go along with a few nonstandard UI decisions, or jump an extra hurdle of file incompatibility, or deal with X11, but inflicting any of those on her practically amounts to spousal abuse. After all, I'd just gotten her to "switch" from her slow/glitchy old PC, and just having things be in different locations was hard enough on her.
Now, I've heard good things about MS Office running with Rosetta, so maybe it won't be an issue at all whenever I upgrade to a x86 Mac (the 4th combo). But I really hope that NeoOffice 2 is sufficiently "prime time" by then so that I don't have to be reliant on proprietary packages. I'd prefer to use open standards.
In some ways I wonder if NeoOffice is really the best route to take with regards to porting OOo. It seems like an awful lot of work. I'm no expert in these matters, but wouldn't it make sense for OOo to use the wxWidgets framework? Compile against the platform-appropriate wx implementation (wxGTK, wxCocoa, etc.), and boom, you're done. Obviously, switching frameworks at all would be a big effort, but once it was done it would be easy for everyone going forward, and the Mac version wouldn't always be lagging behind.
Constitutionally Correct
Way to subvert their attempt at coming up with funding for development. This project is maintained by a only few people, and developed mostly by only one person, who does it full-time. The actual release will be free to download, but they do the "Early Access Subscription" program to attempt to raise funds because they have over 2 million downloads a year and are still losing money just keeping the website up. This project needs our help to keep going, and it is a great project. Installing X11 and using OOo is acceptable for some, but the NeoOffice suite is all about being native - fully standardized Mac Aqua menus and no need for X11. The way to go for grandma and other mac-only users and/or newbies.
If you don't want to support the project, that's your choice, but recommending ways to circumvent their request for donations (for the alpha alone, no less) makes you look greedy, and is precisely why the main developer may not be able to continue development full-time if he can't afford to. I pay the linux distributions I use and like to show my support, and I fund open source projects I use frequently with donations of anywhere from $25-$50 to help them out, considering all they do for us.
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I have to say I find it just deeply infantile, people harrumphing because something they want isn't immediately available to them for free. When you say you want something for free, what you really mean is 'I want someone other than me to pay for it'. In opensource, someone (individual or collective) is always paying, in time, experience, and actual money in order that the wider user community doesn't have to. NeoOffice: 2 guys working hard to make a more OSX-friendly (and therefore more useable) version of OOo available are spending their time, experience, and money to do this. Now they're asking for help doing that, because it's a project worth keeping going, and it's not sustainable without help, some of which needs to be financial. If you want the Intel version of the Alpha 3 for free, wait 2-3 more weeks until it's available for free - the people who do choose to support the project by paying a little money to get the releases a little early (and therefore be the bug-testers) are contributing towards keeping this great project going. How would bittorrent piracy be contributing? If you want the release bad enough to want to pirate it, that ought to mean you appreciate it enough to see that the project that makes it possible needs supporting, not undermining. Grow up.
I'd like to agree with you, but:
* The X11 version of OpenOffice requires Apple X11 to be installed before it will launch. The install isn't horrible, but it is still far more difficult than the "drag and drop" installers that Apple users have come to expect.
* The launch time and overall performance of X11 OpenOffice is horrible compared to a native Macintosh app.
* Compared to a native Mac application, the X11 OpenOffice interface looks like crap and the integration with other applications leaves a lot to be desired.
Honestly, X11 OpenOffice isn't up to the standards that most people expect from well polished Apple software. It's not like F/OSS isn't up to the challenge, either... Just look at Firefox for the Mac.
NeoOffice is free, but for these early alpha builds of version 2.0 they're asking users to pay because they're short of funds. Either that or there may be no NeoOffice at all, so I think this is a reasonable request. If you don't want to pay, just wait until it's released. As for the X11 build of OpenOffice.org ... ick! Printing and fonts are a nightmare, not to mention the interface. And let's not even go into the steps a normal user would have to take to get it to work in the first place (install Apple X11, etc). Use it if you want (I use it sometimes, too), but don't complain when somebody tries to make something that's actually usable by a wider majority of people.
I realize you were mostly ranting about the cost, though, and that really won't be an issue later. They just needed some funds, so they decided to offer super-early alpa versions for a fee. That's all.
R.Mo
You don't know the mac community very well. We will pay for anything (sometimes more than Windows users) so long as it just works. $80 is small potatoes next to the $300 we already shell out for that other office suite. I certainly think it is reasonable to charge to support development. Even with the developers volunteering their time, new Intel Macs cost money and money don't grow on trees. From what I heard, this project isn't supported by the main open office project. The money is got to come from somewhere and if you are not contributing to the source code, you might as well shell out the cash. It is only fair if this project is important to you.
You don't have to be smart to use a Mac, you just have to be smart enough to buy one
The vast majority of OS-independent OOo code (and most of the Windows and X11-specific code, too) is written by a small-company-sized contingent of Sun employess in Hamburg, by small groups of employees of Novell and other Linux vendors, and so forth, who are paid by their employers specifically to work on OOo as their full-time job. So the "engine programmers" most certainly are getting paid for their work. :-)
If you want to help offset some of Sun's costs or to support the other community developers who also contribute their time, skills, and code to OOo, please do so! If you appreciate having a native, more Mac-like version of OOo, please also contribute to NeoOffice, because unlike the "engine programmers", these 2 developers are not paid by large companies to bring you NeoOffice and the work required to bring you Mac OS X integration, while not as large as writing an entire office suite, is still quite significant in its own right.