Filed under: Software, Open Source
NeoOffice 2.0 Aqua Beta 3 ready to go
Pay attention, open source addicts, as this one is for you. The new beta of NeoOffice 2.0 is ready for download. NeoOffice, for those of you wondering, is an open-source office suite (including word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and drawing apps) that's based on the OpenOffice project. Go grab your copy and check out the aqua goodness. The current NeoOffice beta requires Mac OS 10.3 or later, 384MB of RAM and 400MB of free disk space. [Via MacDailyNews]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Joshua Ochs said 5:59PM on 8-28-2006
Ready my ass. Torrent links are still broken. Oh well, thank goodness they have deep pockets for their bandwidth bill.
Oh, wait...
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Daniel said 6:58PM on 8-28-2006
For some reason after I got my MacBook back from Apple for repairs (suspicious tinting of the trackpad and wristpad, etc.) my computer was acting really odd. OS X wouldn't connect to my home network and when I tried to reinstall Microsoft Office, the apps wouldn't even launch! Anyhoo, I was pondering this morning as I walked back from class how I would type my paper that is due Thursday. Text Edit is no good, and Word won't open. I don't really like using OpenOffice in X11 (it's just a pain) and last time I used NeoOffice, it was....not so hot.
In a nutshell, I need a new word processor (office suite, really), and I would like to ask you TUAW readers what you recommend? Is NeoOffice even worth the bother at this point or do you have other suggestions? Comment below or send me an email. Thanks! :-)
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sdfjkl said 7:15PM on 8-28-2006
*Sniff* ew, it still reeks of GTK. Next!
@Daniel: Pages from the iWork suite
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David said 7:18PM on 8-28-2006
They just need to sort out the icons.
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Daniel said 7:23PM on 8-28-2006
sffjkl:
(love the nickname, btw) I used to use Pages all the time. I really liked it, and it works great for most things. The problem is that it should be Office-compatible. I can't remember if you can export to *.doc? Keynote was good too, not quite as powerful as PowerPoint, but it suffices. My last major need is a spreadsheet app. I don't use it daily, but I do use it frequently. Maybe just iWork + Calc from NeoOffice? What do you think?
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AstroBryGuy said 10:02PM on 8-28-2006
Daniel, iWork can export to & import from MS Office (to/from Windows Powerpoint can be dodgy if there's embedded video, WinPP prefers WMV, MacPP & Keynote prefer QT). Its not always perfect, of course. Assuming you are a student, iWork is available pretty cheap at the Apple store (~$50).
Also, if you need something *right now*, check out Google's Writely app (req. Firefox, not Safari).
NeoOffice works pretty well for me. I pretty much only use Calc (iWork for other stuff). It can be a little slow to load, but its plenty responsive once its loaded on my PB. A bit of advice for "prettying it up" - in NeoOffice, click on the Tools-Options menu item. Then pick View from the list of possible Options pages. Change the toolbar icon set to "Large" and "Crystal". It will look much better.
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Tek said 8:45PM on 8-28-2006
NeoOffice is really rounding itself out. Though is it mean to say I dislike the icons? I've considered NeoOffice for when/if I get a MacBook...but I have a minor question that Apple seems to evade on their official site. Since AppleWorks is not bundled with Intel Macs anymore, what do people use to type simple word processor files like letters? I know that Apple is pushing iWork, but isn't that a trial offer? Must one write in a text editor that cannot even handle bold/italics/justified paragraphs?
I hope someone here can shed some light on this for me.
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blah said 8:45PM on 8-28-2006
Um, wow. I'm sure glad I didn't actually PAY to get early access. What's up with the ugly-ass toolbars, at the top, or the ugly-ass status-bar at the bottom? I mean, what's the point? Why not just use Open Office under X11?
Note to developers: If you actually have the cahones to charge good money for OSS, you may actually want to deliver on your promises. Note to everyone else: NEVER pay for software that you can't demo first...
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michel said 8:48PM on 8-28-2006
openoffice doesn't use "gtk"
but his own "toolkit" (that is the term)
and believe me you would like it used GTK. it would really simplify work on it for developpers and they could use the all new experimental GTK-aqua/cocoa port (experimental in new gtk for the moment)
if you use gnome/linux, you will see openoffice with mostly a "gnome" interface. it's achieved thanks to many many many blasphemous hacks. it binds with some gtk stuff in unholy ways. but it is not a GTK applications
it doesn't "reeks" gtk ,but something WORSE.
(beside gtk is not that bad, gtk is now able to use opengl rendering, vectorial stuff, to be completely re-themed with nice gradients, images, and so on. it's a technology, some people will use it to create great things. there are time.)
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Geoffe said 8:54PM on 8-28-2006
The ruler bars and document shadow look like shit too: definitely NOT Aqua.
WTH is this?!
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scralpha said 10:23PM on 8-28-2006
Ugly or not, where else are you gonna find this level of office functionality and compatibility for OS X?
For _free_?
NeoOffice works, and works well. Doesn't cost anything, and it is regularly updated. MS Office costs an arm and a leg, and has the nerve to be flaky. Other Mac office suites just don't feel right. I'll take ugly, useful and free, thanks.
@AstroBryGuy: Thanks for the tip. Looks much better.
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Tony said 12:56PM on 8-29-2006
I'm not going to comment on the *looks*, because I don't really care, and neither should anyone looking for an Office replacement.
I opened up several rather complex Office docs, including a large format multi-fold newsletter template that usually eats "Office compatible" programs for lunch. It works great in this latest beta of NeoOffice!
After actually using the app for about 30 minutes, not a great test to be sure, I have to say it looks like a legitimate Office replacement. I'm looking forward to the eventual release of 1.0.
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Sheri VandeRiet said 12:43AM on 8-29-2006
I use Nisus Writer Express 2.7 with success and satisfaction. I have worked with NeoOffice a little bit, but can't get past the blandness of the interface. I'm downloading the Aqua version as I write this, and am looking forward to trying out the upgrade. In the meantime, Nisus Software's Nisus Writer Express is pretty good, and is native for OS X. It's not free, but way cheaper than Office.
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Logan said 12:51PM on 10-08-2006
Tek: Apple's TextEdit is quite a functional word processor! Set it to wrap to page mode, and you can do pretty much everything you can in AppleWorks.
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Jonathan Neil said 11:54PM on 8-30-2006
FYI for those commenting about Pages- version 1.0 from iWork '05 refused to export an Office PC readable version of my resume. Mac Office opened it fine, but on Windows it was illegible. Not sure if 2.0 fixed this, but beware.
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henrrrik said 4:10AM on 8-29-2006
Well, it's free.
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sdfjkl said 12:02PM on 8-29-2006
Pages 2.0.1 (iWork '06) does export valid WinWord .doc that Office 2003 can read without problems or at least not the kind of problems I noticed so far (and surprisingly I didn't get any bitching from my Windows-centric cow-orkers about the stuff it generates either).
Also, speaking of Office packages, RagTime deserves mentioning. There's currently a open beta for the upcoming RagTime 6 going on.
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Daniel said 9:08AM on 8-30-2006
AstroBryGuy:
Thanks for the tips. That helped a lot.
Thanks to everyone else as well. :-)
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