NeoOffice 2.0 Aqua Beta 3 ready to go

AstroBryGuy:
Thanks for the tips. That helped a lot.

Thanks to everyone else as well. :-)

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.

Well, it's free.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The ruler bars and document shadow look like shit too: definitely NOT Aqua.

WTH is this?!

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.)