Filed under: Software, Open Source
OpenOffice 3 includes native version for Mac OS X
OpenOffice has released version 3 of its eponymous open-source alternative to Microsoft Office, which includes a native version for Mac OS X.
According to Insanely Great Mac, the software includes:
- ODF 1.2 Support
- Microsoft Office 2007 Import Filters
- Solver component which allows solving optimization problems
- Support for displaying custom error bars and regression equations
- Improved Crop Feature in Draw and Impress
The software is only available for Macs with Intel processors. There are projects for converting OpenOffice for PowerPC, but an official version was not included in this 3.0.0 release.
OpenOffice's site was running very slowly this morning due to overwhelming demand for the new software, but the official download link is here. There are mirrors available, and this one seemed to work for me. For Mac users, the file to download includes MacOSXIntel_AQUA_install in the name.
The download is 163MB.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Eric said 1:12PM on 10-13-2008
Sure office 2007/2008 import but it can't write it back out as that, just old .doc files.
Reply
Shawn said 1:26PM on 10-13-2008
Your point about not saving to .docx is correct but "just old .doc files." is not.
How about saving to a newer open doc format.
Bernard Ramsey said 1:22PM on 10-13-2008
Blah... MS Office. How about adding a Keynote import/export feature, and then I might be willing to seriously consider OO.
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Jeff said 7:19PM on 10-13-2008
And where are the file specifications for Keynote? I'm sure Apple opened the format up. Not. Reality is Apple needs to support Open Document Format, not the other way around.
mabhatter said 10:20PM on 10-13-2008
MS office does fine without a Keynote filter. Why would OpenOffice.org need one? Better yet, why doesn't iWork include OO.org input/output filters....they're free!!!
puhsitch said 1:09AM on 10-14-2008
Apple sure does support OpenOffice format! In, um, TextExit. Gotta start somewhere?
David Hildreth said 1:28PM on 10-13-2008
A review comparing this to the latest NeoOffice would be great.
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who? said 1:43PM on 10-13-2008
Is something stopping you?
Jamus said 1:55PM on 10-13-2008
I hope they have a little cash to spend on advertising. They really need to get the word out on this or get a pre-bundled deal with a PC maker to help spread the info.
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Simon Arch said 2:26PM on 10-13-2008
There's a torrent up on The Pirate Bay: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4442919/OpenOffice_3.0_English
It was posted today, and claims to be the final release. I have not downloaded it so I have no idea if it is. I'm surprised the OO.o people didn't make an official torrent.
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Ashwin said 8:28PM on 10-13-2008
What's the advantage of downloading a torrent over just visiting openoffice.org?
Simon Arch said 2:33AM on 10-14-2008
Takes the pressure off the OO.o servers, which means you might get it faster.
Steven H. Noble said 2:46PM on 10-13-2008
There is also http://borft.student.utwente.nl/~adrian/bt.php which has a huge page of OO.o torrents and seems to be somewhat official.
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Rico-San said 2:55PM on 10-13-2008
Also, the link above seems to have PPC builds of OO.o 3.0. Gonna try it out on my PowerBook G4.
Steven H. Noble said 3:12PM on 10-13-2008
I believe the ppc version will require X11
totoro said 3:14PM on 10-13-2008
I was always leery of Open Office because of compatibility concerns with my Windows work, but after reading Microsoft's Steve Ballmer blast his own product:
"You know, anyway—can you find the applications you want on the Mac? Well, you don't really get full Microsoft Office. "
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2331368,00.asp
I'm guessing its really not that big an issue whether I get OO or MS Office for Mac :p
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Jon said 4:53PM on 10-13-2008
I used to use OO a while back but switched to NeoOffice because it integrated with the OS better. Since NeoOffice uses OO internally, is there any other reason to stick with NeoOffice now that there is a native OO version out there?
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Gordon said 5:08PM on 10-13-2008
@Jon yes, I gather NeoOffice is still more stable, and actually built by people that understand Mac environments. There are some threads about it on the NeoOffice forums (biased, I know...). NeoOffice still seems nicer and more stable to me but I'll have both installed...
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RobK said 6:11PM on 10-13-2008
For a great comparison between NeoOffice, MS Office 2008 for Mac and OpenOffice 3.0, see the following:
http://neowiki.neooffice.org/index.php/NeoOffice_Feature_Comparison
Reply
stealth658 said 5:40AM on 10-14-2008
Yeah, that's not biased..