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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.

When your open-source project is the focus of a New York Times article, that's a big news day for you (at least it would be if not for those meddling kids in line to buy iPhones). Thursday's NYT article discussing the technical hurdles, legal haziness and other challenges to ripping DVDs for personal use leads off with the example of HandBrake dev lead Eric Petit ('titer') using his very own tool to convert a movie so it'll play on his PSP. The article goes on to mention VisualHub and VideoLan, and quickly dives into an acronym soup of MP4, OGG, AVI and more.

What I found most interesting about the story was what it failed to say about the software it featured so prominently: neither HandBrake nor VisualHub were described as Macintosh apps. VisualHub is of course Mac-only, and HandBrake has been historically a Mac tool (after beginning life on BeOS) before forking and unforking as MediaFork with a Windows version in the mix. It's pleasantly surprising to me that this sort of article can be platform-agnostic.

[Update: Brian Ganninger of Growl and Adium fame has posted on his strong disagreement with the HandBrake manifesto.]

Since HandBrake got back under one open-source roof, the attention to everyone's favorite Mac DVD 'archiving' tool has heated up, and with said attention the volume of end-user feature requests has apparently risen. Over at the HandBrake forums, back on March 6, Rodney posted a manifesto called "HandBrake and Open Source - an end-user must-read," pointing out what he sees as the differences between F/OSS and commercial software when it comes to user-driven feature priorities. I quote:

"Open source software is exactly what it sounds like: It's software written by a (usually small) group of highly-dedicated people that solved particular problems they themselves had and thought others might find useful as well. Like most things that are free, it comes with no warranty: If it does what you want, that's great - that's exactly why it was offered to you. If not, you have the freedom of choice to either modify it to suit your desires or find another software package that more closely meets your needs."

The core of Rodney's message, as I read it: if you want something weird or customized, either pay someone for it or code it yourself -- don't knock on the glass with your crazy "why doesn't HandBrake do X?" requests, unless you're willing to pull your weight, 'cause everyone here is a volunteer. I don't agree with him on all fronts -- certainly, 'big kahuna' open source projects like Firefox, Webkit or OpenOffice are highly focused on the needs of the end user -- but for apps like HandBrake with a small core of developers, it definitely pays to ask very politely if there's something you desire, and to accept the fact that your priorities may not sync up with the developers' areas of interest. Now, off to learn C -- where did I leave that copy of Kernighan and Ritchie?

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