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NeoOffice
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| Revision as of 23:25, 2 December 2007 (edit) Sardisson (Talk | contribs) (tweak some of the text here; in particular, make clear we don't use X11 code but instead replace it entirely) ← Previous diff |
Revision as of 23:26, 2 December 2007 (edit) (undo) Sardisson (Talk | contribs) (update the month, too) Next diff → |
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| How does it do this? Get ready for a pretty technical explanation—NeoOffice replaces OpenOffice.org code that uses the [[Wikipedia:X11|X11]] windowing system with Cocoa and Java code (leveraging Mac OS X's cool Java integration with Aqua) to provide traditional Macintosh user-interface elements. The result? An office experience that feels like any other application on your Mac. | How does it do this? Get ready for a pretty technical explanation—NeoOffice replaces OpenOffice.org code that uses the [[Wikipedia:X11|X11]] windowing system with Cocoa and Java code (leveraging Mac OS X's cool Java integration with Aqua) to provide traditional Macintosh user-interface elements. The result? An office experience that feels like any other application on your Mac. | ||
| - | At least that's the goal. At present ( | + | At least that's the goal. At present (December 2007), NeoOffice has integrated dozens of native Mac features, including a Mac installer, native menus in the white bar at the top of the screen, Aqua scrollbars and buttons, native print dialog box and printing, Mac-like keyboard shortcuts, mousewheel support, access to all your Mac fonts, and much, much more! It's probably localized into your native language, too. |
| Best of all, NeoOffice is already remarkably stable at version 2.2.2<!--even though it's still in the "beta" phase of its development, NeoOffice 2.0 Aqua Beta is remarkably stable-->. It's actually ready to use right now. <!-- -->Thousands of people and organizations use NeoOffice to do their daily work! | Best of all, NeoOffice is already remarkably stable at version 2.2.2<!--even though it's still in the "beta" phase of its development, NeoOffice 2.0 Aqua Beta is remarkably stable-->. It's actually ready to use right now. <!-- -->Thousands of people and organizations use NeoOffice to do their daily work! | ||
Revision as of 23:26, 2 December 2007
The goal of NeoOffice is to provide an entirely free and complete Mac OS X office suite based on the international OpenOffice.org project—only with the look-and-feel you'd expect from any Macintosh application.
The OpenOffice.org project is a large open-source effort to create the ultimate office "suite" including a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, drawing software, database, and much more. With OpenOffice.org, you can easily import, edit, and exchange files with users of other office programs, such as Microsoft Office or WordPerfect.
While OpenOffice.org is developed primarily for Windows and Unix systems and has a user-interface geared for those operating systems, NeoOffice has made tremendous breakthroughs in offering the same office features to Macintosh users and making it look just like a Mac application!
How does it do this? Get ready for a pretty technical explanation—NeoOffice replaces OpenOffice.org code that uses the X11 windowing system with Cocoa and Java code (leveraging Mac OS X's cool Java integration with Aqua) to provide traditional Macintosh user-interface elements. The result? An office experience that feels like any other application on your Mac.
At least that's the goal. At present (December 2007), NeoOffice has integrated dozens of native Mac features, including a Mac installer, native menus in the white bar at the top of the screen, Aqua scrollbars and buttons, native print dialog box and printing, Mac-like keyboard shortcuts, mousewheel support, access to all your Mac fonts, and much, much more! It's probably localized into your native language, too.
Best of all, NeoOffice is already remarkably stable at version 2.2.2. It's actually ready to use right now. Thousands of people and organizations use NeoOffice to do their daily work!
Here's a caveat though—while NeoOffice is quite stable and feature-complete, it has not entirely adopted the Mac look-and-feel. There are still some bits of the old Windows/Unix interface in there. For example, the toolbars and dialogues don't have that familiar, consistent Mac look. Many of the 12,000 icons used in the application look more like Windows icons than Mac ones. Other bits of the interface may look "just a bit off".
We're working on all this. Slowly but surely, and with your help, NeoOffice is moving closer and closer to being indistinguishable from any other Macintosh application. Patches are being released constantly that replace an old Windows/Unix-feature with a nice shiny Mac one.
So if you think $300+ is a bit much to pay for an office suite, we encourage you to try NeoOffice for free and let us know what you think. There's no catch—like its parent, OpenOffice.org, downloading and using NeoOffice doesn't cost a penny. Copy it as many times as you wish.
All we ask is that you report any bugs you find so they can be fixed. If you are a developer, we'd love to have your code. Or, if you are willing and able to support the development effort via a monetary donation, your contribution will be very much appreciated. You can do so via Paypal at the NeoOffice web site. There are other ways you can contribute to the project, too.
At present, there are very few NeoOffice developers, so every contribution helps.
- Feature Comparison
- Screenshots
- Release Notes
- Common Support and Troubleshooting Questions
- NeoOffice and Aqua
- CD Distribution and Trademark Usage Guidelines
- FAQ for the NeoOffice Early Access Program
- How to Contribute to NeoOffice
- Reporting Problems and Bugs
- How to Build NeoOffice
- NeoOffice/J 1.1 Press Kit
