NeoOffice/J Press Kit

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Revision as of 23:06, 27 April 2005

This is the page where we will collect additional resources for the use of the press/media.

Welcome to the NeoOfficeÂ® Press Kit. This page aims to provide those interested in writing a story about NeoOfficeÂ®/J with some background materials. The initial press release is available at the NeoOffice/J 1.1 Announcement page.

Features

The advantages of NeoOffice/J over other office suites, particularly Microsoft's, are legion. Most importantly, NeoOffice/J is free and open source software relieving you of costly licensing fees.

There is a strong community support forum that is also frequented by the developers at http://www.trinity.org/

NeoOffice/J vs. Microsoft Office

Apart from these benefits, NeoOffice/J 1.1 has features that outshine Microsoft Office:

Feature	NeoOffice/J	MS Office 2004 for Mac
General:
Price (standard edition)	$0.00	$349.95
Type ahead functionality (optional) like many mobile phones have	YES	No
A logical, safe and suite-wide system for templates, so these are never accidentally updated	YES	No
Clean HTML code export (compliant with international web standards)	YES	No
Unified User Interface, reducing learning time and costs	YES	No
Localized user interface (number of languages)	40*	7*
International spelling checkers and localized help	61**	12**
Support for text entry in non-Roman scripts including South Asian, East Asian, right-to-left and complex text layout scripts	YES	Some [1]
Supported scripts or languages:
Arabic	YES	No
Armenian	YES	No
Cyrillic	YES	YES
Cherokee***	YES	YES
Chinese (Simplified)	YES	YES
Chinese (Traditional)	YES	YES
Devanagari & Gujarati (Indic languages)	YES	No
Greek	YES	YES
Hebrew	YES	No
Inuktitut***	YES	YES
Japanese	YES	YES
Korean	YES	YES
Roman (Western and Eastern European languages)	YES	YES
Roman (Hawaiian, Northern Sami)	YES	YES
Roman (Vietnamese)	YES	No
Thai	YES	No
Other	Likely****	Unknown
Writer (word processor):
A logical style system that does not invent styles based on your layout choices	YES	No
Functional bullet/list numbering	YES	No
The ability to import WordPerfect documents (thanks to the libwpd project)	YES	No
Calc (spreadsheet):
More conditional layout options for cells	YES	No
Style-enabled layout system for text and cells	YES	No
Impress (presentation):
The ability to export to Flash animation	YES	No
Superior (3D) font art possibilities.	YES	No

* NeoOffice/J ships with UIs for languages 12 languages; the other 28 are freely available in language packs. Office 2004 is available in English (all versions of Office 2004), and in French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish and Swedish (for some versions of Office 2004; must be ordered separately) [2].
** NeoOffice/J includes help files and a growing number of writing (proofing) tools for many languages from the OpenOffice.org project [3], [4], [5], [6]. Microsoft Office 2004 ships with proofing tools for English, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, German, Danish, Swedish, Portuguese, Finnish, and Dutch [7].
*** You must use the `Caps Lock` key to enable syllabics.
**** Because OpenOffice.org includes support for languages and scripts which do not have keyboard layouts in Mac OS X, and because Mac OS X includes system-level Unicode support for many of these languages even though Apple does not ship fonts or keyboards, it is very likely that NeoOffice/J will support text entry (and perhaps sorting) in the language/script if one installs third-party Unicode fonts and keyboard layouts. See Tom Gewecke's Your Multilingual Mac for more resources.

NeoOffice/J vs. OpenOffice.org for Macintosh (X11)

NeoOffice/J is far more integrated with OS X than the X11 version on which it is based. Rather than relying on X11, NeoOffice/J uses Java to bridge the gap between the OpenOffice.org interface code and Apple's OS X.

Feature	NeoOffice/J	OpenOffice.org for Mac (X11)
Uses your normal Mac fonts (no conversion required)	YES	No
Smooth font display (Quartz anti-aliasing)	YES	No
Allows international keyboards and switches keyboards along with your Mac	YES	Partial
Optimized PDF generation	YES	No
Native Aqua menus	YES	No
Native OS X printing	YES	No
Native (styled) copy and paste support	YES	No
Drag-and-drop between other applications	YES	No
Normal Mac keyboard shortcuts (command key)	YES	Yes*
Mouse wheel scrolling	YES	???
Integrated with Finder and major mail clients	YES	Partial**

* Available only with certain settings in Apple X11
** Finder integration provided by separate Start OpenOffice.org application; integration with Apple Mail only

Still To Do

In all fairness, NeoOffice/J is not perfect. No software is. Along with relatively large RAM requirements (minimum 256MB, 512MB recommended), there is always room for improvement. NeoOffice/J can (and will) get better. Take a look at the following comparison:

Feature	NeoOffice/J	MS Office 2004 for Mac	OpenOffice.org for Mac (X11)
Bitmap printing at >300 dpi	No	Yes	Yes
Can print Encapsulated Postscript (EPS)	No	Yes	Yes
Standard Mac OS X open & save dialogues	No	Yes	No
Media (plugin) support	No	Yes	No
Non-Mac keyboard shortcuts	Some	Some	Some
Table drawing options	Good	Very good	Good
Aqua look-and-feel	Partial	Full	None

Graphics

Medium- and High-Res Logos, Headers, Application Icons

sardisson has some of these (the wiki and websites have smaller, lo-res versions to keep pageloads quick for dialup), but we may need to contact foxcorner for others.

Transparent PNG (Logo/Application Icon)

256x256, 72 dpi, 83 KB: http://homepage.mac.com/sardisson/neoj/neoofficej_icon_256.png

JPEG (Logo/Application Icon)

128x128, 72 dpi, 9 KB: http://homepage.mac.com/sardisson/neoj/neoofficej_icon_128_80.jpg

JPEG (Header)

415x95, 72 dpi, 30 KB: http://homepage.mac.com/sardisson/neoj/neoofficej_header.jpg

Screenshots

Several screenshots of NeoOffice/J are available:

The Official Screenshot at Planamesa Software.
Four screenshots at this Wiki.
A screenshot of NeoOffice/J with an alternative icon set.

--Waldo 15:28, 27 Apr 2005 (CDT) Could the official screenshot look any uglier? Is there any way to replace/remove this?!

Background Info

"Executive Summary" of other info

NeoHistory/relationship with OOo summary, link to the full version

Links to other relevant articles [what? sardisson has a number of things bookmarked for future additions to the NeoHistory article]

Links to and/or some key FAQs reposted (not Java, but C++ (99%) and Carbon and Java (1%), etc.)

Real-world stories

Can we get to write up a brief bit about his migration of the World Scout Bureau from Microsoft Office to Neo/J?

Others?

--Ovvldc 17:10, 21 Apr 2005 (CDT) Links to migration stories:
http://trinity.neooffice.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1041 http://trinity.neooffice.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1223 http://trinity.neooffice.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1035 http://trinity.neooffice.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=6153#6153 http://bugzilla.neooffice.org/bug.php?op=show&bugid=529&pos=24 (see last comment)

Also try the Versiontracker feedback pages for upbeat stories.

--sardisson 10:40, 22 Apr 2005 (CDT) For MU we need PHP or Perl--, can you do this on NeoOffice.org? VT is just HTML+CSS+JS and we can do overall ratings plus pull latest 4+ star reviews, but we can't do that within the wiki.

--sardisson 07:06, 23 Apr 2005 (CDT) I've put up a page pulling our VT rating (it can only pull the overall one) and the last 4+-star reviews at http://homepage.mac.com/sardisson/neoj/vt_ratings.html

Profiles

Short bio on the people who dedicate themselves to Neo/J - Patrick and Ed (and probably several others with sustained contribution to the project. I'm new here, and really don't know who... but let all have the credit, they deserve it!)

--knutkja 16:19, 22 Apr 2005 (CDT)

There's a decent bit of "bio" on Patrick and Ed in the NeoHistory article (i.e., their roles in the OOo and Neo projects); Patrick's CV is on planamesa.com and there's a short bio of Ed that went along with the O'Reilly presentation for more "standard" background. Ed's recent post in the wiki thread reminded me of some of the other unsung heros of multiple hats, so I'll outline some things here (bold = Neo/J-specific), but I really don't want to (re)write the profiles myself :).... --sardisson 04:51, 26 Apr 2005 (CDT)

Patrick Luby

Patrick Luby (AKA pluby) is the creator and primary developer of NeoOffice/J. He resides in Sunnyvale, California with wife and kids. He is a former lead engineer for Sun's Mac OS X port of StarOffice as well as a former lead engineer team for the Java 2 Enterprise platform.

Patrick now owns and runs his own software consultancy firm called Planamesa Software, specializing in short-term software development and debugging services in the San Francisco Bay area.

Edward Peterlin

Edward Peterlin (AKA OPENSTEP) is a co-founder of NeoOffice.org and main developer of NeoOffice/J. He also provides much of the development and community infrastructure: the CVS server, the trinity forums, and the neooffice.org website. He resides in Ed, where do you live? . Ed was a lead developer on the OOo 1.0.x Mac port.

Ed currently spends his working days at Ed, where do you work? and has many other interests, as demonstrated on his personal website.

Dan Williams

Dan William (AKA fa) is a co-founder of NeoOffice.org and developer of NeoOffice/J. He also provides and maintains the NeoOffice Bugzilla website. Dan was main developer on the OOo 1.0.x Mac port.

Dan works on OpenOffice.org with RedHat Dan, is this true?.

administers and hosts the wiki
Neo/J launch shortcuts

Fridrich Strba

ported/integrated libwpd code to Neo/J (responsible for WordPerfect import)

Max_Barel

wrote the help installer

Dan (foxcorner)

designed new logo/splashscreen/ship graphics in 1.1 Beta

Aelitis.com

Aelitis of France has graciously offered to provide BitTorrent tracking and seeding for NeoOffice/J.

NeoOffice.org community

The community is a growing number of active users from all over the world who aid in the development, support and advocacy processes:

writing NeoWiki articles that answer common requests for user assistance and support.
answering questions and providing user support on trinity forums.
testing patches and filing bugs.
translating the www.planamesa.com/neojava website and the wiki articles.
working on new GUI (toolbar) icons.
promoting NeoOffice/J on the web, among friends and anywhere else.
providing mirrors and BitTorrent hosting.

What Else?

Other things we should have here?

Discussion

This trinity thread is for further discussion of the development of the Press Kit, as needed.

As we add items to the kit, we wipe out the "comments" or "place-holders" for them.

Retrieved from "https://neowiki.neooffice.org/index.php/NeoOffice/J_Press_Kit"

 <tr><td>Localized user interface (number of languages)</td><td align="center">40*</td><td align="center">7*</td></tr>
 <tr><td>International spelling checkers and localized help</td><td align="center">61**</td><td align="center">12**</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Support for text entry in non-Roman scripts including South Asian, East Asian, right-to-left and complex text layout scripts.</td><td align="center">YES</td><td align="center">Some [http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/5/1/35123D3A-8A7A-40F1-BB85-AF03D9B4E5F3/MicrosoftOffice2004forMacResourceKit.pdf#p=105]</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Support for text entry in non-Roman scripts including South Asian, East Asian, right-to-left and complex text layout scripts</td><td align="center">YES</td><td align="center">Some [http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/5/1/35123D3A-8A7A-40F1-BB85-AF03D9B4E5F3/MicrosoftOffice2004forMacResourceKit.pdf#p=105]</td></tr>
 <tr><th align="left" colspan="3">Supported scripts or languages:</th></tr>
 <tr><th align="left" colspan="3">Writer (word processor):</th></tr>
-<tr><td>A logical style system that does not invent styles based on your layout choices.</td><td align="center">YES</td><td align="center">No</td></tr>
+<tr><td>A logical style system that does not invent styles based on your layout choices</td><td align="center">YES</td><td align="center">No</td></tr>
 <tr><td>Functional bullet/list numbering</td><td align="center">YES</td><td align="center">No</td></tr>
 <tr><td>The ability to import WordPerfect documents (thanks to the [http://sourceforge.net/projects/libwpd/ libwpd project])</td><td align="center">YES</td><td align="center">No</td></tr>
 http://trinity.neooffice.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=1035
 http://trinity.neooffice.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=6153#6153
+http://bugzilla.neooffice.org/bug.php?op=show&bugid=529&pos=24 (see last comment)
 Also try the [http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22021&mode=feedback Versiontracker feedback pages] for upbeat stories.
 ==== Edward Peterlin ====
-Edward Peterlin (AKA OpenStep) is a co-founder of NeoOffice.org and main developer of NeoOffice/J. He also provides much of the development and community infrastructure: the CVS server, the [http://trinity.neooffice.org/ trinity forums], and the [http://www.neooffice.org/ neooffice.org] website. He resides in ''Ed, where do you live? ''. Ed was a lead developer on the OOo 1.0.x Mac port.
+Edward Peterlin (AKA OPENSTEP) is a co-founder of NeoOffice.org and main developer of NeoOffice/J. He also provides much of the development and community infrastructure: the CVS server, the [http://trinity.neooffice.org/ trinity forums], and the [http://www.neooffice.org/ neooffice.org] website. He resides in ''Ed, where do you live? ''. Ed was a lead developer on the OOo 1.0.x Mac port.
-Ed currently spends his working days at ''Ed, where do you work?'' and has many other interests, as demonstrated on his [www.dashboardbuddha.com/ personal website].
+Ed currently spends his working days at ''Ed, where do you work?'' and has many other interests, as demonstrated on his [http://www.dashboardbuddha.com/ personal website].
 ==== Dan Williams ====
 The community is a growing number of active users from all over the world who aid in the development, support and advocacy processes:
-* writing [http://neowiki.sixthcrusade.com/index.php/Main_Page NeoWiki] articles that answer common  requests for user assistance and support.
+* writing [[Main_Page|NeoWiki]] articles that answer common  requests for user assistance and support.
-* answering questions and providing user support on [http://trinity.neooffice.org trinity forums].
+* answering questions and providing user support on [http://trinity.neooffice.org/modules.php?name=Forums trinity forums].
 * testing patches and filing bugs.
-* translating the [http://www.planamesa.com/neojava planamesa.com/neojava] website and the wiki articles.
+* translating the [http://www.planamesa.com/neojava www.planamesa.com/neojava] website and the wiki articles.
 * working on new GUI (toolbar) icons.
 * promoting NeoOffice/J on the web, among friends and anywhere else.