NeoOffice
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| Developed by | Planamesa Software |
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| Latest release | 3.0 2009-03-31 |
| Operating system | Mac OS X 10.4 + |
| Type | Office suite |
| License | GPL |
| Website | www.neooffice.org |
NeoOffice is an office suite for Mac OS X. It is a fork of the free/open source OpenOffice.org that implements nearly all of the features of the corresponding OpenOffice.org version, including a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation program, and graphics program. It is ported by Planamesa Software, and uses Java technology to integrate OpenOffice.org — originally developed for Solaris and Linux — with the Aqua interface of Mac OS X.
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[edit] Characteristics & development
NeoOffice is one of three functional OpenOffice.org-based packages for Mac OS X:
- NeoOffice
- OpenOffice.org 2.x for Mac OS X (X11) - which requires X11
- OpenOffice.org 3.x for Mac OS - which runs natively (Intel-based Macs only)
Because of software license differences (see below), NeoOffice code cannot be used in the official OpenOffice.org versions. The NeoOffice developers have stated that they prefer to work separately from OpenOffice.org because "coordination requires a significant amount of time";[1] on the other side, the OpenOffice.org developers state: "A proposal to work together has been made, and NeoOffice developers refused".[2]
As of April 2009, the latest version of NeoOffice is 3.0. This version is based on OpenOffice.org 3.0.1, and is available for both Intel- and PowerPC-based Macintoshes. In addition to incorporating the source application's new features, it is based directly on the source code for the Linux and Solaris versions rather than the "Mac OS X (X11)" releases, with a redesigned interface using Apple's Aqua design elements, giving the application an appearance more similar to other Mac OS X software. A new icon set introduced in version 2.1 uses designs that more closely resemble typical Mac OS X icons.
With version 3.0, NeoOffice has access to the Mac OS X spellchecker, grammar checker, address book and media browser; users of languages not supported by the OS X spellchecker can use the Hunspell system originally used. The current release also improves the support for Microsoft Word 2007, Excel 2007 and PowerPoint 2007 documents and for spreadsheets with Visual Basic for Applications macros that made its debut in version 2.1.[3]
[edit] NeoOffice 2.x vs OpenOffice.org 2.x
OpenOffice.org 2.x.x for Mac OS X (X11) is an older version of OpenOffice developed and distributed by the OpenOffice.org team, which runs in an X11 environment and requires either X11.app or XDarwin to be installed.
NeoOffice is the more "Mac-like" of these two version, with easier installation, better integration into the OS X interface (with pull down menus at the top of the screen, and familiar keyboard shortcuts, for example), use of Mac OS X's fonts and printing services without additional configuration, and integration with the Mac OS X clipboard and drag-and-drop functions.
However it requires more memory than the X11 version to perform well, some functions are allegedly slower,[citation needed] and the additional code it adds to the main OpenOffice.org code base is not as fully tested[citation needed]. Because NeoOffice is based on releases of OpenOffice.org, there is a delay between those releases and corresponding versions of NeoOffice. Because NeoOffice's small development team have been concurrently developing the technology for its user interface, these delays have often been several months in length[citation needed].
[edit] NeoOffice 3 vs OpenOffice.org 3.0
OpenOffice.org 2.x.x for Mac OS X did not use the Aqua window system. It has been supported starting with OpenOffice.org 3.0. OpenOffice.org 3.0 was released October 13, 2008, but only for Intel-based Macs. There are also unofficial builds for PowerPC-based Macs.[4].
When NeoOffice 3.0 was released on March 31, 2009, it used the same underlying code as the then-current OpenOffice 3.0.1 release[5]. Compared to OpenOffice.org 3.0, NeoOffice 3.0 opens documents faster and is slower at printing and preview[6].
[edit] Licensing
OpenOffice.org was originally released by Sun under both the LGPL and SISSL; it is now released solely under the LGPL. However, OpenOffice.org requires a copyright assignment for contributions to the main code base; this allows Sun to create proprietary versions of the software (notably StarOffice). NeoOffice chooses not to assign their code to Sun; this prevents NeoOffice code from being used in official OpenOffice.org versions. Instead, NeoOffice is released only under the GPL (this is allowed by the LGPL), which ensures that any software based on it remains free.
There were initially some attempts to resolve the licensing differences and foster more direct cooperation and code-sharing between the NeoOffice and OpenOffice developers. However, the NeoOffice developers have stated that they prefer to work separately from OpenOffice.org because "coordination requires a significant amount of time";[7] on the other side, the OpenOffice.org developers state: "A proposal to work together has been made, and NeoOffice developers refused".[8]
[edit] History
NeoOffice began as a project to investigate methods of creating a native port of OpenOffice.org to Mac OS X. The project now called NeoOffice was originally dubbed "NeoOffice/J", reflecting its use of OS X's Java integration to enable a native application. A related project was NeoOffice/C, which was a simultaneous effort to develop a version using Apple's Cocoa APIs. But NeoOffice/C proved very difficult to implement and the application was highly unstable, so the project was set aside in favor of the more promising NeoOffice/J. The "/J" suffix was dropped with version 1.2, since there was no longer another variety of NeoOffice from which to distinguish it.
The most recent release is NeoOffice 3.0, based on OpenOffice 3.0.1. Because support for Mac OS X 10.3 was dropped in this release, the developers are continuing to make version 2.2.5 available. [9]
| OOo version | Version | Release date | Other Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | NeoOffice/C 0.0.1 | June 22, 2003 | Incendiary Goblin build |
| 1.1.2 | NeoOffice/J 1.1 Alpha 2 | September, 2004 | |
| 1.1.3 | NeoOffice/J 1.1 Beta | December, 2004 | |
| 1.1.4 | NeoOffice/J 1.1 RC | March, 2005 | |
| NeoOffice/J 1.1 | June 22, 2005 | ||
| 1.1.5 | NeoOffice 1.2 Alpha | November, 2005 | |
| NeoOffice 1.2 Beta | January 2, 2006 | ||
| NeoOffice 1.2 | February 1, 2006 | ||
| NeoOffice 1.2.2 | March 30, 2005 | ||
| 2.0.2 | NeoOffice 2.0 Alpha PowerPC | April 25, 2006 | |
| NeoOffice 2.0 Alpha 2 PowerPC | May 9, 2006 | ||
| NeoOffice 2.0 Alpha 3 PowerPC | May 23, 2006 | ||
| NeoOffice 2.0 Alpha Intel | June 5, 2006 | ||
| NeoOffice 2.0 Alpha 2 Intel | June 19, 2006 | ||
| NeoOffice 2.0 Alpha 4 | July 1, 2006 | ||
| 2.0.3 | NeoOffice 2.0 Aqua Beta | August 1, 2006 | |
| NeoOffice 2.0 Aqua Beta 2 | August 15, 2006 | ||
| NeoOffice 2.0 Aqua Beta 3 | August 29, 2006 | ||
| 2.1 | NeoOffice 2.1 Early Access | February 27, 2007 | Only Available to Early Access Members |
| NeoOffice 2.1 | March 26, 2007 | General public release | |
| 2.2.1 | NeoOffice 2.2.1 Early Access | July 23, 2007 | Only Available to Early Access Members |
| NeoOffice 2.2.1 | August 27, 2007 | General public release | |
| NeoOffice 2.2.2 | October 9, 2007 | bug fixes [10] | |
| NeoOffice 2.2.3 | March 17, 2008 | QuickTime video support, Menus available when no documents are open, Import images from scanners and cameras [11] | |
| NeoOffice 2.2.4 | June 16, 2008 | media browser support, native floating tool windows, support for newer trackpad gestures, support for horizontal scrolling, [12][13] | |
| NeoOffice 2.2.5 | September 15, 2008 | bug fixes, speed improvements, apple remote support in Impress, last version to support Mac OS X 10.3. [14][15] | |
| 3.0.1 | NeoOffice 3.0 Early Access | January 15, 2009 | upgrade based on OpenOffice.org 3.0, speed improvements, command clicking on window titlebar, Mac OS X 10.5 grammar checker. Only available to Early Access members. Requires Mac OS X 10.4 or above. [16] |
| NeoOffice 3.0 | March 31, 2009 | same fixes as 3.0 Early Access, but also released to the general public |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ NeoOffice FAQ's
- ^ FAQ Openoffice.org and NeoOffice from the OOo wiki
- ^ NeoOffice 2.1 release announcement
- ^ OpenOffice.org Mac PPC Port
- ^ https://trinity.neooffice.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=134&mode=&order=0&thold=0
- ^ [http://neowiki.neooffice.org/index.php/NeoOffice_Performance_Comparison NeoOffice Performance Comparison
- ^ NeoOffice FAQ's
- ^ FAQ Openoffice.org and NeoOffice from the OOo wiki
- ^ NeoOffice 3.0 Forum Release Announcement
- ^ 2.2.2 Release Notes
- ^ 2.2.3 Release Notes
- ^ NeoOffice 2.2.4 Announcement
- ^ 2.2.4 Release Notes
- ^ NeoOffice 2.2.5 Announcement
- ^ 2.2.5 Release Notes
- ^ NeoOffice 3.0 Announcement
[edit] External links
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