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The official port of OpenOffice is now finally free of X11.

It is available for download now at:
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/download/aqua.html

At the moment it's a bittorrent which is annoying because I can't access it from work to test it out and I' still waiting on Telstra to hook up our Internet at home.

Let me know what you guys think of it if you try it out.

Remember, this version has the official help of Sun on it so it can only get better.

Note that this is an Alpha version. As they say on their site....

WARNING: THIS SOFTWARE MAY CRASH AND MAY DESTROY YOUR DATA DO NOT USE THIS SOFTWARE FOR REAL WORK IN A PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT

This is an alpha test version so that developers and users can find out what works and not, and make comments on how to improve it.

There are a number of things that do not work in this version including, but not limited to:

* You cannot print
* PDF export does not properly work as thetext won't show on the page right
* Starting OpenOffice.org from a shared folder does not work
* Copy and paste does not fully work
* OpenOffice.org will crash after quitting
* Some text is not drawn in places like Impress
* Impress will not recognise multiple monitors

Phil

What differences are there between Neooffice and Openoffice? I have neooffice so are there any advantages to switching to Openoffice when it leaves the beta stage? (not considering it any earlier)

Belinda

Can't really say at the moment because I haven't been able to download it.

At the moment it's status is not a reason to move over but this will change.

One huge reason to move would be that you would be using the latest version. NeoOffice is one version behind (although at one stage it was one version ahead of the official one).

They've just put up the HTTP download so I'll download and let you know what it's like.

Just had a quick look and personally I recommend sticking to NeoOffice.

It looks nicer although I have to say that OpenOffice Aqua is alot quicker and more responsive.

I'm about to move from a PC to a Mac and can't establish whether or not I need to get Microsoft office to read office documents. It seems from this discussion which is now 8 months old that Open office will soon be an option.

Hi there (and welcome),

I would hold off on office if you can until you get your Mac. If it's a new one, you'll probably find many of the Office docs open in Apple apps...even the basic text app can open Word docs. If you bought the iWork apps, Numbers opens Excel, Pages opens Word and Keynote open PowerPoint. Although if you are going to be working with Office docs alot, you may want to consider Office (I have to simply as it is the default at work, although I do like their email app Entourage and use it at work and home) or others will be able to give you advice more on what this thread is about in relation to open source alternatives.

Cheers, Phil