NeoOffice

NeoOffice

Developer(s)	Planamesa Software
Stable release	3.0.1 Patch 2 2009-12-06; 7 days ago
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.

Contents 1 Characteristics & development 2 NeoOffice 2.x vs OpenOffice.org 2.x 3 NeoOffice 3 vs OpenOffice.org 3.0 4 File formats supported 4.1 Word processor program 4.2 Spreadsheet program 4.3 Presentation program 4.4 Graphics program 4.5 Database program 4.6 Formula program 5 Licensing 6 History 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

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)

As of September 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 than that of OpenOffice to other Mac OS X software. A new icon set introduced in version 2.1 uses designs that more closely than that of OpenOffice 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.^[1]

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]}

NeoOffice 3 vs OpenOffice.org 3.0

OpenOffice.org 2.x.x for Mac OS X did not use the Aqua window system. Aqua 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.^[2]

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.^[3] Compared to OpenOffice.org 3.0, NeoOffice 3.0 opens documents faster and is slower at printing and print preview.^[4]

File formats supported

Current file formats supported for saving documents as of NeoOffice 3.0 patch 7, listed in order they appear in Save As dialogue box. (Although there are further formats that can be opened and re-saved, usually without keeping the original documents' formatting, which are not listed below):

Word processor program

• OpenDocument Text (.odt) *
• OpenDocument Text Template (.ott)
• NeoOffice 1.0 Text Document (.sxw)
• NeoOffice 1.0 Text Document Template (.stw)
• Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP (.doc)
• Microsoft Word 95 (.doc)
• Microsoft Word 6.0 (.doc)
• Rich Text Format (.rtf)
• StarWriter 5.0 (.sdw)
• StarWriter 5.0 Template (.vor)
• StarWriter 4.0 (.sdw)
• StarWriter 4.0 Template (.vor)
• StarWriter 3.0 (.sdw)
• StarWriter 3.0 Template (.vor)
• Text (.txt)
• Text Encoded (.txt)
• HTML Document (NeoOffice Writer) (.html)
• AportisDoc (Palm) (.pdb)
• DocBook (.xml)
• Microsoft Word 2007 XML (.docx)
• Microsoft Word 2003 XML (.xml)
• OpenDocument Text (Flat XML) (.fodt)
• Pocket Word (.psw)
• Unified Office Format text (.uot)

Spreadsheet program

• OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods) *
• OpenDocument Spreadsheet Template (.ots)
• NeoOffice 1.0 Spreadsheet (.sxc)
• NeoOffice 1.0 Spreadsheet Template (.stc)
• Data Interchange Format (.dif)
• dBase (.dbf)
• Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP (.xls)
• Microsoft Excel 97/2000/XP Template (.xlt)
• Microsoft Excel 95 (.xls)
• Microsoft Excel 95 Template (.xlt)
• Microsoft Excel 5.0 (.xls)
• Microsoft Excel 5.0 Template (.xlt)
• StarCalc 5.0 (sdc)
• StarCalc 5.0 Template (.vor)
• StarCalc 4.0 (.sdc)
• StarCalc 4.0 Template (.vor)
• StarCalc 3.0 (.sdc)
• StarCalc 3.0 Template (.vor)
• SYLK (.slk)
• Text CSV (.csv)
• HTML Document (NeoOffice Calc) (.html)
• Microsoft Excel 2007 XML (.xlsx)
• Microsoft Excel 2003 XML (.xml)
• OpenDocument Spreadsheet (Flat XML) (.fods)
• Pocket Excel (.pxl)
• Unified Office Format spreadsheet (.uos)

Presentation program

• OpenDocument Presentation (.odp) *
• OpenDocument Presentation Template (.otp)
• NeoOffice 1.0 Presentation (.sxi)
• NeoOffice 1.0 Presentation Template (.sti)
• Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP (.ppt)
• Microsoft PowerPoint 97/2000/XP Template (.pot)
• NeoOffice 1.0 Drawing (NeoOffice Impress) (.sxd)
• StarDraw 5.0 (NeoOffice Impress) (.sda)
• StarDraw 5.0 (NeoOffice Impress) (.sdd)
• StarImpress 5.0 (.sdd)
• StarImpress 5.0 Template (.vor)
• StarImpress 4.0 (.sdd)
• StarImpress 4.0 Template (.vor)
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 XML (.pptx)
• OpenDocument Presentation (Flat XML) (.fodp)
• Unified Office Format presentation (.uop)
• OpenDocument Drawing (Impress) (.odg)

Graphics program

• OpenDocument Drawing (.odg) *
• OpenDocument Drawing Template (.otg)
• NeoOffice 1.0 Drawing (.sxd)
• NeoOffice 1.0 Drawing Template (.std)
• StarDraw 5.0 (.sda)
• StarDraw 5.0 Template (.vor)
• StarDraw 3.0 (.sdd)
• StarDraw 3.0 Template (.vor)
• OpenDocument Drawing (Flat XML) (.fodg)

Database program

• OpenDocument Database (.odb) *

Formula program

• OpenDocument Formula (.odf) *
• NeoOffice 1.0 Formula (.sxm)
• StarMath 5.0 (.smf)
• MathML 1.01 (mml)

(* pre-chosen save default format.)
By default, NeoOffice loads and saves files in the OpenDocument file format, though this can be changed by the user. The OpenDocument file format is an XML file format standardised by OASIS (Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards).

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";^[5] on the other side, the OpenOffice.org developers state: "A proposal to work together has been made, and NeoOffice developers refused".^[6]

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. ^[7]

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 [8]
	NeoOffice 2.2.3	March 17, 2008	QuickTime video support, Menus available when no documents are open, Import images from scanners and cameras [9]
	NeoOffice 2.2.4	June 16, 2008	media browser support, native floating tool windows, support for newer trackpad gestures, support for horizontal scrolling, [10][11]
	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. [12][13]
	NeoOffice 2.2.6 Early Access	September 15, 2009	Only Available to Early Access Members
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. [14]
	NeoOffice 3.0	March 31, 2009	same fixes as 3.0 Early Access, but also released to the general public
	NeoOffice 3.0.1 Early Access	September 15, 2009	Only Available to Early Access Members
	NeoOffice 3.0.1	October 27, 2009	same fixes as 3.0.1 Early Access, but also released to the general public

See also

• List of office suites
• Comparison of office suites

References

External links

• NeoOffice
• NeoWiki

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