FAQ OpenOffice.org and NeoOffice

What is OpenOffice.org X11 for Mac OS X / Darwin PPC?

OpenOffice.org X11 is a version of OpenOffice.org (OOo for short) that uses the UNIX system, that the Mac OS X is based on. So, the OpenOffice.org X11 behaves like a UNIX program within Mac OS X. The program can be used quite productively on Mac OS X system, if you are an experienced Mac OS X user or familiar with UNIX systems (e.g. Linux). If you know what UNIX means, you should be able to work with OpenOffice.org X11 with relatively little effort.

For developers: OpenOffice.org X11 uses LGPL license and is developed within openoffice.org CVS. You will also have to sign a JCA (read the bottom of the page) to contribute to the effort.

More information about OpenOffice.org X11 in OpenOffice.org Mac porting pages

What is NeoOffice?

NeoOffice is a version of OpenOffice.org for Mac OS X that is specially focused on making OpenOffice.org user-friendly and easy to use for end users. It is currently (as of Jan 2006) the only version of OpenOffice.org that has good native integration with the Mac OS X system. This means, for example, native access to all the fonts in Mac OS X, native menus, native printing, native drag and drop, native cut and paste, and also native access to all files, links, aliases and (mounted) volumes on the Mac OS X system. This version of OpenOffice.org is currently (Jan 2006) based on version 1.1.5 of OpenOffice.org

For developers: NeoOffice uses GPL license and is built on top of OpenOffice.org X11 by using Java/Cocoa bindings for the User Interface (UI).

More informations in About NeoOffice

What is OpenOffice.org Aqua port / Cocoa port?

Starting in October 2005, there has been an effort to revive the direct native port of OpenOffice.org for Mac OS X. Currently (Jan 2006) this effort is at its first stages and it will take a long time, before it will be ready for final release. News about this effort will be published in OpenOffice.org Mac porting pages.

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Q1: Where find OpenOffice.org or NeoOffice ?

A: You can download both from respective sites.

URL for download OpenOffice.org : http://download.openoffice.org/index.html

URL for download NeoOffice : http://trinity.neooffice.org/modules.php?name=Downloads

Q2: Why there seems to be several parallel efforts?

A: Because this is very normal situation in open source. Other answer is because of historical and personal choices.

An interesting link : This mail from Kevin Hendricks also provides some historical details.

Other links : History of NeoOffice and OpenOffice.org. quote from Patrick may explain some of the licensing situation.

Q3: Where do I get support for OpenOffice.org X11 ?

A: The [1] Will provide a complete support for OpenOffice.org X11 users

Here's also the OpenOffice.org for Mac OSX support page

B: The NeoOffice forums provide user support for both OpenOffice.org X11 and NeoOffice.

Here's also the OpenOffice.org for Mac OSX support page

Q4: But everybody could use OpenOffice.org X11...?

A: One has to separate the users and the developers. And also new users and experienced users (see Q1).

Different people need different things and not all people want to tinker when they install applications, neither do those people want to do development work. For those people neither OpenOffice.org X11 nor the current OpenOffice.org Cocoa port is as user friendly as NeoOffice.

For those who want to tinker and develop, the OpenOffice.org provides excellent chance to learn to program :)

Q5: But it would be more efficient, if there would be only one effort...

A: NeoOffice is not taking developers away from OpenOffice.org: no matter what codebase is used, OpenOffice.org will get the important fixes and patches sooner or later. The Java part of NeoOffice is not interesting for OpenOffice.org since OpenOffice.org project wants to use only Cocoa/Carbon. Otherwise people could have started contributing to Java on NeoOffice in the first place.

This situation is similar to the eternal discussion that Linux desktops Gnome and KDE should be merged into one project. The world is better when there are alternatives.