Second Aqua Development Snapshot Released

By Robert on July 6, 2007 12:47 AM | | Comments (2)
Logo OpenOffice

A few days ago the OpenOffice Mac Porting team released the second development snapshot of the Aqua version of OpenOffice. We missed this announcement because we have been so caught up in all of the recent iPhone excitement.

Here are our thoughts for this snapshot:

  • I am not a big fan of the drop down boxes that appear when selecting a background color, font color, or highlighting. Perhaps when the product is more stable they will convert this to a more standard interface that doesn't utilize separate pop-up windows.
  • The grid in the spreadsheet application is difficult to read in this release. Changing the zoom level to 150% helps.
  • The interface still lacks the polish found in Microsoft Office and other Mac/Aqua applications. Also, while it will be nice to have the ability to run OpenOffice on a Mac without X11, it still looks and feels like a Java application with a few Aqua controls. It appears unlikely that we will see a true smooth Aqua interface until the 3.0 release.
  • At this stage of development, the porting team is focusing their efforts on fixing bugs that cause the program to crash rather than the visual elements -- which is a good plan.

The list of fixes for this release is impressive!

  • Printing now works, though it does not yet use an aqua print dialog
  • PDF export now works
  • Copy and Paste should now work fully
  • OpenOffice.org no longer crashes after quiting
  • Text and graphics are now drawn properly
  • Windows and dialogs mostly now have an aqua theme
  • Combo boxes now look a lot better
  • Various bugs, crashes and performance improvements
  • (QA only) testtool can be hacked to work properly

2 Comments

Peter said:

I have never understood why the OpenOffice team re-invents the wheel. There already is a proper OpenOffice port for the Mac: NeoOffice (and based on OpenOffice), and, as far as I can see, development is probably much farther down the road than OpenOffice.

Instead of reinventing the wheel, both development teams should rather solve their personal issues (which obviously exist), control their Egos and unite forces to get the job done.

Having two OpenOffice versions for the Mac do not help the community.

Just my 2 cent - now you can start bashing at me.

Peter.

July 17, 2007 8:11 AM
hadi farnoud said:

i agree with peter, but OpenOffice looks like better NeoOffice

July 24, 2007 8:01 AM

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