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OpenOffice 3.0 beta natively supports Mac OS X

By Tim Conneally, BetaNews

May 8, 2008, 12:06 PM

Download OpenOffice.org 3.0.0 Beta for Mac OS X from BetaNews FileForum now.

The latest beta of OpenOffice.org 3.0 is the first to support Mac OS X without the need for X11.

The first alpha edition of OpenOffice 3.0, code-named Aqua, went live just shy of one year ago, and was reported to be extremely buggy. Naturally, however, when an update contains as many broad additions as this release does, a certain level of bugginess is expected, especially considering the nature of the program itself.

Besides being the first version of OpenOffice.org to natively support OS X, new core features include: support for OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2, filters for Microsoft Office 2007 and Office 2008 for Mac OS X, an entirely new icon set, the addition of a "start center" when the application starts, a solver component for optimizing complex spreadsheet cell values, 1024 columns per Calc sheet (spreadsheet) instead of 256, and a host of other features. Some items listed there, rather than being entirely new, are improvements to previous core features.

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By BeyondYourFrontDoor

posted May 9, 2008 - 2:49 AM

Sometimes, you get what you pay for. iWork is a tidy little package that confuses me less than any other office package. These folks should try do OpenOffice-Lite for those that would prefer a 25 column spreadsheet, that, you know - worked. Not that I don't love the endless march of progress... but I like my applications to get... better with age.

Nowadays, a new version of Office or whatever is just 100 more features you never use and 20 features you used to use all screwed up. That said, less than $200 for the 'home and student' version does give you a decent value...

Bring back Lotus 1-2-3! Or Quattro... that was a gooder. Best use of the / key ever.

Score: 0

By BeyondYourFrontDoor

edited May 9, 2008 - 2:50 AM

Double post

Score: 0

By zridling

posted May 8, 2008 - 7:58 PM

And I need to pay how much for ms office that doesn't even create its own MS-OOXML ISO-standard files? Oy.

Software when it's ready. What a concept. ;-)

Score: 0

By AnthonySPT

posted May 8, 2008 - 6:57 PM

>>1024 columns per Calc sheet (spreadsheet) instead of 256

These are the type of 'new' features I remember from the late 80s, early 90s. Is this something they are really proud of? Shivers.