"Version 3.0 of OpenOffice.org natively supports Mac OS X without the need to install the X11 module to run the suite first."

The last time I checked, the OS X version appears to be written for Intel hardware; it's not a Universal binary.

M$ fans start in 3...2...1.

Open office is crap - blah blah blah. (No valid reasons given).

Dont like it - dont use it. But why expect everyone to pay $$$ to redmond just because you do.

Hey, there is a party.

We won't tell you where, what are the conditions, and we announce that gatecrashers are welcome !

Is The Reg turning into Slashdot ? why should we RTFA from another website when we have TheReg to tell us all about it ?...

=>

"What?

On the 13th of October 2008, the OpenOffice.org community will have released OpenOffice.org 3.0. This day is also the eighth anniversary of the foundation of the largest Free and Open Source project. Join us for a great celebration on the evening of the 13th of October at the Region Ile-de-France's center, in downtown Paris.

When?

Monday, the 13th of October, from 19:30 (7:30 pm) till 22:OO (10:00 pm)

Registration

In order to attend the OOo 3 Launch Event in Paris, you have to register by entering your first and last name, followed by a valid email address.

Registration is free and everyone is welcome within the limits of available room. [Register here!]=>http://surveytest.services.openoffice.org/surveys/index.php?sid=29527

Where?

In one of the nicest part of Paris, France, close to the Musée Rodin.

Address: Région Ile-de France, 33 rue Barbet de Jouy, 75007 Paris

Metro (Subway): Line 13, station Saint François-Xavier, Line 12: Rue du Bac

Bus: 92, 82, 84, 83, 63

More information can be found here.=>http://www.ratp.fr/

A Google Map is also available. =>http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=fr&geocode=&q=OOo3+Launch+Party&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=38.502405,93.164063&ie=UTF8&z=4

"

Now, if I had mod points 8p

Will it support the ISO standard from of DOCX too?

It would be nice to think that the first word processor to fully support Microsoft's new ISO standard document format will be Open Office, rather than MSWord.

Opening MS Office files is one thing, running and not breaking them is another. I'd love to use Open Office on my EeePC but it breaks the VBA code in some of the spreadsheets I need to use on it - and I mean "breaks"; it wouldn't have been a problem if it just ignored the code. So Open Office2 came off and MS Office XP went on. Now if Open Office 3 runs VBA properly (without breaking it when the files go back to MS Office)...

I've been using the betas and RCs for the last few months on Mac and Windows and it's pretty good. It's done everything I've needed from it - documents and spreadsheets with no problems. It's not the most beautiful app, and some of the UI is a bit clunky, but it's certainly good enough for 95% of people's computing needs.

OpenOffice.org 3.0.0 is already available, mirrors have already uploaded the stable version that will be officially announced on Monday. http://tinyurl.com/4qh48a

The PowerPC binaries for OOo 3 are a bit hard to find, but here they are:

http://ooopackages.good-day.net/pub/OpenOffice.org/MacOSX/3.0.0rc4/

(found via http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/download/aqua-PPC.html, except that the download link is broken and you have to rummage through the linked file system yourself).

#! /bin/bash

echo "Welcome to the bash, open-sorcerers!"

There used to be a time where I would use MS Word for word processing, but frankly since trying Open Office I just haven't had any reason to look back. OO has *excellent* support for .doc file formats and it also covers pretty much every feature that any casual user and indeed business user actually would need day to day. The spreadsheet and presentation software are also quite usable and I've even had reason to play with the database app which is a useful client to Postgres.

That's not to say its without fault but the major issues with addressed in 2.x and I expect further refinement in 3.0. It also has IMO some killer features such as the ability to print straight into .pdf format and presentations into .swf format. These are really, really useful features which MS Office does not have.

Seriously, if you have an older MS Office and are wondering about stumping down the money for an upgrade, just try installing Open Office. It's not going to hurt you to install it. Try opening your old files and see if they work properly, try messing around with the features you need. Maybe it won't fit your requirements, but just maybe you've just saved yourself £300 and freed yourself from Microsoft. I know I did.

I had to buy a new computer about a month ago. I got an Acer Aspire 9550 quad core so runs 64 bit Vista just fine. It came with a 6 month trial version of Office 2007. Normally I am an OpenOffice user, but decided to give it a try. Within a week I had to put OpenOffice on. It's a good thing I grew up with DOS and keyboard shortcuts or I would have been tearing the little hair I have left out trying to get things done in Office 2007. Thanks to Ctrl P and Ctrl S I was able to do work. I finally figured out where they hid the print icon. Forget File, Print - it no longer exists. Actually, the majority of the commands from previous versions that made life so much easier is missing. At least with OpenOffice, the items one would expect to use the most, File Open, File Save, and Print are right there without having to spend hours trying to find it, not so in Office 2007. As long as they haven't changed OpenOffice 3 since one of the first beta's I tried, I will be happy with it.

Before Office 97 there was the DEMAND that the only upgrade possible was to another MS Office suite. Because otherwise you'd lose all your nifty VBA stuff (I worked for a company that was part of Nortel).

And so when Office97 came out, three man-months was assigned to the few little changes. NOTHING else was considered.

Well two man-months in and the clusterfuck they put themselves in was well and truly shown. eight more people added and the total work put in was over two man-years. It would have been quicker to admit the mistake and use something else other than VBA. Thereby ensuring that the same fuckup doesn't happen again.

That would require admitting a mistake. And anyway, by then already four man-months work was down the pan, and it MUST be nearly done by now, surely?

And still people keep saying "It must run our VBA so we MUST use Office". Is it because once you've been fucked over so badly it's better to stay with them so it looks like you wanted it rather than admit a mistake?

All well and good but there's still no decent OSS project management software. Bugger. The nearest we get is OpenProj but that's pretty naff compared to MS Project, which is itself pretty awful (but the best of the bunch).

where is the promised (and much needed) Outlook copy for OOo 3.0?

I say much needed as it is a popular (as in it is widely available), plus the need to help businesses cut their MS tentacles.

Of this, one possible solution is to make it from LGPL to bog standard GPL and merge it with Evoulation. However, we all that Sun likes to keep it fingers near it.

Mine is the one with reason on its shoulder.

I have never understood the notion that LookOut is an "integral" part of MSoffice,just because M$ chose to put it on the same CD. They put autoroute on the same CD for a couple of years. But integration is very tenuous - in fact integration between Word, Excel and Powerpoint is at best tenuous.

I can't see that it is very difficult to download OOo and Evolution separately and use them together.

As the article said, it does have some VBA support. how much remains to be seen.

But you are aware that MS is doing their damnedest to kill VBA and replace it with VSTO (Visual Studio Tools for Office), which requires a full version Visual Studio and not just an express version. (and indeed they have stopped licensing VBA to third parties, in the hopes that it will go away and die)

So if you're going to have to change everything, why not change it to a solution that doesn't cost an arm and a leg?

Merge it with Evolution and release it under the GPL.

Nothing in the LGPL or GPL to stop you.

He who gets the vision gets the job.

I've yet to come across any single application that addresses more than about 10% of the needs of a project manager. Surely all software projects are properly managed? Alright so I don't see any evidence of that in the output of any major brand, but we can live in hope.

Not on their web site it isn't... and France is 1 hour ahead of the UK... or should I be waiting for California to wake up ?

Can't wait, sound like a barrel of laughs.

There will be real ale.

A couple of girls (maybe)

Music playlist decided by a commitee, all agreeing that everyone should like it, no matter how dull. But it must be free.

There will be discussions about the merits of getting home by bus.

At the end there will be a bit of pushing and gentle slapping when someone decides that brown cardigans are the way foward and everyone must agree.

I have been using OpenOffice for YEARS, and I never missed a feature that the $300 more expensive M$ Office has. In fact, I laugh when I watch people sit and wait for the "new" office to start up. -turgut

... and I cry when I sit and wait for OpenOffice to start up.

I am quite impressed with OO but what is the point of Base without this?