NeoOffice of OpenOffice
Hi I just want your guys options on which is better, i dont want this to turn into a flame war or augements but and personnal opinion and if you dont agree with someones opinion just give yours and explain why you think yours is correct.
Well I have been using MS Office for Mac for a while but it is ungodly slow because it is running on top of Rosetta, I really have no clue to distingusish which of these open source alternatives are better or which would suit me. Also I would prefer a native build of a program.
Well I have been using MS Office for Mac for a while but it is ungodly slow because it is running on top of Rosetta, I really have no clue to distingusish which of these open source alternatives are better or which would suit me. Also I would prefer a native build of a program.
Comments
I've used OpenOffice X11 & NeoOffice from the early ages of both applications. Both apps have strengths and weaknesses.
OpenOffice for instance will always be on the bleeding age of development. As it receives all the latest bug fixes and enhancements to the OpenOffice code. It also runs faster and even with loading the X11 program uses less memory.
OpenOffice lacks the system integration of NeoOffice. This should be resolved once it is weaned off of X11. In the latest update however, OpenOffice has support for native fonts. The solution is not perfect as it does double the amount of fonts on the system as it needs to convert all native fonts to a format that it can digest.
NeoOffice on the other hand is much more integrated into Mac OS. Even though both apps share the same interface (and one that doesn't comply with Apple's HIG...) NeoOffice has tapped into the native look of Mac OS. Scroll bars are blue, buttons are round, tabs are centered, etc. It also incorporates native open and save dialog boxes, as well as native printing and fonts.
Unfortunately as NeoOffice makes some use of Java for display purposes it uses more system resources. However, I recently I migrated from a 5 year old PowerBook to a 1.83Ghz MacBook, and have found that NeoOffice runs extremely fast. As NeoOffice is a fork of the OpenOffice code it sometimes uses a slightly older version of OpenOffice as its base. The developers try their best to be current, but upgrading the code does take time.
In recent months (and years) there have been varying degrees of hostility between the two communities, but I think that's something the developers have to work out themselves. From a user standpoint both apps have their strengths and weaknesses. They both need to be supported.
I just prefer to use NeoOffice.
Again thank you!