Apache OpenOffice

[Arithmomaniac]

http://portableapps.com/news/2008-12-18 ... rtable_3.0
http://portableapps.com/apps/office/openoffice_portable

[Checker]

TPFC: http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=212 is on V3.0.1

V3.1.1 is available.
Download: http://portableapps.com/apps/office/openoffice_portable

[Checker]

It's now V3.1.1
I changed my first posting accordingly.

[webfork]

Vista users: recommend sticking with the previous version (3.1).

Been having difficulty with 3.1.1 on several Vista machines I've tested it on.

(Note that these machines are *not* patched so the latest updates might fix this.)

[SJefferies]

You could also try something like Open Office Anywhere which lets you run the OpenOffice.org suite of programs without installing it on the local computer

[GeddichNixan]

@SJeffries

You forgot to mention that Open Office Anywhere is a commercial service.

@everybody

Does this qualifies SJeffries' message as SPAM?

[joby_toss]

Spam, ignorance (this is Portable Freeware Update section), confusion ... you choose.

[GeddichNixan]

@joby_toss

Hm... let me think it over...yes, I think I choose SPAM.

[lautrepay]

Website: http://www.openoffice.org/

New v3.4 is ready to download: http://sourceforge.net/projects/openoff ... e/download
Other languages available.

[the_watcher]

i was ready to open a topic about openoffice 3.4, then i saw you got there first, lautrepay

Glad to see they're finally ready to begin active development. Let's see where this goes..

[JohnTHaller]

We're already chatting with them about trademark approval for a portable version. (Nobody can do one without it still)

[webfork]

Someone put together a comparison found via this comment under the Slashdot post about it.

I'll keep following this issue closely, but one of the best features of the sons-of-StarOffice is that it will open, edit, and save to an astonishing number of files. LibreOffice as a project seems focused on expanding that capacity and other small goodies, while OpenOffice seems more focused at this stage on business-friendly security elements.

[lautrepay]

i was ready to open a topic about openoffice 3.4, then i saw you got there first, lautrepay

Occasionally, time zones play in my favour.

We're already chatting with them about trademark approval for a portable version. (Nobody can do one without it still)

It took me half an hour to convince myself that there's nothing wrong with, eventually, PortableApps.com offering a portable version of Apache OpenOffice.
But, given the situation of tension between supporters of each of the suites, I think not everyone will manage to convince themselves about it.

I'll keep following this issue closely, but one of the best features of the sons-of-StarOffice is that it will open, edit, and save to an astonishing number of files. LibreOffice as a project seems focused on expanding that capacity and other small goodies, while OpenOffice seems more focused at this stage on business-friendly security elements.

IMHO, and sadly, sooner or later the suite with the name of a patched server will relegate LibreOffice to the same place usually occupied by Go-oo and Novell Office: a small percentage of Linux machines.
And this for a single reason: Apache OpenOffice will inherit the GUI of Lotus Symphony. This will make the difference.


But I want to stress a novelty that has gone unnoticed: a couple of weeks ago, Calligra, the new brand of the KDE project office suite, has reached its first stable release.
And a (highly experimental) MSI installer for testing purposes is available to download @ http://www.kogmbh.com/download.html. So, Windows users can now give this project a try.

[webfork]

And this for a single reason: Apache OpenOffice will inherit the GUI of Lotus Symphony. This will make the difference.

Wait, is OpenOffice going to adopt the Symphony interface as the primary look-and-feel?

In my testing so far, I've preferred the LibreOffice interface over Symphony. Although I love the tabbed window system, the side-bar thing seems like IBM's answer to the ribbon interface and feels awkward. I also want the ability to fully minimize it: even in its collapsed setting it takes up quite a bit of screen real estate. I couldn't figure out a way to modify that or just turn it off.

Whatever my personal feelings about it, you're right that raw number of features has been trumped by a solid interface. Apple of course has had fewer features than many of its market equivalents but won using a better interface, and Google Docs and others continue to survive despite Microsoft Office's vast feature-set. However, in open source desktop software, I think the closest parallel we can draw from is probably GIMP: it's had a variety of forks, revisions, and tweaks, yet the main packaged project has the most features and sees the most updates. As a result, despite (for some) an unpleasant interface, the main project has been the most popular and survived the longest.

[SYSTEM]

Someone put together a comparison found via this comment under the Slashdot post about it.

BTW, that "someone" is Michael Meeks, one of the key developers of LibreOffice. So the comparison may be a bit biased.