OpenOffice.org on OS X

I would like to install OpenOffice.org 1.1.2 on my friend's iMac which is running OS X 10.1.2. I've downloaded two files - the one for ooo....dmg.bz2 and also x11user.dmg.
When we double-clicked the ooo file, StuffIt created a file with the extension '1' or '0' - I can't remember which - rather than 'dmg'. Should it have created a 'dmg' file?
I haven't offered the X11user.dmg file to the iMac yet; will it install by 'double-clicking'? or do I need to do something else first?
Regards
Echo
:dummy:

Not sure about the installation but isn't OpenOffice on OSX unstable, I too wanted too wanted to get it but the stablilty issues put me off until a more stable release.

Try NeoOffice. It's an OpenOffice port with a Java interface.

OpenOffice needs to be run under X11, and that's way too slow.

randomfactor said:

Not sure about the installation but isn't OpenOffice on OSX unstable, I too wanted too wanted to get it but the stablilty issues put me off until a more stable release.

Click to expand...

No, Open Office under OS X is not unstable. You have to use X11 which adds a bit to the whole thing, and it may run .00001 % slower then, but it runs just fine for 95% of people using it. Another way to use it would be to get the Neo Office version which is OS X native and does not require X11 installed.

I have been using Open Office over the last 4 years or so and have never had any stability problems, either under the winders version, the linux version or the OS X version.

You are always going to see a certain percentage of messages sniveling and crying about any program saying it is unstable and crashes their system. The majority of the time you find they have either bad hardware or have found just the right way to screw something up.

Rather than listen to a bunch of sniveling and avoiding the program, the best thing to do would be to install it and use it yourself and see how it works for you. It's a very simple matter to delete the program if it does not meet your needs.

In your case with the laptop i would say use the Neo Office version, no need to add the extra load of X11, and keep in mind, no program is going to run as fast on a laptop as it will on say a PowerMac 2.7.

i stand corrected. :headphone

EchoBeach said:

I would like to install OpenOffice.org 1.1.2 on my friend's iMac which is running OS X 10.1.2. I've downloaded two files - the one for ooo....dmg.bz2 and also x11user.dmg.
When we double-clicked the ooo file, StuffIt created a file with the extension '1' or '0' - I can't remember which - rather than 'dmg'. Should it have created a 'dmg' file?
I haven't offered the X11user.dmg file to the iMac yet; will it install by 'double-clicking'? or do I need to do something else first?
Regards
Echo
:dummy:

Click to expand...

The archive file 000openoffice.bz2 will unarchive when you double click it to a .dmg file which you then double click and it will present a openoffice install file which you double click to install. If it does not give you a .dmg file then maybe something is wrong with the file. Go to openoffice.org and redownload the file.

Or, as Avalon suggested, get the NeoOffice version which does not require the X11 file to run on the Mac. Upgrades to Open Office go much faster on the X11 version, but Neo Office works quite well on the iMac G5 that my wife has.

randomfactor said:

i stand corrected. :headphone

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that on fourms, the majority of messages you see will be from people who are having problems. A small percentage of the total people using a program, but they write the majority of messages and it is real easy to see all the complaints and figure the program is no good.

Usually for every bad review there are dozens to hundreds of happy campers who don't write messages bragging about it. Really bad programs soon make themselves known. And there is NO software out there for any platform that doesn't have a feature or two that really ticks off somebody.

Thanks for your replies.

James said:

The archive file 000openoffice.bz2 will unarchive when you double click it to a .dmg file which you then double click and it will present a openoffice install file which you double click to install. If it does not give you a .dmg file then maybe something is wrong with the file. Go to openoffice.org and redownload the file.

Click to expand...

I've downloaded the file again; it's still the same size, but I'll have another go on the Mac.
Echo

James, I like you already

Actually I've read the opposite about NeoOffice - that it's the buggy one. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I've just started using OpenOffice, and considering everything (i.e. that it's free) I'd say it's a **** good suite, and allows me to survive in an Office centric world, which is what I need for clients. And of course, I like supporting the whole Open Source movement.

Personally things like a more MacOS UI doesn't matter as much to me - insanely unstable crashing apps matter to me a great deal more... anybody got a side-by-side comparison of the two, or reasons why NeoOffice isn't as stable? Do we have an idea of which is really is the better solution - OO or NeoOffice? Who's using which more, what features each has, etc.?

- OO uses X11 which could slow machines down - what else? When does a release become 'stable', if ever? (ok, getting philosophical here...nevermind)

looking forward to people's responsese here Ironically the best comparision for the 2 came from a thread on Slashdot... I'm still reeling from reading that site!

I have not had a problem with Neo Office so far. When it was first released there were a lot of bugs as with most software but most have been fixed. I so far have never had an issue with NeoOffice.

kahluagal said:

James, I like you already

Actually I've read the opposite about NeoOffice - that it's the buggy one. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I've just started using OpenOffice, and considering everything (i.e. that it's free) I'd say it's a **** good suite, and allows me to survive in an Office centric world, which is what I need for clients. And of course, I like supporting the whole Open Source movement.

Personally things like a more MacOS UI doesn't matter as much to me - insanely unstable crashing apps matter to me a great deal more... anybody got a side-by-side comparison of the two, or reasons why NeoOffice isn't as stable? Do we have an idea of which is really is the better solution - OO or NeoOffice? Who's using which more, what features each has, etc.?

- OO uses X11 which could slow machines down - what else? When does a release become 'stable', if ever? (ok, getting philosophical here...nevermind)

looking forward to people's responsese here

Click to expand...

I have never had Neo Office crash on me, but i also must admit i rarely use it, i stay with the OO version for the simple reason that it is the one that gets the most work done on it. Neo Office hasn't had an update for quite a while while OO is constantly being worked on. They just came out with version 2 a few days ago. Version 2 has a couple of new things added such as it now uses a format (something to do with new compatability format) it is also supossed to be even better with the .doc format of Word and instead of hiding the data base (which has been there for a long time) they now have the data base on the menu out in the open.

I haven't really run V2 through the mill yet, but on my machine it runs very well even with the X11. I guess on slower machines like a laptop it might run a bit slower, but i bet not any slower than Word itself.

As with all programs the latest version is not always the one you want on a mission critical project, which is why they still recommend V1.2 to those with mission critical work or those who don't like the bleeding edge of a beta. So far i haven't found any nastys to keep me from running v2, though i am sure somewhere there are those who have.