[libreoffice-users] Re: LO for a Mac Powerbook G4

On 7/20/12 11:45 AM, Alex Thurgood wrote:
> On 07/20/2012 07:06 PM, webmaster-Kracked_P_P wrote:
> >
>
> > Now we need to build up the numbers in the Windows and Mac office
> > market.  LO does have the advantage of more [so I have heard] language
> > support than MSO does, and you do not need to buy a new version to get
> > these 100+ supported languages for the menu and help systems.
>
> Bear in mind that there are 2 comparative "open source" competitors on
> Mac apart from LO :
>
> - AOOo, the follow on from the legacy OpenOffice.org, with some
> functionality missing (compared to LO), due to licensing issues
> preventing that functionality from being included in the binary release;

Played with it briefly in Windows years ago, but kind of waiting for the 
Apache dust to settle before considering it.

> - NeoOffice : a stable, longstanding and Mac environment integrated
> product, yes, behind a bit in version functionality, compared to LO, but
> nonetheless representative of a more Mac-like experience.

This was the first office package I checked out after deciding I wasn't 
particularly happy with Pages, but when I found out I had to pay to post 
problems and bugs in the Neo forums, that was it for me.  I'm not sure 
Neo is even supporting any new versions for PPC any more.

Don't forget the current Lotus Symphony, it's based on Open Office now.

> LO still has a looooong way to go when it comes to Mac OS integration,
> and that is without even considering the numerous accessibility problems
> that LO causes - quite simply, it is unusable for anyone with a
> disability that relies on the accessibility functions provided by Mac OSX.

I've been a computer user since the 8-bit days, and I would have stopped 
with "LO still has a looooong way to go".   :-)

> These issues represent major obstacles for users on Mac OSX against the
> adoption of LO. It doesn't look like a Mac app, and it doesn't behave
> like one either. We still Mac users, of course, but their one and only
> initial experience is often fatal to the reputation of our product on
> that OS.

The non-Mac interface really doesn't bother me too much, having gone 
from Atari 8-bit to the ST/TT line, Win 98 then XP, and now OS X.  But 
that consistency in user interface is what makes Macs much easier for 
some people to learn.  Apple terminology really threw me at first, took 
me 2 weeks to finally figure out that "Airport" meant wireless.  But a 
friend who could never fathom Windows knew right away what it meant.   LOL

> What the project desperately needs are programmers who can code to
> Apple's "do as I say or else" coding standards. This is particularly
> true of the user interface, which is fairly far from Apple's HMI guidelines.
>
> Alex



--
Ken

Mac OS X 10.6.8
Firefox 14.0.1
Thunderbird 14.0
LibreOffice 3.5.2.2


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