The native version of Mac OpenOffice is gaining speed. Earlier this month Sun announced they were putting two full-time developers on the Mac OpenOffice port. That means a day when Mac users can go without using x11 and/or NeoOffice to get the OpenOffice experience should be getting closer. Maybe we’ll even see an updated timeline soon, one that moves the beta release up a few months.
Why is Sun finally helping? One of Sun’s developers explained:
If you look around at conferences and airport lounges, you will notice that more and more people are using Apple notebooks these days. Apple has a significant market share in the desktop space. We are supporting this port because of the interest and activity of the community wanting this port.
How much anticipation is there behind this? Well, just take a look at how many comments there are to the announcement.
The most exciting thing though is that, if they are on schedule, the alpha release of a native Mac OpenOffice port should be released this month! Goodbye NeoOffice, you were okay (a getting better), but wanted way too many resources from my lil’ old Mac (plus you were constantly out of date and connecting to the internet without my permission).
