There are some issues with using NeoOffice and iListen. You cannot
dictate into a NeoOffice window like you can in MS Word or Text Edit.
The people at MacSpeech are looking into it. I have not seen an update
on it recently, I am sure they are busy double checking Tiger
compatibility.
Jeffrey Zents
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
On 17 Feb, 2005, at 20:28, Gib Henry wrote:
Neolithic Office for Java(TM) (NeoOffice/J) is OpenOffice for the Mac
without requiring X11 or messing with Unix libraries. It installs
like a Mac application, from a simple installer. It also looks and
acts increasingly like a real Macintosh Aqua application under OS X;
that is, the menus are in the menu bar, rather than repeated in every
window; it uses real command (not control!) keys; it supports scroll
wheels and drag-'n'-drop within NeoOffice/J; the application doesn't
quit every time you close the last document; printing uses the
standard Macintosh printing system; it uses your real Macintosh fonts
from the standard locations; and because it uses a separate
preferences file, you don't lose your preferences with each update
(multiple users can also have individual preferences). And it's well
integrated in other ways, too: you can copy and paste between
applications, and opening a NeoOffice/J document in the Finder will
launch NeoOffice/J directly.
The developers are careful to advise that this is technically
beta-test software; however, many users (including me!) find it stable
enough for daily work. It does receive relatively frequent patches
and updates (via installers), but it's smart enough to check for its
own updates if your web connection is up at launch. Because
NeoOffice/J is self-contained and doesn't mess with Unix libraries,
you can install it in addition to the X11 version of OpenOffice; there
will be no conflict (but you might never use the X11 version again!).
So, what's the downside? NeoOffice/J is currently built on OpenOffice
v1.1.2; any bugs in that code will surely be present in NeoOffice/J.
There are a very few font issues, but they affect primarily "oddball"
fonts and will probably be resolved with the move to a newer version
of Java. And at the moment, NeoOffice/J is lacking plug-in, applet,
and inter-application drag-and-drop support--all of which are also
lacking in OpenOffice, but forthcoming in NeoOffice/J.
If you're frustrated with the Unix- and Windows-like complexities of
OpenOffice on the Mac, you'll appreciate the Mac-like ease of use of
NeoOffice/J. The download is large and slow because of limited
bandwidth, so you might do best starting the download at night, and
you'll wake up to a whole new outlook on OpenOffice! Or if I'm wrong
and you don't like it, just drop the application in the trash, and
it's uninstalled.
A screen shot and download directions are at
http://www.planamesa.com/neojava/en/index.php. Cheers,
--
Gib Henry
