XML News from Thursday, July 15, 2004

OpenOffice.org 1.1.2, the open source word processor/spreadsheet/drawing program/presentation software that saves all its documents in zipped XML, has now been ported to Mac OS X. This is still based on X11 rather than Aqua, and I haven't tested it myself yet, but I'm told it's a major step forward in usability on the Mac. The press release claims, "This release has attained a maturity that enables it to be used as the default productivity suite by individuals and organizations alike. Not only is the release significantly faster and more robust than early versions, and available in numerous languages, but fonts are smooth, and overall integration into the Mac OS X desktop has been enhanced. For instance, there is clipboard functionality and, through a helper application, OpenOffice.org documents can be opened in OpenOffice.org 1.1.2 the usual Mac way, by double clicking on them." They're still looking for experienced Mac developers to help them port this to Aqua.