Review of KOffice 2.0 Alpha 8 – On Windows 162
4WebChimps writes "As featured previously on Slashdot, the KOffice project is working towards a cross-platform, open source office suite for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X. The most recent release, KOffice 2.0 Alpha 8, achieved that goal by being the first release for all three operating systems simultaneously. Want to try KOffice on Windows? TechWorld has a review (with screenshots) of KOffice on Windows, including the installation process which is as simple as clicking a few buttons (the online installer does the rest). Hopefully it won't be long before KOffice sits alongside OpenOffice.org as a usable cross-platform open source productivity suite."
Review? Really? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Why ... (Score:5, Informative)
Because the older versions of Qt that the old KDE was built on was only free/Free on Linux. Windows Qt used to be only available with a expensive commercial license, and nobody from KDE felt like paying for the privilege of supplying free software to Windows users.
Re:kwrite? (Score:3, Informative)
already done
Re:Why ... (Score:5, Informative)
QT was not GPL on windows until version 4
Re:Excellent news (Score:5, Informative)
My personal favorite is Krita, which IMHO is surpasses GIMP in many ways. Full CMYK support, much more friendly user interface and better intergration with the Office suite.
Re:euch (Score:5, Informative)
The benefit is that the installer will take care of dependencies, so that the user doesn't have to install a >100 MB package for each program she wants, or to install a huge package of apps if she only wants a few.
I can't think of a reason why this shouldn't be obvious.
Just tried it out (Score:3, Informative)
Re:euch (Score:4, Informative)
Indeed, I was hoping they would be a little more quick with it, but I think you are right in saying "long term plan" was about right, although I imagine that if its anything like Slashdot (et al) that trying to find people to blaspheme and create Windows stuff is a problem.
Although, im not sure where the 20MB's came from now anyways (I responded before even looking).. but after looking [kde.org] the installer is only 1.6MB ... which isnt too bad, seeing how many languages it supports, and the fact it may even come with 2 different compilers aswell...
Re:Good Free Software WordPro Recommendation? (Score:3, Informative)
I looked at http://www.lyx.org/ [lyx.org] a few years ago, and it was alright. It wasn't what I wanted though, not needing or knowing LaTeX.
However, you already use TeX, so it might just what you want.
Or alternatively, have a look at AbiWord from http://www.abisource.com/ [abisource.com] it is simple, and shouldn't screw things up if you use the native file format (an XML based thingy).
I use AbiWord all the time for quick loading WP without too many fancy things. One caveat, it sometimes crashes for no explicable reason, and then causes you to have to re-write everything that you hadn't saved.
Re:1997 called... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Why ... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Plans for KOffice on CD? (Score:2, Informative)
I don't know about your home country, but I get my CDs downloaded and shipped by Zyxware
http://www.zyxware.com/requestcd [zyxware.com]
Re:kwrite? (Score:5, Informative)
What does he mean? He means he would like to see Kwrite [kde-apps.org] ported natively to Windows.
The word processing component of Koffice, to which I assume you think he is referring, is called "KWord".
kwrite via MS Windows version of KDE! (Score:5, Informative)
In which case you should be looking at the KDE install for windows, sorry it's via an easy-as-falling-over installer too.
http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/KDE_on_Windows/Installation [kde.org]
Kwrite IIRC is part of the default installation - it's on my Vista install (I'm not rebooting to check).
More info at http://windows.kde.org/ [kde.org] too.
HTH
Re:euch (Score:3, Informative)
I dunno exactly how hard it is to explain, but remember this... you are talking about trying to explain software dependencies to people who do not yet understand that hardware needs software to run. They can't wrap their minds around drivers. I should know. I have to try to explain things like this every day at the repair shop I work at.
These people also think that their hard drives are the same as their ram, since both refer to the same units (MB and GB). I can't tell you how many times a customer will call and say "Hi. I need more memory. My computer is running too slowly. I have too many programs on it and I don't have any room left." Then there are those who call for support. You ask them to open their web browser, and they reply "Huh? What's a web browser?" I say, you know... Firefox, or Internet Explorer... which will usually draw up the response of "Oh. The big E on my desktop." The trouble only continues, when I ask them to put a URL in their address bar... which again prompts the reply "Huh?" At which they seem to notice for the very first time ever, the www.whatever up top.
These are also the people who believe that the thing they get from the cable company for their internet, plugs into the MODEM on their computer. Nono, not the actual modem, but the "other" modem, you know, the one with the bigger phone plug.
Of course, one of the staples of our business is spyware cleaning. Why? Because people do not seem to understand that when they are surfing, and that little popup comes up telling them that they are infected, and they HAVE to download and purchase AntiVirus 2008 in order to get rid of the infections. So we clean them, and arm them with tools they can use to continue to clean their systems, telling them at length how these programs work, and how they are to be used. And can you guess what happens? Several weeks or months later they bring the machines back to be cleaned again, and they not only did not even run their copies of SPybot or AdAware or Malwarebytes like they were shown how to do... (logs), but they did not even update their definition databases like they were told to do.
And you think that "This software needs that part of software to work, and this other software needs that same part of software to work. By using this installer, you only need to download and install that part only once." is going to successfully explain software dependencies to them?
Re:More KDE Apps on Mac or Windows ? (Score:3, Informative)
Some devels were posting shots of KDE running on Windows.
Qt4 made major improvements which allowed for KDE4 to be easier ported to Windows.
For KOffice to function, you have to have KDE4 installed. And the installer from RTFA is essentially alpha installer for KDE4 for Windows - now also including KOffice. Even if you would select only KOffice, most of KDE4 would be also installed since KOffice depends on it.
If you are not sure, just give it a try - http://www.koffice.org/releases/2.0alpha8-release.php [koffice.org]. You can always simple remove KDE4 from your hard drive. it doesn't yet integrates with Windows deeply: simple removal of directory would do a trick. After installation, go into bin/ directory and launch kword.exe. It's alpha quality - but it works somehow already.
P.S. My personal favorite of KDE4 is Mahjong with SVG graphics. Install kdegames package to get it.