Go-oo (short forGo-Open Office) was afree and open-source officeproductivity software suite developed and sponsored byNovell. It originated as a set of patches toOpenOffice.org known asooo-build developed in 2003 the Linux software companyXimian and led byMichael Meeks. In October 2007 Go-oo was released as an independentfork with additional features. Go-oo incorporated enhancements not accepted by theupstream project, which was maintained bySun Microsystems, and offered improved support forMicrosoft Office formats, faster development cycles, and more permissive policies for accepting external contributions. The project was discontinued in 2010 following the creation ofLibreOffice, which integrated most of its features and policies.
Go-oo began in 2003 as a patch set for OpenOffice.org, developed by Ximian, which was later acquired by Novell. The patch set, called ooo-build, was created to make OpenOffice.org easier to build onLinux distributions and to include improvements submitted by the community that were not accepted by Sun Microsystems, the project's upstream maintainer.[1]
By 2005, the project had adopted the domain name go-oo.org,[2] and in October 2007 Novell released the first standalone version of Go-oo (version 2.3.0). From that point on, Linux distributions such asSUSE Linux,Debian, andUbuntu began using Go-oo rather than the unmodified upstream source.[3][4] Several Windows-based editions, includingOxygenOffice and the OpenOffice.org Novell Edition, were also built on Go-oo.
Go-oo included a number of features not present in OpenOffice.org, such as better support for Microsoft'sOffice Open XML (OOXML) formats, including limited write capability,[5] "hybrid PDF" export (PDFs with embedded source files), and the Sun Presentation Minimizer. Go-oo's more permissive contribution policies encouraged wider community involvement, in contrast to the stricter practices of Sun Microsystems.[6]
However, Go-oo faced criticism from some members of the free and open-source software community, concerned about Go-oo's inclusion of Microsoft technologies (including support forVisual Basic for Applications, OOXML andMicrosoft Works file formats), and the use of theMono programming language, controlled by Novell. They argued that these features could introduce software patent risks and compromise interoperability.[7] Some also suggested that Go-oo's enhancements may have been shaped by Novell's 2006 partnership announcement with Microsoft, which was later found to have imposed limitations on interoperability features in Go-oo.[8]
In September 2010,The Document Foundation announced the creation ofLibreOffice as a full fork of OpenOffice.org, with many of Go-oo's developers and code contributions forming the foundation of the new project.[9][10] Go-oo was deprecated in favor of LibreOffice, which adopted many of its patches, features, and governance policies. LibreOffice also abandoned the use of the Mono programming language.[11]
LibreOffice and its enterprise-focused derivative,Collabora Online, are considered the principal successors of the Go-oo codebase.
A timeline of major derivatives of: StarOffice and OpenOffice.org
Stable builds of Go-oo were usually available a couple of days after OpenOffice.org stable builds. Windows builds had a different last number in the version's number than Linux builds.[12] A stable version for Macintosh computers was available starting with version 3.1.0 released in May 2009.[13]
Go-oo works faster in some operations than OpenOffice.org.[14] This makes it perform faster than OpenOffice.org.[15]
The OpenOffice.org 3.0 installation no longer includes a large number of dictionaries for writing aids (spell checker, hyphenation and thesaurus), as this impacted application performance. Localised releases may include dictionaries for particular primary and secondary languages. Dictionaries are now available as downloadable extensions, separately for each language.[16] Go-oo installation from version 3 on includes dictionaries in many languages, as a single extension, being a part of installation files. Inclusion of a large number of dictionaries in a default installation may affect performance.
Go-oo includes 3-D transition effects in Presentations (Linux).[17]
Use of the GStreamer multimedia framework in Linux for multimedia content;[15]
Use ofMono framework forUNO automation, allowing automation from other languages such as C#, Boo, and so on.[18]
Go-oo uses a combo box in place of the zoom button in stock OpenOffice.org. Newer OOo 2.x feature releases have a clickable status bar item for a zoom menu. A zoom slider was introduced to OOo 3.0 Writer and later added to OOo 3.1 Calc, Impress and Draw components.
Go-oo Calc 2.4.x has a built in function called "Solver". It is a little different from the Solver function of the same name, which is available from OpenOffice.org 3.0. OpenOffice.org 2.4.x has no Solver.[citation needed]
Go-oo can write OOXML files, and not just read them.
Import
Go-oo 2.4.x has built in support for opening Office Open XML files and brings this function also for Windows 98/ME users. (Note: OpenOffice.org 3.x has built in support for opening Office Open XML documents, but those versions of OOo cannot be installed underWindows 98/ME.)
From version 3.0 on, Go-oo can save password-protectedXLS files. It uses only one basic encryption method compatible with many spreadsheet applications (for exampleGnumeric).
Go-oo 3.x can save Office Open XML files such as docx, xlsx, pptx by using Novell OpenXML Converter.[22] Because Go-oo for Windows and OpenOffice.org Novell Edition for Windows are similar, Novell OpenXML Converter can work with Go-oo 3.x.[23]
Go-oo localizations are available only as language packs to the English installation.[4] Translations of the user interface and dictionaries for different languages in Go-oo are in some cases not the same as in OpenOffice.org.
Go-oo uses "Tango style" application shortcut icons, quick launch icons and icons for associated files.[24][25]
Go-oo installation files were usually available for download a couple of days after OpenOffice.org builds were released.
Go-oo for Windows was similar to OpenOffice.org Novell Edition for Windows. For example, Go-oo has version 3.0-19 and Novell Edition 3.0-22.[23]
The first time OpenOffice.org is started, a wizard opens to guide a user through the setting of user name and the registration process.[26] This wizard is disabled in Go-oo.
