Sun to help create native OpenOffice for Mac OS X

Mac users waiting for a native version of OpenOffice might see it sooner than they might have thought, now that Sun has thrown its support behind the project.

Sun's Philipp Lohmann announced on his blog yesterday that Sun will help with the port of OpenOffice -- the open-source version of Sun's StarOffice productivity suite -- to Aqua, the Mac user interface. This has been an ongoing project for almost five years, ever since Sun released a beta version of OpenOffice for Mac users.

That version, however, required the installation of additional software since it wasn't built using Apple's Aqua and Quartz graphics technology. Sun hopes it can speed up the process of creating a native version with the help of its developers, Lohmann said.

However, he didn't offer a timetable for the launch.