Bean (software)

Last updated
Bean
Developer(s) James Hoover
Initial release1 May 2007;17 years ago (2007-05-01)
Stable release
3.7.0 [1]   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg / 16 May 2024
Written in Objective-C
Operating system Mac OS X
Type Word processor
License Freeware [2]
Website bean-osx.com

Bean is a word processor for Mac OS X. Originally free and open source software Bean became closed source at version 3. However, the Bean executable is still distributed free of charge. [3] According to its author, James Hoover, Bean is not meant to replace Microsoft Word, but to be a lean word processor that is beautiful and user friendly. Many of Bean's operations are carried out by the underlying Cocoa framework of Mac OS X. The name Bean is a play on Cocoa and Java, two popular programming frameworks.

Contents

After the release of Bean 3.2.2 in November 2012, Hoover announced that "active development of Bean will cease. Bean will remain available for download at the bean-osx.com website. It may even be updated as necessary to keep the app running on future versions of OS X. Also, I'll try to continue technical support at the usual email address." [4] Since this announcement, Hoover has provided further updates and fixes for Bean, reaching version number 3.6.1 by August 2023.

Features

The design of Bean was heavily influenced by Marten Van De Kraats' article "Lean Word Processor Specifics". [5] It is especially suitable for note taking or writing short articles because the program is highly responsive and starts almost instantly, while full-featured office suites take a much longer time to load. While Bean is not designed to compete with programs like LibreOffice Writer, OpenOffice.org Writer, or Microsoft Word, its feature set is complete enough to cover the needs of many users. Starting with version 3, Bean has a completely new user interface with an emphasis on simplicity. [6]

Versions 3.1.1 and below are compatible with Apple's PowerPC-powered Macintoshes. As of 2024, modern versions of Bean are compatible with Intel and Apple Silicon-powered Macs. [7]

Bean has the following features:

As of version 3:

It also includes full-screen mode, which only displays the text.

The following features are deliberately missing: footnotes, pre-defined text styles, floating graphics (but it does support in-line graphics).

File formats

Bean natively reads and writes these file formats:

Bean imports and exports these formats:

Bean can export all of the above formats to these formats:

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Changelog".
  2. ↑ Bean Word Processor Software License
  3. ↑ "Bean: News & Plans". Bean-osx.com. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  4. ↑ "Bean: News & Plans". Bean-osx.com. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  5. ↑ "Lean Word Processor Specifics". Lowendmac.com. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  6. ↑ "Bean: News & Plans". Bean-osx.com. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  7. ↑ bean-osc.com: Changelog
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