We've mentioned Open Office before in these pages, but this office suite is becoming so good it's worth bringing to everyone's attention again. The latest release, version 1.1.1, now supports Windows, Linux (on x86 and PPC architectures), Solaris (on SPARC and x86 architectures), FreeBSD and Max OS X..
New features include the ability to export documents and presentations to Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) and Macromedia Flash (.swf) formats, improved Microsoft Office compatibility (I've imported graphics-intensive Powerpoint presentations with no loss), and support for DocBook, the XML-based standard for preparation of open source documentation. The project has made great strides in database support, too, with new database tools (including direct support for the old dBASE .DBF file format) and MySQL integration.
An important initiative is the documentation of OOo's XML file format, which stores documents in a ZIP archive with separate XML files for the content, styles, settings and metadata. Since all formats are open and documented, it is easier to write other applications which can interoperate with OOo. In addition, the use of XSL transformations makes it possible for OOo to deal with the new MS Office 2003 XML file formats.
Performance is improved, too - it starts up faster and feels slicker. I've been using OpenOffice.org 1.1.1 for a few weeks now, and I'm handing out copies to just about everyone I meet!
Price: free
Download from: http://www.openoffice.org/ Page last updated: 09/Sep/2004 Back to Home Copyright © 1987-2010 Les Bell and Associates Pty Ltd. All rights reserved. webmaster@lesbell.com.au