Software
OpenOffice.org 3.0 beta shrugs off X11
The OpenOffice.org Community has announced the public beta release of OpenOffice.org 3.0, a new version of the free office productivity software suite for various platforms including Mac OS X.
Related links
Story tools
Sponsored by:
E-Mail article
|
|
Print article
|
|
Contact author
|
|
AIM article
|
del.icio.us |
Reddit
|
Digg
|
Stumble
|
Slashdot It!
|
Developed as an alternative to pricey packages like Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org comprises word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, graphics and database software tools. It also reads and writes to Microsoft Office formats, and will support the OpenDocument Format (ODF) 1.2 standard.
OpenOffice.org was developed through the collaboration of Sun and thousands of open source software developers, and there are no license fees -- it's been released under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) license.
Previous releases of OpenOffice.org have depended on the Unix windowing software, X11, to operate on Mac OS X. OpenOffice.org 3 is the first release to do away with that requirement -- it now runs natively on Mac OS X. The developers have also incorporated partial Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) support -- something that Microsoft has removed in Office 2008.
Other changes in OpenOffice.org 3.0 include a new "Start Centre," new icons and a new zoom control in the status bar. Calc, the spreadsheet tool, now has a new "solver" component, supports workbook sharing, and increases size to 1024 columns per sheet. Writer, the word processor, has an improved notes feature and displays multiple pages while editing. Other enhancements have been made to Chart, Draw and Impress.
| Use this form to start a public discussion with other Linux World users on this article. Log In | Register for an account (Why you should) |
Note: Register to have your user name appear; otherwise your comment will show up as "Anonymous."
*Anonymous comments will only appear once they are approved by the moderator.
• Dell puts Linux and Atom in Vostro PCs
• Mozilla names best Firefox 3 add-ons
• Torvalds: Fed up with the 'security circus'
• Dell Latitude ON - big win for Linux
• Open source advocates hail appeals court ruling
LinuxWorld Conference and Expo San Francisco, August 4-7, 2008.
Linux Plumbers Conference Portland, OR, Sept. 16-19, 2008.
FreedomHEC Santa Monica, November 8-9, 2008.