OpenOffice.org 1.1 Features Introduction OpenOffice.org 1.1 - word processor, spreadsheet application, presentation tool and more
OpenOffice.org 1.1 is an open, feature-rich multi-platform office productivity suite. The user interface and the functionality is very similar to other products in the market like Microsoft Office or Lotus SmartSuite, but compared to these commercial products OpenOffice.org is absolutely free.
A full description of the application can be found on the product pages at: http://www.openoffice.org/product/ Highlights Word Processor OpenOffice.org Writer is a full-featured word processor. The powerful Navigator and Stylist tools make changing the formatting throughout a document a simple task. Spreadsheet OpenOffice.org Calc provides full spreadsheet functionality incl. a huge number of statistical and scientific functions, pivot tables and charts. Presentation Tool OpenOffice.org Impress is a full-featured presentation tool that allows to create and modify diagrams and pictures right within the application. Drawings and Diagrams OpenOffice.org Draw is a drawing tool that supports both vector and bitmap images. The powerful Connectors allow to easily complex diagrams and org charts. Database Access With the database tools in OpenOffice.org users can easily access and analyze data, create complex reports or do a mail merge based on a customer database. Many open source and commercial database systems are supported. Microsoft Office Compatibility OpenOffice.org is able to read and write Microsoft Office files. This allows users to open and save Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on their preferred platform incl. Windows, Linux and Solaris. One-click Export to PDF OpenOffice.org 1.1 introduces the one-click PDF export feature that enables you to easily create PDF files without the need for any additional third party software. This feature makes exchanging documents in a standard "read-only" file format a trivial task. The creation of PDF files normally requires relatively expensive third party add-on tools. With OpenOffice.org this feature comes for free. Export to Flash (.SWF) OpenOffice.org now can export presentations and drawings to the Macromedia Flash format (.swf). Thus, it's now possible to view presentations in a simple web browser that has the Flash plugin installed. Recipients and users of Flash presentations don't have to install a special viewer anymore in order to view a presentation. Accessibility OpenOffice.org 1.1 can now be used by handicapped people - for example people with sight problems. OpenOffice.org 1.1 provides a high contrast mode, and together with additional tools (see http://www.sun.com/access/) it's even possible to use special entry devices. Support for many native languages OpenOffice.org 1.1 introduces functionality like bi-directional and vertical writing that is required for many native languages. This allows OpenOffice.org 1.1 to be translated into Japanese, Hebrew and many other languages that have sophisticated text layout requirements. In addition the OpenOffice.org project has an increasing number of native-language projects where users can access OpenOffice.org information in their native language. Open XML File Format The default file format in OpenOffice.org is an open XML file format defined in a 500-page specification document. Every OpenOffice.org file is a ZIP archive containing separate XML files for the content, styles, settings and meta data. OASIS is using the OpenOffice.org file format as the basis for the creation of a industry wide standard for an open office document file format. For ordinary end users this means that the content of documents can still be accessed and used even if OpenOffice.org would go away. API and File Format Compatible with StarOffice 7[tm] Office Suite Since the StarOffice 7[tm] Office Suite is based on OpenOffice.org 1.1 both application suites are API and file format compatible. Sun Microsystems, Inc., the founder and main sponsor of the OpenOffice.org project, is providing support, training, enterprise tools and services for the StarOffice 7 Office Suite. More details about the relationship and the feature differences between OpenOffice.org and the StarOffice product can be found in a comparison document on the sun.com website. Other office suites that are API and file format compatible with OpenOffice.org will soon be listed on the OpenOffice.org website. In order to get your OpenOffice.org based/compatible product included in that list please contact Erwin Tenhumberg or Louis Suarez-Potts. Macro Recorder The new macro recorder records and automates recurring tasks. For more sophisticated programming tasks the OpenOffice.org Software Development Kit (SDK) can be used. The SDK provides libraries, tools and documentation for the Java programming language, C++, Basic, OLE and XML. The SDK is a separate download. 3rd Party Add-ons The new add-on framework and the new deployment tool (the "pkgchk" utility) allow developers to easily include new components and 3rd party add-ons into an existing OpenOffice.org installation. XML File Filter Tool The new XML file filter tool makes it easy to integrate new import or export file filters that are based on XSL transformations. A popular use case for the XML filter tool is the support for the new Microsoft Office 2003 XML file formats. ActiveX Control OpenOffice.org 1.1 comes with an ActiveX control that allows users to view OpenOffice.org documents within a browser window (Internet Explorer) on the Windows platform. The ActiveX control can also be used within native applications developed in Microsoft VisualBasic or Borland Delphi. Support for DocBook and PDA File Formats OpenOffice.org allows users to export OpenOffice.org documents to popular file formats like DocBook or various small device file formats like AportisDoc. This gives users the possibility to carry their documents with them on their Palm Pilots and Pocket PC PDA's. MySQL Integration OpenOffice.org now has support for MySQL databases, i.e. the open source database can be used for mail merge activities and the creation of reports. The combination of OpenOffice.org and MySQL (or another supported database) allows users to do tasks that many people used to solve by using products like Microsoft Access. More Information Complete OpenOffice.org 1.1 Feature List http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/1.1/features-text.html OpenOffice.org 1.1 Product Page http://www.openoffice.org/product/ OpenOffice.org 1.0.x Features http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/source/features.html OpenOffice.org Download Central http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/source/download.html
La empresa Sun Microsystems inició este martes 27 la distribución de StarOffice 8. StarOffice 8 es una suite de ofimática comercial que incluye procesamiento de palabras, hoja de cálculo, presentaciones, dibujos y aplicación de base de datos.

Según la empresa, StarOffice 8 «provee una excelente compatibilidad con Microsoft Office». Esta nueva versión mejora el intercambio de archivos con Word, Excel y PowerPoint, mejorando el manejo de archivos Word y Excel protegidos con clave de acceso así como presentaciones com animaciones complejas, ''autoformas'' y transiciones en transparencias. StarOffice 8 también incluye un convertidor de macros de Microsoft Office lo que permite que muchas macros escritas para Microsoft Office funcionen en StarOffice.

StarOffice 8 es también la primera suite de ofimática comercial que maneja documentos en el formato ''Open Document Format'' para aplicaciones de ofimática (OpenDocument). OpenDocument es un formato de archivos basado en XML, creado por la ''Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards''. El estado de Massachusetts en Estados Unidos recientemente anunció su plan para adoptar el formato OpenDocument. Microsoft ha informado que no manejará el formato OpenDocument.

StarOffice 8 está basado en el proyecto de software libre OpenOffice.org, fundado por Sun en julio de 2000, cuando publicó bajo dos licencias de software libre el código de StarOffice.

StarOffice 8 está disponible para ser descargado del sitio web de Sun por el precio de $69.95; también se puede adquirir una versión empaquetada por $99.95. Las empresas pueden adquirir StarOffice 8 por $35 (£20) por usuario. La versión OpenOffice puede obtenerse gratuitamente en el sitio de OpenOffice.org, si bien las versiones estables corresponden a la versión 7 de StarOffice.