OpenOffice 3.0 issues new challenge
The developers of OpenOffice.org, the open source office suite replacement, will today release version 3.0 of the software (www.openoffice.org). And in doing so they issue a major new challenge to Microsoft’s dominant Office suite.
Version 3.0 of OpenOffice.org introduces a number of new features as well as a lot more polish for existing features. Some of the major changes that could make OpenOffice.org a growing threat to Microsoft’s Office domination include support for working with Office 2007 files, proper support for Mac OSX, and a vastly improved spreadsheet application.
With Version 3.0, OpenOffice.org is now able to run on Mac OS X without the need for X11. For the first time OpenOffice.org behaves like any other Aqua application. This is a significant step forward for Mac users that have been left out of the OpenOffice.org loop until now.
OpenOffice.org 3.0 also already supports version 1.2 of the ISO standard OpenDocument Format (ODF) which includes powerful new features. This is important as OpenOffice.org capitalises on its international recognition by ISO while Microsoft’s OOXML format is still mired in controversy. ODF is also quickly being adopted by governments around the world including South Africa, Brazil, Belgium, Malaysia and, most recently, Venezuela.
Office 2007
Compatibility has always been the biggest hurdle for any challenger to Microsoft’s Office suite. With version 3.0 OpenOffice.org includes read and write support for Microsoft Office formats including .doc, .xls and .ppt. But, perhaps more significant, is OpenOffice.org 3.0’s ability to open Office 2007 documents in the newer .docx, .xlsx and .pptx format that really promises to make it competitive. Until recently there was no out-of-the-box support for these newer formats, forcing users to switch back to Microsoft Office to work with these types of files.
OpenOffice.org 3.0 also introduces spreadsheet collaboration with this release. With this feature users can manage multiple users on one spreadsheet, prevent data conflicts and spreadsheet owners can easily merge all changes.
Also on the spreadsheet front, OpenOffice.org 3.0 now also supports 1024-column spreadsheets. Previously the spreadsheet applications could only support 256 columns and users most often requested this be extended.
OpenOffice.org 3.0 also includes a number of interface improvements, including multi-page previews, a significantly improved notes feature and a new launch page.
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