| INTRODUCTION |
OpenOffice.org - word processor, spreadsheet
application, presentation tool and more |
OpenOffice.org is an open source, feature-rich
multi-platform office productivity suite. The user interface and the functionality
is very similar to other commercial products in the market like Microsoft Office or
Lotus SmartSuite.
OpenOffice and MS Office OpenOffice is seen as a good alternative to Microsoft Office bacause they share much of the same functionality. It is also possible to open and save documents in Mircosoft Office file format like Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc.
The graphical user interface has many similarities to Microsoft Office, so few people have problems getting started.
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| HIGHLIGHTS |
| Word Processor |
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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 |
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OpenOffice.org Calc provides full spreadsheet
functionality incl. a huge number of statistical and scientific functions,
pivot tables and charts. |
|
| Presentation Tool |
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OpenOffice.org Impress is a full-featured
presentation tool that allows to create and modify diagrams and pictures
right within the application. |
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| Drawings and Diagrams |
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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. |
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| Database Access |
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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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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 can now be used
by handicapped people - for example people with sight problems. OpenOffice.org
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. |
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| Support for many native languages |
 |
OpenOffice.org introduces functionality
like bi-directional and vertical writing that is required for many
native languages. This allows OpenOffice.org 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| 3rd Party Add-ons |
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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. |
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| XML File Filter Tool |
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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. |
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| 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. |
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| Support for DocBook and PDA File Formats |
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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. |
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| MySQL Integration |
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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. |
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Services
