OpenOffice.org 2.2 Released

[Bastieeeh]

Edinburgh, UK (PRWEB) March 29, 2007 -- The OpenOffice.org Community announce the release of OpenOffice.org 2.2, the latest version of the leading open-source office suite. With upgrades to its word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, and database software, the free software package provides a real alternative to Microsoft's recently-released Office 2007 product - and an easier upgrade path for existing Microsoft Office users. OpenOffice.org 2.2 also protects users from newly discovered vulnerabilities, where users' PCs could be open to attack if they opened documents from, or accessed web sites set up by, malicious individuals.

In version 2.2, users will immediately notice the improvement in the quality of text display in all parts of OpenOffice.org. The reason for this is that the previously optional support for kerning, a technique to improve the appearance of text written in proportional fonts, has now been enabled by default. OpenOffice.org's unique pdf export function has also been enhanced with the addition of the optional creation of bookmarks feature, and support for user-definable export of form fields.

While OpenOffice.org 2.1 functions well on Microsoft's Windows Vista, version 2.2 makes use of some of the new cosmetic changes available in Vista, the new file dialogues being an example. Apple Mac users will notice a smaller download and a smaller installed size. The Apple Mac Intel version has many stability improvements, and bug fixes ranging from .ppt export to improved UNO connections. Version 2.2 now requires Mac OS X 10.4.x running X11.

Turning to some of the enhancements made to the individual components of OpenOffice.org, the Calc spreadsheet has received additional enhancements to its support for Microsoft file formats, including improved support for Pivot Tables and some specialised trigonometric functions. Base, the database component, has improved SQL editing functionality as well as a new "Queries within Queries" feature. Compatibility options for some database drivers, such as Oracle ODBC, have been improved. Impress, the presentations component, offers improvements in the handling of hidden slides which has been made more intuitive.

It is important to remember that OpenOffice.org is not just a software package, but is also a development and user community. One demonstration of this is the ability of third party developers to create extensions in a simple manner. Third party extensions can now be more closely integrated and features have been added to dramatically simplify the installation and updating of these. In addition, features have been added to assist those participating in the translation and localisation of OpenOffice.org.

In addition to being immediately available for download from the traditional download servers, OpenOffice.org is also available from a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) network. Alternatively, OpenOffice.org Community Distributors supply the software on CD-ROM in many countries and native language translations will be available from their relevant communities.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[BXtreme]

Btw, here's the download of this in a thread - http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=28364

 

[psychomage343]

sweet, my overall most favorite office suite ever, it kicks ass compared to any other suite, and that has nothing to do with the fact that it is free lol

 

[Jimmy 2004]

Although I personally think Linux has a lot of work to do before most Windows users should consider it, OpenOffice is definitely there. I don't use it much, but when I've tried it, it offers most of the basic functionality that you get in Office 2003, plus quite a lot of advanced features and even some stuff that Office doesn't have. I would use it more, but I have a few issues with the spreadsheet software so I generally use Office for that, and I'm used to Word.

You should definitely get this if you're worried about Office's high price tag.

 

[ryboto]

sweet, my overall most favorite office suite ever, it kicks ass compared to any other suite, and that has nothing to do with the fact that it is free lol

I like it, and i respect the work they do, but it still has a ways to go with it's spreadsheet, and image handling in the writer. It's very strange when it deals with copying and pasting plots generated in calc into writer. Also, editing plots in calc is extremely cumbersome. You can't put a super/sub script on an axis label, you have to hope that there's a symbol that looks super or sub-scripted to fit your needs. Also, where's the tau variable in the symbols??? Why is there 2 different context menus when i select a plot? I click it once, i get a context menu, i click it again, to change the focus, and i get a completely different context menu? I just can't efficiently use the spreadsheet open office provides, maybe 2.2 fixes some issues. For now I stick with excel.