OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org is an independent compilation of the latest version of the fully freeware OpenOffice suite, distributed within Open Source rules. It is a competition, one of the most serious, to MS Office (next to the paid StarOffice suite). The suite includes independent applications: Writer word processor, Calc spreadsheet, Base database module, Draw graphic program and the Impress presentation creator. What one will notice at the start, in edition 3, is the new Start Center, new icons and a zoom control on the taskbar. The Writer word processor may display multiple pages during edition and provides improved notes creation. Calc has a new component, allowing choice of an optimal cell value, based on the values in other cells. A possibility of spreadsheet group work has been added, including support up to 1024 columns. Optimization options using the Solver function have been improved, enabling the user to solve equations with many unknown variables.

The suite supports the OpenDocument (ODF) 1.2 format as well as .oxt and mdb in the Windows release. It can open MS Office 2007 and Office 2008 for Mac OS X (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx, etc.) documents. OpenOffice.org 3.0 is the first version operating in Mac OS X without X11, having the same appearance as other Aqua applications. A partial support of VBA on this platform has been introduced. Owing to the use of API interface access simplifications which Mac OS X includes, OpenOffice.org 3.0 is friendlier to the visually impaired. There are also many innovations in the Draw and Impress.