Linux Office Suites 331
Cowculator writes: "Sun Microsystems will release the beta version of StarOffice 6.0 in October, with the development version already available. This ZDNet article has some more details, including a link to the development version..." Other submitters sent in notes about Gobe Productive and Hancom Office 2.0, not to mention KOffice and the Gnome office applications. As far as I know all of these are lacking the single most important thing, a robust and complete set of import filters for Word, Wordperfect, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.
The only chance the industry has against microsoft (Score:5, Informative)
I think StarOffice got off to a wonderful start. I'm very concerned about their progress. The next major version will really be a turning point in the industry one way or the other. If it's solid, and it rocks, with great compatability, then there is a great alternative to office. If it's buggy, or doesn't work well with office formats (especially Excel, where it's the weakest), then MS will win. And I'm going off to live on a deserted south pacific island.
Sigh... If I had to bet, it's depressing where I'd probably put my money... Sun's dropped the ball a few times lately.
Tip to the folks working on it: cool object oriented design is neat, but it's usability, stability, and compatability that will make StarOffice a success. Don't try to do things beyond MS Office, just match it on all fronts! Anything else is an esoteric waste of time.
-me-
thats really the problem... (Score:2, Informative)
I know that this is common knowledge, but perhaps an example of why this is so fscking important will help.
I worked as a sysadmin for the 2600 linux desktop rollout [slashdot.org] for the supreme court of Wisc. The only reason that roll out failed was because of lack of filtering from Word Perfect/M$ Word.
If we had those filters, the Circut Courts Automation Process (a derivative of Supreme Court) would be all linux desktops. That would have been an amazing advance in the world of linux to the desktop.
That's what rtf is for (Score:3, Informative)
Re:That's what rtf is for (Score:5, Informative)
Completely unacceptable for most companies.
Great for simple documents to retain tabs, bold/underline/italic, etc.
Re:Just as important (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The only chance the industry has against micros (Score:5, Informative)
quote
OpenOffice, and its predecessor StarOffice, are integrated office packages and include a word processor, web browser, and spreadsheet tools. In fact, StarOffice 5.2 contained just about everything a desktop user could need, including an integrated desktop. But with the adoption of desktop environments such as GNOME and KDE, future releases of StarOffice and OpenOffice will no longer carry the integrated desktop.
end quote
The above quote is from the following source:
LWN.net [lwn.net]
Spread-it! (Score:1, Informative)
Beside, you have to get a good connection like cable or ADSL to download it in a nice, non-frustrating way.
I don't know if you can buy Staroffice in shops in the US but you certainly can't here in Belgium.
They should spread it like Linux is spread (the non online way), cheap CD's.
This will be the most effective way to make it a success. People will not complain about the money, and they can make legal copies out of purchased CD.
Next generation Word filters are on the way! (Score:1, Informative)
The AbiWord and KWord people are working together on a new generation of MS Word filters at:
wvware.sf.net
in the wv2 subdirectory. Note that none of the existing Word filter codebases were designed to be used as a library (though the KWord one was half-designed with that in mind), hence the need for a new codebase.
Why not join in and help?
Re:That's what rtf is for (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Hancom Office - the next big thing? (Score:0, Informative)
Microsoft wanted to knock Hancom out of the market by giving out 1 million free copies of MS Word (Korean version). As a matter of fact, I have a copy of that with genuine MS emblem of authenticity, provided free when I bought an IBM/LG Thinkpad there.
Hancom countered by dishing out some patriotic marketing that more or less worked.
However, MS pulled the rug out from under them by buying virtually all the Korean fonts, forcing Hancom to pay outrageous royalties. That pretty much knocked them out of the picture and I'm afraid MS Word, though they don't dominate like they do here in the States, has the decisive majority market.
I've met some of the Hancom programmers and they would like nothing better than to overthrow MS' proliferation in Korea, mainly due to patriotic reasons. They're also some of the most brilliant programmers I've ever met, so their new office suite may just be their ticket.
Re:That's what rtf is for (Score:3, Informative)
Don't believe me. Put those features in an MS Word document, save it as an RTF.
Read it back. See your document perfectly again.
You can find full specs for RTf at www.whatisit.com.
Martin Sevior
AbiWord - Word Processing for everyone.
Re:will these other "word" programs join OpenOffic (Score:2, Informative)
Cheers
Martin Sevior
AbiWord, Word Processing for everyone.
Re:Also missing a Mac Verison (Score:1, Informative)
Abiword for OS X is under development. Help is always welcome.
http://www.abisource.com
mailto:abiword-dev@abisource.com