OpenOffice.org Releases New Version of Free Software Alternative to Microsoft Office

Edinburgh, UK (PRWeb) March 29, 2007 -- The OpenOffice.org Community are proud to announce the release of OpenOffice.org 2.2, the latest version of the leading open-source office suite.



OpenOffice.org 2.2 is the project's first release in 2007, and reflects the community's commitment to offering enhancements and new features on a regular basis. 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 as a free 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.

About OpenOffice.org

The OpenOffice.org Community is an international team of volunteer and sponsored contributors who develop, support, and promote the leading open-source office productivity suite, OpenOffice.org®. OpenOffice.org's leading edge software technology (UNO) is also available for developers, systems integrators, etc to use in OpenOffice.org extensions or in their own applications.

OpenOffice.org supports the Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) OASIS Standard (ISO/IEC 26300) as well as legacy industry file formats and is available on major computing platforms with native language communities in over 80 languages. OpenOffice.org software is provided under the GNU Lesser General Public Licence (LGPL) and may be used free of charge for any purpose, private or commercial.

The OpenOffice.org Community acknowledges generous sponsorship from a number of companies, including Sun Microsystems, the founding sponsor and primary contributor.

Links

Download OpenOffice.org 2.2 free of charge
The OpenOffice.org Native Language Project

Further information about OpenOffice.org products:

     * the OpenOffice.org office suite for users
     * OpenOffice.org Universal Network Objects (UNO) for developers
     * OpenOffice.org Software Development Kit (SDK) for developers

Press Contacts

Louis Suarez-Potts (UTC -04h00)
OpenOffice.org Community Manager
email louis (at) openoffice.org
+1 (416) 625 3843

John McCreesh (UTC +01h00)
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project Lead
email jpmcc (at) openoffice.org
+44 (0)7 810 278 540

Cristian Driga (UTC +0200)
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project Co-Lead
email cdriga (at) openoffice.org
+40 7887 000 60

Worldwide Marketing Contacts

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