A first look at OpenOffice.org 2.0

A first look at OpenOffice.org 2.0

By Craig A. Adams
March 4 2005
Source

It is not too bold to say that OpenOffice.org 2.0 will usher in a new era of functionality, reliability, compatibility and ease of use. The extensive changes and enhancements which are to be included in the upcoming release are all the evidence needed to justify this assertion.

For those who are impatient and unwilling to wait for the final release, today sees the public availability of the first beta version of OpenOffice.org 2.0. This beta is not for the faint of heart, and should not be considered as reliable or be used in a production environment.

OpenOffice.org is made available for free download from a multitude of locations, worldwide, and is offered under the LGPL and SISSL Free Software and Open Source Licences. But the scale of the enhancements and improvements made to OpenOffice.org in preparation for this release means that many users will not only consider using the suite for its affordability but also for its functionality.

New interface design
An immediately noticeable and significant change to OpenOffice.org is the complete redesign of the interface. This has been updated to reflect the current look and feel of alternative office suites and additionally makes use of current desktop themes and components such as file selection dialogues. Substantial changes have also been made to the design and location of the default tool bars, which now feature more advanced docking control and context sensitive states.

While the changes to the interface may appear merely cosmetic, they are intended to have a significant impact in terms of ease of transition for users from any alternative, proprietary office suite and ensures that the suite blends seamlessly in to the desktop environment. After all, the sooner a user can become reliably productive, the lower the cost of migration and it's attendant training requirements.

OpenOffice.org Base
For many users perhaps the most exciting new addition to the office suite is the inclusion of OpenOffice.org Base, a database module capable of creating self-contained, portable and cross-platform database applications.

While many will consider OpenOffice.org Base similar in function to Microsoft Access, the inclusion of this database module brings with it a number of significant implications. The self-contained, portable database files are made possible by utilising the HSQLDB database engine, which is implemented in Java, allowing complete cross-platform compatibility between GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Sun Solaris users. In consequence, any database application developed in OpenOffice.org using this database platform is immediately portable to users on any operating system supported by the OpenOffice.org office suite.

Document Filters
OpenOffice.org 2.0 also includes a host of functionality and features that will make collaboration easier with users of alternative office suites. Areas that received particular attention from developers are the enhancement to the document filters for Microsoft Office, as well as the addition of import filters for Corel WordPerfect.

These advanced and capable file filters help to ensure that users of the OpenOffice.org office suite are able to reliably and faithfully share files with those users who still use proprietary and vendor-specific document formats.

For those who wish to distribute documents in a non-editable format, the very popular PDF export feature, introduced in OpenOffice.org 1.1, has been greatly enhanced in this release. The PDF export now gives greater control over the quality and size of PDFs generated as well as providing support for links, indexes, forms and presentation transition effects.

OpenDocument format
With this release of OpenOffice.org the community has adopted the OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) OpenDocument file format as it's default. This truly open XML-based document file format was developed by a dedicated OASIS Technical Committee, and is based on the original OpenOffice.org file format.

The OpenDocument format has been recognised as an open standard by the European Union TAC (Telematics between Administrations Committee), who have recommended that OASIS submit the open standard to the ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) for formal standardisation. As a result of this recognition, full support for the OpenDocument format has been announced by IBM, Novell, Adobe, Sun Microsystems, OpenOffice.org and KOffice

An open standard ensures equal access to, and use of the standard, by any person or organisation wishing to do so, without hindrance or fee. The OpenDocument file format standard ensures perpetual access to data without reliance on a specific vendor, regardless of changes in methods or technologies, as well document format stability with complete backwards compatibility.

OpenOffice.org 2.0 includes an automated document converter which eases the document format transition by providing a tool to convert the content of entire directory structures from the old OpenOffice.org and proprietary Microsoft Office file formats to the new OpenDocument open standard. For users of earlier versions of OpenOffice.org, version 1.1.5 will provide compatibility with the OpenDocument file format for those unable or unwilling to update to version 2.0.

Wizards and mail merge
Existing OpenOffice.org users will notice that the AutoPilots have now been renamed "Wizards". This change has been implemented in order to conform with general practice within the software industry. In addition to the change in terminology, several of the Wizards have been updated and new ones added including the Mail Merge Wizard which simplifies the creation of mailing labels and form letters.

Styles and formatting
A commonly requested feature by users of OpenOffice.org has been a "Format Paintbrush". This tool has been introduced in version 2.0 and allows the user to easily copy formatting and styles from one place to another.

Word count
Professional writers and authors have long requested a better word count feature in OpenOffice.org. Previously these users had to rely on a third-party macro to provide a conditional word count. No Longer. The word count feature is now a part of OpenOffice.org 2.0 and provides more accurate results and easier access.

Extended spreadsheet rows
In OpenOffice.org 2.0, the Calc module has now been expanded to support 65,536 rows of data. Whilst most users of any spreadsheet application will seldom make use of even the earlier limit of 32,000 odd rows, the new limit will allow advanced users to make fuller use of OpenOffice.org Calc when dealing with vast quantities of data.

Custom drawing shapes
Often neglected or underestimated by OpenOffice.org users is the Draw graphical diagramming module. This module allows for the creation of a great variety of diagrams, graphics, art and other graphical representations. OpenOffice.org 2.0 introduces a number of enhancements to this module, including the addition of the Custom Shapes tool bar. This tool bar, which is accessible in all OpenOffice.org modules, offers a great variety of predefined shapes from symbols and block arrows to flowchart symbols and 3-D effects.

Web forms and XHTML
XForms is fast becoming a standard method in creating web-based forms. OpenOffice.org 2.0 introduces a comprehensive XForms creation and editing capability. In conjunction with improvements in the suite's ability to export XHTML 1.0 Strict code, OpenOffice.org can now be considered a mature web authoring tool.

Installer update
Administrators will also appreciate the new installer for Microsoft Windows and native distribution packaging for GNU/Linux. Changes to the installer go beyond merely a new format, providing a number of improvements when it comes to installing and maintaining OpenOffice.org on networks and multiple user desktops.

Other enhancements
The list of additional functionality and enhancements to OpenOffice.org 2.0 is far too lengthy to detail. At this stage the incomplete "Guide to New Features" numbers 39 pages. Many of the changes are extremely technical in nature, having to do with core components and technology within the suite. For those who are interested in all the new capabilities of OpenOffice.org 2.0, you are free to download the beta and try it out. The beta version of OpenOffice.org 2.0 will be available later today. For a list of download sites including local mirrors visit [download.openoffice.org] (This list will be updated as soon as the official announcement is made at around 10am SAST today).

As can be seen from the highly abridged list of changes in this article, OpenOffice.org 2.0 will doubtlessly live up to the claim of ushering in a new era of functionality, reliability, compatibility and ease of use. The net effect of the changes, improvements and enhancements will be to bring true cross-platform office suite functionality in an open, standard manner to the world.