OpenOffice.org 2.0 (Beta) - Note for the Faint of Heart....

Subject: [bytesforall_readers] OpenOffice.org 2.0 (Beta) - Note for the Faint of Heart....
Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2005 11:59:39 +0100
From: Soenke Zehle <soenke.zehle@web.de>
To: bytesforall_readers@yahoogroups.com <bytesforall_readers@yahoogroups.com>

Tectonic
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A first look at OpenOffice.org 2.0

March 4 2005
Craig A. Adams

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
http://download.openoffice.org/2.0beta/index.html (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.

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