Update: features in new build of OpenOffice.org

[Bruce Byfield <bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com>]

For those on the list who are interested in OpenOffice.org, developer's 
build 643 has just been announced.No word on when the next official 
version will be out, but I'd suspect it would be less than a month.

I'm downloading as I type, so I haven't tried the new build yet, but the 
feature list looks interesting. For tech-writers, the new build includes 
several juicy features, including:

- new import/export features to DocBook and XHTML: If this checks out, 
then writers may have the GUI for XML that we've been waiting for.

- native PDF export capabilities: I'm not sure what this means, since 
you could print to PDF before - and produce very clean PDF. It may just 
mean that you can save as PDF. However, if it means that you can set 
bookmarks and links, then it is a major increase in functionality for 
those on non-Windows platforms. For those on Windows, it could mean that 
you no longer need to buy Adobe Acrobat.

- macro recorder: This was one of two areas in which MS Word had an edge 
on OpenOffice (the other was a grammar checker,which nobody should use 
anyway). There's less need for macros in OpenOffice, since you don't 
need workarounds for basic actions such as autonumbering, but it's still 
very welcome, all the same.

All builds of OpenOffice.org are free for the download at 
www.openoffice.org. You can download versions for Linux, Solaris and 
Windows.

I'll post more as I explore.

(In passing, I note that the official release of this build will be the 
second new version since 1.0 was released in May 2001, which makes it a 
good sample of what open source development methods can do - and proof 
that there can be incentives for excellence when there's no money 
involved :-) )

--
Bruce Byfield bbyfield -at- axionet -dot- com 604.421.7177
http://members.axion.net/~bbyfield

"Someday I must read this scholar Everyone . . . He seems to have 
written so much - all of it wrong."
- Tamora Pierce


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