OpenOffice.org is a free, open-source cross-platform office suite. It supports OpenDocument Format (ODF), a open standard which is the ISO standard for document exchange. It also supports Microsoft proprietary Office file formats.

It consists of 6 components.

• Writer - like MS Word.
  
• Calc - like MS Excel.
  
• Impress - like MS PowerPoint.
  
• Base - like MS Access.
  
• Draw - vector graphics editor
  
• Math - tool for mathematical formula, etc
  

Released under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).

A little sneak preview...

http://www.oooninja.com/2008/03/openoffice...w-features.html

But until then we have to settle for OpenOffice.org 2.4 which will be out soon (I think)...

Probably will be waiting till 3.0 before I think of using it, I need that Microsoft Office 2007 file format support feature badly. I really hope they fix it properly before it is released.

Probably will be waiting till 3.0 before I think of using it, I need that Microsoft Office 2007 file format support feature badly. I really hope they fix it properly before it is released.

Microsoft Office 2007 support will be in 3.0

If it is fully done, then I will definitely swoop MS Office 2007 for OpenOffice.org 3.0. Shame that there is no mention of prettying up the UI a tad, and of Impress templates being included.

The UI is fine for me.

Earlier they have had template competitions with prices of $5,000.

http://www.marketingshift.com/2006/10/open...p-art-prize.cfm

(Old link though)

I hope there will be some pretty templates though...

I made an idea for templates on Brainstorm;

* http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/5707/

Lets see if it gets voted up or down... :hmm:

By the way, you can get OpenOffice.org templates at;

* http://www.opentemplate.org/

If you make a good one, you can also upload it yourself. :hmm:

Wow, didnät relaise there was a whole site for templates. Still, I think a load should be included by default in 3.0. Like the set in their extensions page.

Yeah, I agree. There should be some high-quality professionally-looking templates included by default.

I hope there will be in 3.0...

Indeed. Though if they bhave ful compatibility with MS Office 2007, then I wonät worry too much about downloading additional templates.