Thread: OpenOffice.org V 3.0

It's finally here. After months of waiting since the first beta came out in April, we finally got our grasping fingers on the final release of version 3. What are the changes from version 2, and how has it improved since its beta-read on for the low-down.

Look and Feel

Though it's on the heavy side with an installer size of 130 M B, and occupies 323 MB disc space, it's fast We started the installation process and went off to get a soda, when we got back it was done, all rounded up in less than five minutes.

If you're installing OpenOffice.org for the first time, or are upgrading from 2.0 you'll have to finish a quick wizard
to transfer user data and register the application. Again, this hardly takes a couple of minutes. After this, the Start Center window appears to take you to all the modules. They are Write, word processor, Calc, spreadsheet program, Impress, presentation application, Base, database manager, Draw, paint tool, and Math, the formula utility

NOTE:

To clarify, StartCenter is the window that opens when the user double clicks the OpenOffice.org icon, while QuickStarter is the system tray icon that starts automatically with Windows. The StartCenter is also where users

can customize the suite to suit their needs. Memory settings include changing the number of Undo levels (default is 100), the amount of space reserved for the programs cache memory and so on. OpenOffice.

org also has a Mozilla plug-in that can be enabled, so that whenever an Open Office. org supported document is opened in the Firefox Web browser, it will open it in the appropriate OpenOffice.org module.

There's no drastic change in the visual style, which is a relief. With most applications going the ribbon way since its advent in Office 2007, we were glad to see the old-style toolbars and menu items. This isn't to say that it has the same old boring skin. It's sleeker, with slightly flashier icon buttons on its toolbars. Though we did notice something new, that no matter which module of the office suite you are in, if you close the current document, the program doesn't really quit Instead it takes you back to the StartCenter page allover again.


Features

So beyond the visual style there are some important changes that are to be applauded. There are high expectations for this freeware, and we think it does a pretty good job in meeting them.

First let's talk about the changes in Writer, arguably the most important component as a word processor. It now supports viewing multiple pages while editing, so that you may see the current page in the context of its previous and next page. Plus, the notes feature, which previously was just a yellow box, is more user-friendly, and includes the editing date and time.

Calc now comes with 1024 columns per spreadsheet, previously it was 256. There's also a spreadsheet collaboration feature, so other users can easily add data to the sheet, and the owner can integrate it with just a few clicks. The chart enhancements in Calc include custom error bars and regression equations. OpenOffice.org now also has a solver component which allows solving optimization problems where the optimum value of a particular spreadsheet cell has to be calculated based on constraints provided in other cells.

Impress now comes with native table support. Where earlier tables had to be embedded Calc objects, now they can be inserted and edited directly. There's also
a new crop feature, added to Draw, which works like the crop feature in Office, that is, you drag and drop the handles on the image to crop it.

Performance

The spell check has scope for improvement. Here is why we weren't too impressed-a misspelled 'Thi' brought up a list of corrections which didn't include no-brainer words like 'The' or 'This'. But, other than that, it does its job pretty well.

We checked how efficiently OpenOffice.org supported the most popular file formats other there. This includes proprietary formats of MS Office and Corel WordPerfect Office, as well as the Open Document formats.

When we looked at the first beta back in April 2008, there were quite a few errors that popped up while working with XML file formats that became the norm with Office 2007. These included problems with the 'tab' spacing, page breaks, references, equations, images and tables.



WRITE:

While Write could import DOC files without any flaws, there were minor but noticeable changes when a DOCX file was opened. For instance, the page number references in the header were not the same font, the math type equation boxes though present, were invisible until double clicked, and even then their alignment in the paragraph was off. The same was true of all the images, except Excel charts. Furthermore, not all the page breaks were handled properly, and quite a few paragraphs were out of alignment. Things got worse when we opened a WordPerfect file, as the page number references didn't work at all (though the numbers showed up) and other references types, such as table numbers and math type equation boxes disappeared completely. Importing an ODT file, presented no problems.

CALC:

Importing Excel file types (both XLS, and XLSXj didn't do as bad. The
XLS file that we first opened retained all the font characteristics, as well as special symbols, charts and chart attributes, except for the legend bar. There were errors when displaying the result of complex calculations, for instance, while a simple average result would appear properly, a more complicated equation with square roots functions and such wouldn't. Interestingly, while the result would appear in a cell as '0', the chart based on these results resembled the actual values. The same is true in opening XLSX files. As for the new feature for custom bar errors and regression equations, the former works well, but the formatting of the regression equation is faulty. For instance, an equation that should read '1E-14x + 1.6211' appears in Calc as 'Ox + 1.62'. The Quattro file format QPW isn't currently supported.

IMPRESS:

Working with PowerPoint files in Impress is easy, especially if you intend to share the file with colleagues and friends. There were no hiccups in importing the PPT file, where everything was displayed perfectly, including font, spacing, headers, footers, references, images, drawing objects, and transition effects. The same, however, can't be said about PPTX files. The Slide Master elements such as the Title Slide and images in them were missing, and this threw the slides completely out of whack. Furthermore, the transition effects, though imported correctly played sluggishly in both the PPT and PPTX file types. Once again, opening ODP file types presented no problems, except for changes in text box font sizes, and overall we were disappointed with Impress's importing abilities'. OpenOffice.org doesn't support the Corel Presentations file type PRC.

ONLINE SHARING:

Ultimately, this is where OpenOffice.org fails when held up against priced office suites. With manufacturers like Microsoft and ThinkFree offering Internet storage space, online editing applications, and even cloud computing opportunities, users who choose to go with this freeware will have to contend with using third-party services like Google or Zoho to share and group edit files. This is a major thumbs down for OpenOffice.org. Even Adobe has started its Acrobat.com service for users to share PDF documents.

VERDICT:

If you're an OpenOffice.org 2 user, it's time to upgrade. But offices
and corporations should go with a priced Office suite, since they come with online collaboration features, and better support. As far freeware goes, it's the best.
FOR: Improved support for XML enhanced file types; better Write, Calc and Impress. AGAINST: Minor problems in importing other file types, no online services.