Press Kit-2.0

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Press Kit

OpenOffice.org 2.0: A Choice for A Real Change
What People Are Saying About OpenOffice.org 2.0
What's New in OpenOffice.org 2.0
About OpenOffice.org
Logos, Screenshots, and Flyers
Contacts
Press Releases
Related Information

OpenOffice.org 2.0: A Choice for A Real Change

OpenOffice.org released the long-awaited version 2.0 of its free office suite for Windows, Mac and Linux on 20 October 2005 adding a new database module, support for the OpenDocument file format, a fresh user interface, and plenty of improvements and bug fixes.

OpenOffice.org 2.0 is the first open source office suite to offer thorough support for the Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) OASIS Standard. OpenDocument is an XML file format that was developed by OASIS, the international body for the development and ratification of e-Business standards. The OpenDocument format can be used by any office application without fear of vendor specific lock-in or onerous licensing terms and fees, with the confidence that documents can be viewed, edited and printed for generations to come.

The suite now also offers a database module, Base, to complement the word processor (Writer), spreadsheet manager (Calc), presentation manager (Impress) and drawing tool (Draw) modules. These give all users the tools they need to be productive in the modern world. Free for all, OpenOffice.org offers everyone the enduring freedoms to use, study, improve and share the software. Users can download it for free from the Project's Web page at /download/2.0.0/index.html.

With a new user interface, OpenOffice.org 2.0 is easy to learn and use by the most inexperienced user, and is significantly more compatible with Microsoft Office files than prior versions. Supported by dozens of professional companies, OpenOffice.org 2.0 will be available in more than 60 languages. Able to run on Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, Sun Solaris and other platforms, OpenOffice.org is increasingly the choice of businesses and governments throughout the world, and earlier versions have been downloaded over 49 million times since the project's inception.

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What People Are Saying About OpenOffice.org

"OpenOffice.org is on a path toward being the most popular office suite the world has ever seen; providing users with safety, choice, and an opportunity to participate in one of the broadest community efforts the Internet has ever seen. As a member of that community, I'd like to offer my heartiest congratulations."
-- Jonathan Schwartz, President and COO of Sun Microsystems

"We're coming full circle in an exciting example of how the open source and open standards communities can support one another. In 2002, the OpenOffice.org formats were submitted to OASIS and became the OpenDocument format, which was advanced by our members and approved as an OASIS Standard earlier this year," recalled Patrick Gannon, President and CEO of OASIS. "Today's announcement of OpenOffice v2.0, with its support for OpenDocument, is evidence that when open source software and open standards activities collaborate and cooperate, both efforts can reap productive results that serve the needs of a broader marketplace."

OpenOffice 2.0 is a big deal, and the anniversary underlines that this isn't some new, untried technology. In the 21st century, you can get your desktop work done without having to pay onerous up-front licensing costs and without having your data locked up in in somebody else's file format. Why would you work any other way?"
-- Tim Bray, Sun Microsystems

"As part of our Open Source Software introduction we recently started deploying OpenOffice.org at the City of Vienna. In just 6 weeks we achieved more than 1,600 installations of OpenOffice.org and the rollout will continue over the next months. We are very happy about the functionality and quality of the OpenOffice.org software. We are confident that OpenOffice.org will be made available to all of our 18,000 workstation users."
-- Brigitte Lutz, City of Vienna

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What's New in OpenOffice.org 2.0

In addition to a complete overhaul to the user interface and the new database module, many more features have been introduced in OpenOffice.org 2.0. A detailed listing of these changes and enhancements can be found in the guide to new features at //dev_docs/features/2.0/ and //product/. A summary of the most important of these follows.

New Interface

As mentioned above, the new user interface to OpenOffice.org 2.0 provides a number of productivity enhancements and is designed to assist in the transition from proprietary office suites while letting new and existing users take advantage from a brand new, appealing, functional and easy to use interface. The introduction of multi-pane views, floating toolbars and native desktop integration in all modules, provides a familiar interface and a great deal of flexibility in how the user can interact with the application. Of course, OpenOffice.org provides for extensive customisation of the menus, toolbars and shortcuts to suit the particular needs of any user.

Database Module (OpenOffice.org Base)

This release sees the debut of OpenOffice.org Base, a database module capable of creating self-contained, portable and cross-platform database applications. 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 and functionality between GNU/Linux, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Sun Solaris users.

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.

OpenDocument Format

The OpenDocument format was approved as an OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards) standard earlier this year. OpenDocument has since been submitted to ISO (International Standards Organisation) for ratification as a public standard.

OpenOffice.org 2.0 is the first open source office suite to offer full support for the OpenDocument format, an XML file format specification suitable for office applications including text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphical documents.

For further information about OpenDocument, see our Related Information links below.

Enhanced PDF Export

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, thumbnails and presentation transition effects.

XForms

XForms are now much easier to create, edit and use, thanks to their complete integration inside OpenOffice.org. XForms support is important as this represents one more steps in the direction of more interactivity and connectivity inside documents. OpenOffice.org definitely leads in this direction and does this in by supporting standards, freedom and openness. XForms is the standard for web forms defined by the W3C consortium (http://www.w3c.org/), the body defining the web standards.

Improvements to Calc (Spreadsheet)

The Calc module has now been expanded to support up to 65,536 rows of data. This enhancement will allow advanced users to make fuller use of OpenOffice.org Calc when dealing with vast quantities of data. In addition, significant improvements have been made to the DataPilot feature, enabling users to carry out advanced analysis of data stored in spreadsheets and databases.

Compatibility

Significant improvements have been made in the functionality of proprietary office suite filters, allowing for improved compatibility between office applications, including Microsoft Office. In addition, import support for Corel WordPerfect documents has been added, allowing for easier cross-suite communication.

Other Features of Interest

Word Count
The basic Word Count functionality provided in earlier versions of OpenOffice.org has now been extended to include advanced information including a count of selected words and characters. This feature has now been moved to a more accessible location.

Digital Signatures
OpenOffice.org 2.0 now offers the facility to apply Digital Signatures to documents using standard digital certificates.

Native Installers
OpenOffice.org 2.0 supports native installation mechanisms. For example, .MSI and .CAB files are provided on Microsoft Windows, and RPM files are available for Linux making it easier for end-users to install on their computer system.

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About OpenOffice.org

The OpenOffice.org Project is an international community of volunteers and sponsors including founding sponsor and primary contributor, Sun Microsystems. OpenOffice.org develops, supports, and promotes the open-source office productivity suite, OpenOffice.org. The project can be found at www.openoffice.org. OpenOffice.org supports the Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) OASIS Standard and is available on major computing platforms in over 60 languages. OpenOffice.org is provided under the GNU Lesser General Public Licence (LGPL).

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OpenOffice.org Logos, Screenshots, and Flyers

Contacts

Press Contacts

John McCreesh (UTC +01h00)
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project Lead
jpmcc@openoffice.org
+44 (0)7 810 278 540

Florian Effenberger (UTC +01h00)
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project Co-Lead
floeff@openoffice.org
+49 8341 9966 0880

Louis Suárez-Potts (UTC -04h00)
OpenOffice.org Community Manager
louis@openoffice.org
+1 (416) 625-3843

Worldwide Marketing Contacts

http://marketing.openoffice.org/contacts.html

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Press Releases

OpenOffice.org 2.0 Is Here	20 October 2005
Five Years of OpenOffice.org, More To Come	13 October 2005
License Simplification	2 September 2005
OpenOffice.org Announces Version 2.0 Public Beta 2	29 August 2005
Uno Runtime Environment (URE) Announced	9 June 2005
OpenOffice.org Announces Version 2.0 Public Beta	4 March 2005
Winner, OpenOffice.org 2.0 Splashscreen Competition	23 February 2005
OpenOffice.org Joins the Call to Action in OASIS	23 February 2005

For other notices, announcements and our newsletter see the [announce] archive at //servlets/SummarizeList?listName=announce.

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Related Information

Home Page

Where to get OpenOffice.org 2.0

Download
/download/2.0.0/

BitTorrent
http://distribution.openoffice.org/p2p/download.html

CDROM
http://distribution.openoffice.org/cdrom/

OpenOffice.org Language Projects

Native Language Confederation (NLC)
/projects/native-lang.html

Localisation and Internationalisation Project
http://l10n.openoffice.org/languages.html

Support for OpenOffice.org

/support/

Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) OASIS Standard

OASIS OpenDocument datasheet
http://www.oasis-open.org/who/data_sheets/OASIS-opendocument-datasht-a4-05-06-20.pdf

OASIS OpenDocument FAQ
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/office/faq.php

OASIS OpenDocument Technical Committee
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=office

Difference Between StarOffice 8 and OpenOffice.org 2.0

The Enterprise Edition of StarOffice 8 includes the Java Desktop System Configuration Manager (centralized user configuration management via a web-based admin console) as well as migration tools, a migration assessment tool (Professional Analysis Wizard) and a macro migration tool.

For endusers, the main differences remain the commercial spellchecker and thesaurus, additional fonts, templates, sample documents, and clipart graphics. Registered StarOffice 8 software users are entitled to three(3) free support incidents during the first 60 days from the date of purchase.

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