The
OpenOffice.org 3.0productivity suite beta has
now been released for testing. OpenOffice is seen as anopen-source rivaltoMicrosoft's Office suite.
New core features in the
public beta
release include a Start Centre, revamped icons and a new zoom
control in the status bar, said the suite's backers, which include
Sun Microsystems and IBM.
Other new features include Notable Calc improvements like a new
solver component, support for spreadsheet collaboration through
workbook sharing, and an increase to 1,024 columns per sheet.
In addition, the Writer program has an improved notes feature
and offers displays of multiple pages while editing. There are
numerous Chart enhancements, and an improved crop feature in Draw
and Impress.
OpenOffice.org 3.0 will support the upcoming
OpenDocument
Format (ODF) 1.2 standard.
The final version of the new suite is expected to be available
this September.