Linux Office Suites

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Posted by michael on Saturday September 1, 2001 @08:20AM from the my-money-is-on-koffice dept.

Cowculator writes: "Sun Microsystems will release the beta version of StarOffice 6.0 in October, with the development version already available. This ZDNet article has some more details, including a link to the development version..." Other submitters sent in notes about Gobe Productive and Hancom Office 2.0, not to mention KOffice and the Gnome office applications. As far as I know all of these are lacking the single most important thing, a robust and complete set of import filters for Word, Wordperfect, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.

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The only chance the industry has against microsoft by PhotoGuy · 2001-09-01 08:27 · Score: 5, Informative

...is StarOffice, in my opinion. If these guys can prevent MS from having the only application suite that can properly handle their monopoly-induced standard file formats, then there is *choice* in the industry. If StarOffice fails, then it's MSWord, MSExcel, and PowerPoint, for the forseeable future that will dominate business communications.

I think StarOffice got off to a wonderful start. I'm very concerned about their progress. The next major version will really be a turning point in the industry one way or the other. If it's solid, and it rocks, with great compatability, then there is a great alternative to office. If it's buggy, or doesn't work well with office formats (especially Excel, where it's the weakest), then MS will win. And I'm going off to live on a deserted south pacific island.

Sigh... If I had to bet, it's depressing where I'd probably put my money... Sun's dropped the ball a few times lately.

Tip to the folks working on it: cool object oriented design is neat, but it's usability, stability, and compatability that will make StarOffice a success. Don't try to do things beyond MS Office, just match it on all fronts! Anything else is an esoteric waste of time.

-me-

--
Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
thats really the problem... by jonnystiph · 2001-09-01 08:41 · Score: 2, Informative

We really need import filters

I know that this is common knowledge, but perhaps an example of why this is so fscking important will help.

I worked as a sysadmin for the 2600 linux desktop rollout for the supreme court of Wisc. The only reason that roll out failed was because of lack of filtering from Word Perfect/M$ Word.

If we had those filters, the Circut Courts Automation Process (a derivative of Supreme Court) would be all linux desktops. That would have been an amazing advance in the world of linux to the desktop.

--
If we don't make light of everything, we are just stumbling in the dark - Blank
That's what rtf is for by gperciva · 2001-09-01 08:43 · Score: 3, Informative

Word processors dating back to the DOS days can read Rich Text Format. If you're sending it to a windows newbie who panicks when it doesn't say ".doc", tell him to open it anyway -- word will understand it.
1. Re:That's what rtf is for by chill · 2001-09-01 09:00 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  RTF doesn't support tables, embedded objects, headers/footers, TOC, index, etc.
  
  Completely unacceptable for most companies.
  
  Great for simple documents to retain tabs, bold/underline/italic, etc.
  
  --
  Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
2. Re:That's what rtf is for by Kiaser+Zohsay · 2001-09-01 12:36 · Score: 2, Informative
  
  Actually, the last few versions of the MS RTF Spec do support tables and objects, but each version supports them a little differently. RTF is almost as much of a moving target as the .DOC file format itself. To find a "portable subset" of RTF (portable across versions of Word as well as alternative word processors) you woud need to drop back to Word 95 or so and reverse-engineer (with the spec in hand of course) from there. You also have to watch out as new versions of Word introduce new keywords to do old things (like numbered lists, Word 2000).
  
  --
  I am not your blowing wind, I am the lightning.
3. Re:That's what rtf is for by msevior · 2001-09-02 01:56 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  That is total crap! RTF does support Tables, headers, footer, TOC, index. I should know. I'm implementing these for abiword.
  
  Don't believe me. Put those features in an MS Word document, save it as an RTF.
  
  Read it back. See your document perfectly again.
  
  You can find full specs for RTf at www.whatisit.com.
  
  Martin Sevior
  
  AbiWord - Word Processing for everyone.
Re:Just as important by Surak · 2001-09-01 09:13 · Score: 5, Informative

I should also point out that the link to the "StarOffice source code" is a link to a very old verison of OpenOffice.org. Those seeking StarOffice source code should go here to get the latest build.

--
My journal has hot /. gossip.
Re:The only chance the industry has against micros by savaget · 2001-09-01 09:21 · Score: 5, Informative

According to this article, the integrated desktop and probably the start button will be gone in version 6.0.
quote

OpenOffice, and its predecessor StarOffice, are integrated office packages and include a word processor, web browser, and spreadsheet tools. In fact, StarOffice 5.2 contained just about everything a desktop user could need, including an integrated desktop. But with the adoption of desktop environments such as GNOME and KDE, future releases of StarOffice and OpenOffice will no longer carry the integrated desktop.

end quote

The above quote is from the following source:

LWN.net
Re:will these other "word" programs join OpenOffic by msevior · 2001-09-02 02:04 · Score: 2, Informative

No. Kword and AbiWord are cooperating to produce state of the art MS Word filters. We can do this because we're producing GPL'd code to match our GPL'd application. OO can't accept pure GPL code coz they need to able to integrate proprietry code.

Cheers

Martin Sevior

AbiWord, Word Processing for everyone.