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OpenOffice.org is a free and open source office suite, including word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, vector drawing and database components. It is available for many different platforms, including Microsoft Windows, Unix-like systems with the X Window System including GNU/Linux, BSD, Solaris and Mac OS X. It is intended to be a compatible, free alternative to Microsoft Office. It supports the OpenDocument standard for data interchange.

OpenOffice.org is based on the codebase of StarOffice, an office suite developed by StarDivision (acquired by Sun Microsystems in August 1999). The source code of the suite was released as an open source project in July 2000 with the aim of breaking the market dominance of Microsoft Office by providing a lower-cost, high-quality, and open alternative. The source code for the application is available under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).

The project and software are informally referred to as "OpenOffice", but project organizers report that this term is a trademark held by another party, requiring them to adopt "OpenOffice.org" as its formal name,Other FAQ, Item #4 ( Why should we say "OpenOffice.org" instead of simply "OpenOffice"), URL accessed on June 5, 2006. and abbreviated as OOo or OO.o.

Overview

According to its mission statement, the OpenOffice.org project aims "To create, as a community, the leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format."

The project aims to compete with Microsoft Office and emulate its look and feel where suitable. It can also read and write most of the file formats found in Microsoft Office, and many other applications. The ability to read and write Microsoft Office documents is an essential feature of the suite for many users. OpenOffice.org has been found to be able to open files of older versions of Microsoft Office and damaged filesOpenOffice.org Saves my Day, Again by Jonathan Gennick, May 2, 2003 that newer versions of Microsoft Office itself cannot open. However, it cannot open older Word for Macintosh (MCW) files.Issue at openoffice.org, URL accessed on 20 April, 2006

The primary development platforms are Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux and Sun Solaris. There are also ports available or in progress for Mac OS X, OS/2 and many Unix-like operating systems.

The software has drawn various praises and skepticisms from different quarters. Federal Computer Week's September 26, 2005 issue listed OpenOffice.org as one of the "5 stars of open-source products.""5 stars of open-source products: If you're not using these tools, you may be missing out" by Alan Joch, Federal Computer Week, September 26, 2005. In contrast, OpenOffice.org was also used by The Guardian newspaper to illustrate what it claims are the limitations of open-source software. If this suite's a success, why is it so buggy? by Andrew Brown, The Guardian, December 8, 2005.

Components

OpenOffice.org is a collection of different applications that work together closely to provide the features expected from a modern office suite. Many of the components are designed to mirror those available in Microsoft Office. The components available include:

  • Writer — a word processor similar in look and feel to Microsoft Word and offering a widely overlapping range of functions and tools. It also includes the ability to export Portable Document Format (PDF) files with no additional software, and can also function as a WYSIWYG HTML editor for creating and editing web pages. One difference between OpenOffice Writer and Microsoft Word is that in Writer, automatic save is turned OFF by default. Autosave should be turned on if the user lives in a power outage prone area or forgets to save frequently.

  • Calc — a spreadsheet similar to Microsoft Excel with a roughly equivalent range of features. Calc provides a number of features not present in Excel, including a system which automatically defines series for graphing, based on the layout of the user's data. Calc is also capable of writing spreadsheets directly as a PDF file.

  • Base — a database program similar to Microsoft Access. Base allows the creation and manipulation of databases, and the building of forms and reports to provide easy access to data for end-users. As with Access, Base is able to work as a front-end to a number of different database systems, including Access databases (JET), ODBC data sources and MySQL/PostgreSQL. Base only became part of the suite starting with version 2.0.

  • Draw — a vector graphics editor comparable in features to CorelDRAW. It features versatile "connectors" between shapes, which are available in a range of line styles and facilitate building drawings such as flowcharts.

  • Math — a tool for creating and editing mathematical formulae, similar to Microsoft Equation Editor. Formulae can be embedded inside other OpenOffice.org documents, such as those created by Writer. It supports multiple fonts and can export to PDF.

  • Quickstarter — a small program for Windows that runs when the computer starts for the first time. It loads the core files and libraries for OpenOffice.org during computer startup and allows the suite applications to start more quickly when selected later. The amount of time it takes to open OpenOffice.org applications was a common complaint in version 1.0 of the suite, and Quickstarter was a solution of sorts. Substantial improvements were made in this area for version 2.0.

It is not possible to download these components individually on Windows, though they can be installed separately. Most Linux distributions break the components into individual packages which may be downloaded and installed separately.

History

OpenOffice.org versions
Version Description Release Date
Build 638c The first milestone release October 2001
1.0   May 1, 2002
1.1   September 2, 2003
1.1.3   October 4, 2004
1.1.5 Last release for 1.x product line September 14, 2005
2.0 Milestone October 20, 2005
2.0.1 December 21, 2005
2.0.2 March 8, 2006
2.0.3 Latest stable release June 29, 2006

Originally developed as proprietary office suite StarOffice by the German company StarDivision, the code was purchased in 1999 by Sun Microsystems. In August 1999 version 5.2 of StarOffice was made available free-of-charge.

On July 19, 2000, Sun Microsystems announced that it was making the source code of StarOffice available for download under both the Lesser General Public License (LGPL) and the Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL) with the intention of building an open source development community around the software. The new project was known as OpenOffice.org, and its website went live on October 13, 2000.

Work on version 2.0 began in early 2003 with the following goals: better interoperability with Microsoft Office; better performance, with improved speed and lower memory usage; greater scripting capabilities; better integration, particularly with GNOME; an easier-to-find and use database front-end for creating reports, forms and queries; a new built-in SQL database; and improved usability. A beta version was released on March 4, 2005.

On September 2, 2005 Sun announced that it was 'retiring' the Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL)Sun announces the SISSL retirement URL accessed on September 3, 2005.. As a consequence the OpenOffice.org Community Council announced that it would no longer dual license the office suite, and future versions would use only the LGPL.OpenOffice.org community council announcement of license change URL accessed on September 3, 2005

On October 20, 2005, OpenOffice.org 2.0 was formally released to the public.OpenOffice.org 2.0 Is Here (OpenOffice.org 2.0 Announcement), by OpenOffice.org, October 20, 2005 Eight weeks after the release of Version 2.0, an update, OpenOffice.org 2.0.1, was released. It fixed minor bugs and introduced new features.

OpenOffice.org recently changed its release cycle from 18-months to releasing updates, feature enhancements and bug fixes every three months. OpenOffice aims to boost lagging performance, URL accessed on 20 April, 2006.

StarOffice

Main article: StarOffice

Sun subsidises the development of OpenOffice.org in order to use it as a base for its commercial StarOffice application software. Releases of StarOffice since version 6.0 have been based on the OpenOffice.org source code, with some additional proprietary components, including:

  • Added fonts (especially East Asian language fonts)
  • Adabas D database
  • Added document templates
  • Clip art
  • Sorting functionality for Asian versions
  • Added file filters.
  • Migration assessment tool (Enterprise Edition)
  • Macro migration tool (Enterprise Edition)
  • Configuration management tool (Enterprise Edition)

Security

As of March 12, 2006, the security site Secunia reports no known security flaws for OOo 2.x.Secunia entry for OpenOffice.org 2.x URL accessed on March 12, 2006 Kaspersky Lab has shown a proof of concept virus for OpenOffice.org.Stardust virus lands on OpenOffice CNet News, 31 May, 2006 This shows OOo viruses are possible, but there is no known virus "in the wild".

Development

Overview

The OpenOffice.org API is based on a component technology known as Universal Network Objects (or UNO). It consists of a wide range of interfaces defined in a CORBA-like interface description language.

The document file format used is based on XML and several export and import filters. All external formats read by OpenOffice.org are converted back and forth from an internal XML representation. By using compression when saving XML to disk, files are generally smaller than the equivalent binary Microsoft Office documents. The native file format for storing documents in version 1.0 was used as the basis of the OASIS OpenDocument file format standard, which has become the default file format in version 2.0.

Development versions of the suite are released every few weeks on the developer zone of the OpenOffice.org website. The releases are meant for those who wish to test new features or are simply curious about forthcoming changes, they are not suitable for production use.

The project is still essentially run by StarOffice staff, and getting non-Sun contributions into the core codebase can be difficult, even for the project's other corporate sponsors.

Native desktop integration

OpenOffice.org 1.0 was criticized for the lack of look and feel of native applications when comparing to the platform it is running on. Starting from version 2.0, OpenOffice.org uses the native widget toolkit, icons and typeface-rendering libraries across a variety of platforms, to better match native applications and provide a smoother experience for the user. There are projects underway to further improve this integration on both GNOMEGNOME/OpenOffice.org integration and KDE.KDE Integration Project

OpenOffice.org can also be used on Mac OS X. A version using the Aqua interface was planned for OpenOffice.org version 2, but due to technical challenges, licensing complications and limited development resources, the project was abandoned. Instead OpenOffice.org is available in two varieties that run on OS X:

  • OpenOffice.org Mac OS X (X11). This version requires the installation of X11.app or XDarwin. It is a close port of the well-tested Unix version. It provides the functional capabilities of the Unix versions, but does not integrate smoothly with OS X fonts, and its user interface is that of an X11 application.Information on the Mac OS X X11 port

  • NeoOffice. This version integrates with OS X by using Java, Carbon and (increasingly) Cocoa. NeoOffice is easier to install, adheres fairly closely to OS X GUI standards (for example, using native pull-down menus), and has full access to OS X's font and printing subsystems. It is the work of a very small team and relies on completion of the OS X X11 version of OpenOffice.org, so its releases lag behind the official OpenOffice.org releases.Information about NeoOffice

Other projects

Other projects run alongside the main OpenOffice.org project and are easier to contribute to. These include documentation, internationalization and localization and the API.

OpenGroupware.org is a set of extension programs to allow the sharing of OpenOffice.org documents, calendars, address books, e-mails, instant messaging and blackboards, and provide access to other groupware applications.

There is also an effort to create and share assorted document templates and other useful additions at OOExtras. The OOExtras site, URL accessed on 20 April, 2006.

A set of Perl extensions is available through the CPAN in order to allow OpenOffice.org document processing by external programs.CPAN OpenOffice Perl extensions These libraries do not use the OpenOffice.org API. They directly read or write the OpenOffice.org files using Perl standard file compression/uncompression, XML access and UTF-8 encoding modules.

A distribution of OpenOffice.org called "Portable OpenOffice.org" is designed to run the suite from a USB flash drive.the Portable Office site, URL accessed on 20 April, 2006.

Market share

Although Microsoft Office retains 95% of the general market, OpenOffice.org and StarOffice have secured 14% of the large enterprise market as of 2004.Desktop apps ripe turf for open source Jack Loftus, October 4, 2004, SearchEnterpriseLinux.com. URL accessed on September 4, 2005. The OpenOffice.org web site reports more than 61 million downloads.The OpenOffice.org statistics page, URL accessed on 20 April, 2006

Large scale users of OpenOffice.org include Singapore's Ministry of Defense, and Bristol City Council in the UK. In France, OpenOffice.org has attracted the attention of both local and national government administrations who wish to rationalize their software procurement, as well as have stable, standard file formats for archival purposes. It is now the official office suite for the French Gendarmerie. Market Share Analysis, URL accessed on 20 April, 2006.

On October 4, 2005, Sun and Google announced a strategic partnership. As part of this agreement, Sun will add a Google search bar to OpenOffice.org, Sun and Google will engage in joint marketing activities as well as joint research and development, and Google will help distribute OpenOffice.org. FAQ: The Sun-Google partnership by Stephen Shankland, Staff Writer, CNET News.com, October 4, 2005.

Besides Sun's StarOffice, there are still a number of OpenOffice.org derived commercial products. Most of them are developed under SISSL license (which is valid up to OpenOffice.org 2.0 Beta 2). In general they are targeted at local or niche market, with proprietary add-ons such as speech recognition module, automatic database connection, or better CJK supportOpenOffice.org derived work.

Java controversy

Version 1 made use of Java for some auxiliary functions, but version 2 increased the suite's use of the programming platform. The following areas depend on a Java Runtime Environment being present on the user's computer:

A common point of confusion is that mail merge to generate emails requires the Java API JavaMail. This is true of StarOffice. As of version 2.01, OpenOffice.org uses a Python-component instead.How To Email Mailmerge using mailmerge.py (PDF document) . Note that in order to activate the Python component mailmerge.py in OpenOffice.org, it is necessary to install Python from the Python website first.

This had drawn criticism from advocates of free software, since the Java Runtime Environment needed to enable these features are typically not licensed using free software principles, thereby undermining the "Free-ness" of OpenOffice.org. The fact that Sun is both the creator of Java and the chief supporter of OpenOffice.org has drawn accusations of ulterior motives for this technology choice. **

The issue of OpenOffice.org use of Java came to the fore on May 2005 when Richard Stallman appeared to call for a fork of OpenOffice.org in a posting on the Free Software Foundation website. This led to discussions within the OpenOffice.org community and between Sun staff and developers involved in Classpath in which it was determined that all necessary steps were in place to ensure that key OpenOffice.org uses of the Java platform would be supported in GCJ and Classpath.Mailing list post summarising the state of affairs as of 11 May, 2005.

Fedora Core 4 (released on June 13, 2005) included a beta version of OpenOffice.org version 2, running on GCJ and GNU Classpath, a free replacement for Sun's Java implementation. This demonstrated that the use of Java did not need to be a barrier to the use of OpenOffice.org on free software platforms. When 2.0 stable was released, the same continued. The OpenOffice.org developers also placed into their development guidelines various requirements to ensure that future versions of OpenOffice.org could be run on free implementations of Java.

Start-up performance

Some users experience start-up performance problems when launching OpenOffice.org. On the GNU/Linux platform, this can usually be moderated by deselecting "Use a Java runtime environment" in the Tools - Options - OpenOffice - Java dialogue box. (Under Windows, disabling use of the Java runtime has no effect on start-up performance because the JRE is not loaded until it is first used.)

OpenOffice.org is working to iron out several performance bottlenecks following complaints that the application takes relatively long to start up, especially on Linux systems. The project plans to solve the issue, partly by allowing the application to pre-load on systems.

Alternatives

There are also several alternative office suites available, including:
  • Microsoft Office, which is considered to be the de facto standard for productivity software.
  • Corel's WordPerfect Office.
  • iWork, Apple's Mac-only office suite. Includes Pages, for word-processing, and Keynote, for presentations.
  • KOffice, an open-source office suite which is part of the KDE Desktop Environment.
  • GNOME Office, a group of open-source applications including Abiword and Gnumeric, which is targeted for the GNOME desktop environment.
  • Lotus SmartSuite, provided by IBM contains a word-processing program called Word Pro, spreadsheet program called Lotus 1-2-3, a presentation program called Lotus Freelance Graphics and a database program called Lotus Approach. Lotus Notes provides the email/PIM portion of the Lotus offering.
  • SoftMaker Office, an office suite from Germany including a word processor, a spreadsheet, a database manager, and a programming tool.
  • ThinkFree Office, a free web-based alternative office suite. It is almost fully compatible with Microsoft Office files.
  • AppleWorks, Apple's works suite for Mac and Windows. It includes a word-processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, vector and raster graphics, and a database. It was previously known as ClarisWorks.
  • WPS Office, mainly targeted at Chinese users. It includes a word-processor, spreadsheet, presentation software. The most recent version is WPS Office 2005. Its personal version is freely downloadable.

Trivia & Easter eggs

  • By going into Calc and putting =Game("StarWars") into any cell, a version of Space Invaders is playable. Although if you try to play it again too soon you will be greeted with the message "oh no, not again." To play again, you must fully close OpenOffice
  • By going into Calc and putting =Game(A1:C3;"TicTacToe") into cell A4, a version of Tic-tac-toe is playable.
  • By going into Calc and putting =StarCalcTeam() into any cell, the names and picture of the OpenOffice.org Calc developer team are shown. To view again, you must fully close OpenOffice
  • In the About window, holding down Ctrl and pressing s, d, t displays the build number and a list of credits

See also

Notes and references

External links

Official

Third party

Open source office suites | OpenOffice.org | Java platform software | Unix software

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "OpenOffice.org".

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