OpenOffice.org 3.0 now available

It's been something of an open secret ever since last Friday when Release Candidate 4 of OpenOffice.org version 3.0 was made available, but now it's official: OOo 3 is here.

An open-source replacement for office suites like Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org includes the word-processor Writer (equivalent to Word), the spreadsheet Calc (Excel) and the presentation graphics tool Impress (Powerpoint).

It's currently available for Windows, Linux and Intel Mac, with native support for Mac OS X being one of the most exciting new features.

That's not the only new addition to OOo 3, however.  All versions include:

• support for the latest version of the Open Document Format (ODF), as well as the formats introduced by Microsoft Office 2007
• a new Start Center allowing you to easily create a text document, a spreadsheet or a presentation

New in Writer, you can now:

• view several pages side by side
• add notes and corrections in the margins of a document

Calc can now:

• edit equations
• draw more complicated graphs, using margins of error and correlation coefficients
• create spreadsheets up to 1024 lines instead of 256

Naturally, all of the other updates that have been included along the way from version 2 are here, including all of the nifty upgrades brought in version 2.4.

The interface, though, is far from revolutionary, which might disappoint those of you who enjoy the new 'ribbon' in Microsoft Office 2007 ... and perhaps please others.  Anybody who's used OOo before certainly won't feel out of place.


> What's New in OpenOffice.org 3.0?
> Download OpenOffice.org 3.0

> Buyer's Guides: Our Pick of The Best Products