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Released: Apache OpenOffice 4.1.15

What's New In OpenOffice.org 1.0?

Document last updated 2002-05-21.

Maintained by Nick Richards – nick@nedrichards.com

Additional contributions – Richard Holt.

 

  1. What's new since the last build?

  2. What's New since OpenOffice.org went Open Source?

  3. What's New since StarOffice 5.2?

OpenOffice.org 1.0 is a full featured office suite that does more than you might expect. This is a quick rundown of new features added since the StarOffice code was made open source.



Differences between StarOffice and OpenOffice.org

The source code available at OpenOffice.org does not consist of all of the StarOffice code. This is because Sun Microsystems, Inc. pays to license third party code to include in StarOffice that it does not have permission to make available in OpenOffice.org. Those things which are or will be present in StarOffice but are not available on OpenOffice.org include the following:

For more information on the current features of OpenOffice.org, please see the features page at //dev_docs/source/features.html .

Changes since the Last OpenOffice.org build:

All Applications

Database Access

The standard setting for "Open in design mode" in forms has changed from "On" to "Off".

OpenOffice.org Draw and Impress

OpenOffice.org Writer

OpenOffice.org Calc



Installation

To enable or disable the migration during a response file installation it is possible to use a new key within the environment section:

General User Interface

Changes Since OpenOffice.org went Open Source:

Online Help, English Spellchecker and Thesaurus now available, plus various other spellcheckers are available!

Database Access

All Applications

OpenOffice.org Draw and Impress

Some names for presentation and interaction effects have been changed:
Object effects:

Page effects:

Interactions :

Other builds:

L10N (Localisation) project

OpenOffice.org Writer

OpenOffice.org Calc

General User Interface

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What's new since StarOffice 5.2?

The program has undergone some significant changes since StarOffice 5.2 was released. Some of these changes are:

Removal of integrated desktop

The integrated desktop, which allowed you to run your whole computer has been removed. It is replaced by individual component modules such as Writer and Impress. In Windows versions of the program you can access these quickly using the Quick Start Menu. This was changed so we didn't force our own desktop on users.

Componentization of word processing, spreadsheet, and graphic application modules

The old StarOffice used the integrated desktop and all of the included applications had to use the same windows and icons. The new component architechture means that each application can concentrate on doing what it does best whilst still remaining an integral part of the complete OpenOffice.org suite.

Removal of email and calendar and the schedule server

For copyright reasons the email and calendar features (known as 'Groupware') were removed from the code. However a project to put them back in has been started. More information is availiable at: http://groupware.openoffice.org/ .

Removal of the browser

There are plenty of excellent Open Source web browsers such as the Mozilla Project. It was felt that duplicating this effort was a waste and that we should concentrate on the Office features of the OpenOffice.org suite.

Move to XML-file formats

XML is a way of describing structured information, like the highlighting in text documents, in an efficient and open way. The new OpenOffice.org file formats are much smaller than those of similar suites.

Improved Microsoft filters

Most people currently use Microsoft Office so excellent compatibility is a must. OpenOffice.org provides filters so that even the most complex features are usually decoded.

Asian language Support

Chinese (simple and traditional), Japanese, and Korean are just a few of the languages that have been added; check out the localisation project for more details: http://l10n.openoffice.org/

These are all changes that were decided upon by Sun Microsystems before the source code was released to the community.

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