BIOS: Technology Means Business

OpenOffice 2.0 has been silently released. After over two years in development, the final version of OpenOffice 2.0 has been made available for download. The productivity suite offers a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation builder and a database - all for free and available in 36 languages for Windows and Unix based platforms.

OpenOffice is a multi-platform and multilingual office suite and an open-source project. Compatible with all other major office suites, the product is free to download, use, and distribute. The free office productivity suite is a great alternative to Microsoft's Office.

The open-source suite now sports a more professional looking user interface and a brand new database module. It also features the ace-in-the-hole - the Open Document file format based on the open-standard OASIS format for office applications. OpenOffice 2.0 now features a word processor (Writer), a spreadsheet (Calc), a drawing package (Draw), presentation graphics (Impress) and the new database module (Base) as well as Math and Gallery.

OpenOffice 2.0 consists of a new database module and advanced XML capabilities. It natively supports the internationally standardised OpenDocument format, which several countries have established as the default for office documents. With Sun Microsystems as its primary sponsor and contributions from Novell, Red Hat, Debian, Propylon, Intel, as well as independent programmers, OpenOffice 2.0 runs on Windows, GNU/Linux, Sun Solaris, Mac OS X (X11) and several other platforms.

'OpenOffice.org is on a path toward being the most popular office suite the world has ever seen,' said Jonathan Schwartz, president and CEO of Sun Microsystems. 'As a member of that community, I'd like to offer my heartiest congratulations.'

The OpenOffice.org 2.0 supports OASIS Standard OpenDocument format eliminating the fear of vendor lock in or format obsolescence. Thus, the OpenDocument format can be used by any office application.

In addition to the OpenDocument format, OpenOffice 2.0 adds improved PDF support, a superior spreadsheet module, enhanced desktop integration and several other features that take advantage of its advanced XML capabilities, such as the ability to easily create, edit and use XForms.