OpenOffice.org 2.4 may be just around the corner. But if you laugh at stable releases and always want to have your hands on the latest beta software, you can download an early beta version of OpenOffice.org 3.0 today. Just check out the
list of OpenOffice.org mirrors, choose a download site, and then find the Developer folder and the DEV300 supfolder and you should be able to download a Windows, Linux, or Mac installer. That's right, there's even an OS X installer. OpenOffice.org 3.0 will be the first version of OpenOffice to feature a native Mac client.
So what else does OpenOffice.org 3.0 have that version 2.3.1 is missing? Well, a bunch of bugs. This is a developer preview, after all. But there's also a ton of new features, including the startup screen you see above. That's what you'll get if you launch OOo-dev without choosing a specific application like Writer or Calc first. Here are a few other changes:
- Multi-page view in Writer
- Office 2007 document support
- New Calc theme
- Maximum number of columns in Calc jumps from 256 to 1024
- Multiple users can edit spreadsheets simultaneously
These are just a few of the changes already included in OpenOffice.org 3.0 beta. There are thousands of other tweaks and bug fixes in the works. What features would you most like to see in the next major release? OpenOffice.org 3.0 is scheduled for a September, 2008 launch.
[via
OpenOffice.org Ninja]
Tags: developer-preview, openoffice.org, openoffice.org-3.0, opensource
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Comments
26
Subscribe to commentsFelipeMar 21st 2008 12:20PM
Office 2007 has a lot of great features to make graphs and plots look really good, compared to OO. I hope v3 changes that. Under linux I prefer gnumeric just because you can get better looking graphs than OO.
I also really can't stand OO presentation's templates for the same reason.
SamMar 21st 2008 12:38PM
FIX THE ENVELOPE PRINTING!!! Seriously, that's about the only real complaint I have with OO.o. It does everything else I need it to do easily. But printing envelopes is an exercise in frustration.
Jon BaronMar 21st 2008 4:48PM
I'd like to be able to use emacs shortcuts when editing. I use Xemacs for everything I do myself, but occasionally I have to edit other people's stuff in OO, and the conflicting shortcuts drive me nuts.
jeffstersMar 21st 2008 8:18PM
OMG! It looks like AppleWorks 5.0 circa 1999.
Nice job!
David ThomsonMar 22nd 2008 10:00AM
What totally perplexes me about oo writer is the bullet points/numbering with the grey background. It might be possible to change it (it must be, because imported word documents default to having white background), but then again it might very well be the ugliest default I have ever seen on any software program ever. That alone makes me not want to use it.
GeoservApr 21st 2008 9:47PM
STUMBLED!
Looks good so far.
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