AbiWord 2.8 word processor adds collaborative features, web sharing

AbiWord is a light weight, open source word processor for Windows and Linux that can create and edit documents in a variety of formats including DOC, RTF, TXT, HTML, and ABW. The word processor is often overlooked in favor of the fuller featured OpenOffice.org.

But if you don't need a full office suite that takes up hundreds of megaybtes, AbiWord is worth checking out -- and the latest version released today includes a handful of interesting new features including integration with the new AbiCollab web-based service for sharing documents with friends, colleagues, or the general public (you can set your account to be publicly visible or private).

AbiWord 2.8 includes a number of new collaborative features including the ability to highlight text from different authors in different colors. You can also upload documents to AbiCollab.net, where you can store files, share them with contacts, and convert from one file format to another. You can't actually edit documents on AbiCollab.net, so it's not exactly a Google Docs killer. But you can create a document which users can then download and edit with AbiWord before saving and/or uploading their changes. And when you open a file from AbiCollab, it will automatically open in AbiWord on your desktop. When you hit save, it will be saved to the web.

The latest version of AbiWord also supports multi-page views, annotations, or comments in documents and scalable vector graphics. There's also improved support for ODT and DOCX documents.

Tags: abicollab, abicollab.net, abiword, collaboration, office, opensource, word-processor