OpenOffice 3 set for official launch

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 13 Oct 2008 at 09:31

OpenOffice 3 is scheduled for an official launch in Paris tonight, although the software has been available for download all weekend.

The software was uploaded to several OpenOffice mirrors on Friday, such as this one at the University of Utah.

The latest version of the open-source office application is once again available in PC, Linux and Mac flavours, but for the first time runs as a native application under Mac OS X.

Support for ODF 1.2 has been added, in anticipation of the upcoming standard, along with Microsoft's OOXML document format. A selection of import filters are also provided to allow a range of Microsoft Office documents to be imported and edited seamlessly.

Another interesting feature is Solver, a solution engine for combinatorial optimisation problems that is a strong selling point for the commercial Excel package from Microsoft.

The updated office package represents the first major milestone release since version 2 was unveiled in October 2005.

Keep an eye out on the PC Pro site for a First Look at Open Office 3