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October 6, 2008 2:29 PM PDT

OpenOffice 3 almost ready for business

by Seth Rosenblatt
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Open-source freeware alternative to Microsoft Office, OpenOffice.org, has released the third release candidate of its next major-point upgrade for Windows and Mac. The full version of OpenOffice.org 3 is due next week, so it's extremely doubtful there will be any major changes from this point on.

While Sun Microsystems is making sure that all its T's are crossed and I's are dotted, OpenOffice 3 Release Candidate 3 offers quite a few new features, including much-needed support for Office 2007 file types, Microsoft Access database support, a multipage view in MS Word-analog Writer, nearly unlimited character support in sheet names, Google Doc-style collaborative editing of a single spreadsheet simultaneously, and a refreshed interface.

The full changelog can be read here.

Seth peers into the deep, dark corners of software so that you don't have to. He has yet to suffer a single nightmare about OS/2. You can follow him on Twitter.
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by skiracer712 October 7, 2008 8:15 AM PDT
hoping it has a similar UI as MS Office 2007. Seriously, if it dosent, im going to have to pay for Office 07.
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by DarkHawke October 7, 2008 1:46 PM PDT
Keep dreaming. The lawsuit would be of monumental proportions if they even tried to ape it. The price you pay for a free office suite is a klunky UI. Get used to it or shell out big-time for M$ Office.
by rolinx October 7, 2008 11:15 AM PDT
i just love this
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by n25philly October 7, 2008 12:43 PM PDT
hopefully it will be better than the pure garbage open office 2 was
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by firefoxluva95 October 7, 2008 5:16 PM PDT
Like it or not, the ribbon in Office 2007 is easier to use than the toolbars of OpenOffice. Since I've already gotten office at a discounted academic rate, I'm guess I don't need OpenOffice. I'll leave it as a recommendation to anybody absolutely does not want to pay for MS Office though. It's not a bad program and definitely not garbage.
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by robby85 October 7, 2008 8:13 PM PDT
I am glad they are adding support for the new docx, etc. files. I have Office 2007 and I think it is great, but I still use OpenOffice for a few things. Where else can you freely create pdf files. And its free, so I keep a copy on my PC just because. I am looking forward to version 3 and if they keep developing it, it can eventually seriously compete with MS Office. Unfortionately for Microsoft, it supports the new file format, which probably has a lot to do with MS changing to docx in the first place.
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