Thursday 27 June 2013

LibreOffice

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search LibreOffice Start Center in LibreOffice 4.0.1 Original author(s) StarDivision Developer(s) The Document Foundation Initial release 25 January 2011 (2011-01-25) Stable release 4.0.4 (19 June 2013; 8 days ago (2013-06-19)) Preview release 4.1.0 RC1 (22 June 2013; 5 days ago (2013-06-22)) Written in C++, Java, and Python Operating system Cross-platform Linux Windows OS X BSD (ports are community supported) Platform IA-32, x86-64, PowerPC (project); ARMel, ARMhf, MIPS, MIPSel, Sparc, S390, S390x, IA-64 (additional Debian platforms) Available in 114 languages Type Office suite License LGPLv3 Website www.libreoffice.org

LibreOffice is a free and open source office suite, developed by The Document Foundation. It was forked from OpenOffice.org in 2010.

The LibreOffice suite comprises programs to do word processing, spreadsheets, slideshows, diagrams, maintain databases, and compose math formulae.

It is designed to be compatible with other major office suites, including Microsoft Office, though some Microsoft Office layout features and formatting attributes are handled differently or are unsupported. LibreOffice is available in over 30 languages and for a variety of computing platforms, including Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger or newer, and Linux It is the default office suite of most popular Linux distributions. Ports for FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD are being maintained by contributors to those projects, respectively.

Between January 2011 (the first stable release) and October 2011, LibreOffice was downloaded approximately 7.5 million times.

Features

Included applications Module Notes Writer A word processor with similar functionality and file support to Microsoft Word or WordPerfect. It has extensive WYSIWYG word processing capabilities, but can also be used as a basic text editor. Calc A spreadsheet program, similar to Microsoft Excel or Lotus 1-2-3. It has a number of unique features, including a system which automatically defines series of graphs, based on information available to the user. Impress A presentation program resembling Microsoft PowerPoint. Presentations can be exported as SWF files, allowing them to be viewed on any computer with Adobe Flash installed. Draw A vector graphics editor and diagramming tool similar to Microsoft Visio and comparable in features to early versions of CorelDRAW. It provides connectors between shapes, which are available in a range of line styles and facilitate building drawings such as flowcharts. It also includes features similar to desktop publishing software such as Scribus and Microsoft Publisher. Math Math: An application designed for creating and editing mathematical formulae. The application uses a variant of XML for creating formulas, as defined in the OpenDocument specification. These formulas can be incorporated into other documents in the LibreOffice suite, such as those created by Writer or Calc, by embedding the formulas into the document. Base A database management program, similar to Microsoft Access. LibreOffice Base allows the creation and management of databases, preparation of forms and reports that provide end users easy access to data. Like Access, it can be used to create small embedded databases that are stored with the document files (using Java-based HSQLDB as its storage engine), and for more demanding tasks it can also be used as a front-end for various database systems, including Access databases (JET), ODBC/JDBC data sources, and MySQL,MariaDB or PostgreSQL. Supported file formats Format Extension Read Write Notes OpenOffice.org XML SXW, STW, SXC, STC, SXI, STI, SXD, STD, SXM Yes Yes Microsoft Word for Windows 2 DOC, DOT Yes Yes Microsoft Word for Mac 4.1 Word 1 - 5.1 Microsoft Word 6.0/95 DOC, DOT Yes Yes Microsoft Word 4/5/95 DOC, DOT Yes dropped in 4.0 WriteNow 4.0 4.1 MacWrite Pro 1.5 4.1 AppleWorks 4.1 formerly called ClarisWorks Scalable vector graphics SVG Yes Yes Microsoft Word 2003 XML (WordprocessingML) XML Yes Yes Microsoft Excel 4/5/95 XLS, XLW, XLT Yes dropped in 4.0 Microsoft Visio VSD Yes Microsoft Works 3.3 since version 4.1 Mac file formats too Microsoft Excel 97–2003 XLS, XLW, XLT Yes Yes DocBook XML Yes Yes WordPerfect WPD Yes WordPerfect Suite 2000/Office 1.0 WPS Yes StarOffice StarWriter 3/4/5 SDW, SGL, VOR dropped in 4.0 dropped in 4.0 Ichitaro 8/9/10/11 JTD, JTT Yes ApportisDoc (Palm) PDB Yes Yes Requires Java Hangul WP 97 HWP Yes Microsoft Pocket Word PSW Yes Yes Requires Java Microsoft Pocket Excel PXL Yes Yes Requires Java Microsoft RTF RTF Yes Yes Plain text TXT Yes Yes various encodings supported Portable Document Format PDF Yes Yes including hybrid PDF Comma-separated values CSV, TXT Yes Yes Microsoft Excel 2003 XML XML Yes Yes Lotus 1-2-3 WK1, WKS, 123 Yes Lotus Word Pro 3.3 Data Interchange Format DIF Yes Yes StarOffice StarCalc 3/4/5 SDC, VOR dropped in 4.0 dropped in 4.0 dBase DBF Yes Yes SYLK SLK Yes Yes HTML HTML, HTM Yes Yes Quattro Pro 6.0 WB2 Yes Microsoft PowerPoint 97–2003 PPT, PPS, POT Yes Yes StarOffice StarDraw/StarImpress SDA, SDD, SDP, VOR dropped in 4.0 dropped in 4.0 Computer Graphics Metafile CGM Yes Binary-encoded only; not those using clear-text or character based encoding StarOffice StarMath SXM dropped in 4.0 dropped in 4.0 MathML MML Yes BMP file format BMP Yes Yes JPEG JPG, JPEG Yes Yes PCX PCX Yes PhotoShop PSD Yes SGV SGV Yes Windows Metafile WMF Yes Yes AutoCAD DXF DXF Yes MET MET Yes Yes Netpbm format PGM, PBM, PPM Yes Yes SunOS Raster RAS Yes Yes SVM SVM Yes Yes X BitMap XBM Yes Enhanced Metafile EMF Yes Yes HPGL plotting file PLT Yes SDA SDA Yes Truevision TGA (Targa) TGA Yes X PixMap XPM Yes Yes Encapsulated PostScript EPS Yes Yes PCD PCD Yes Portable Network Graphic PNG Yes Yes SDD SDD Yes Tagged Image File Format TIF, TIFF Yes Yes Graphics Interchange Format GIF Yes Yes PCT PCT Yes Yes SGF SGF Yes Adobe Flash SWF Yes Export from Impress Scalable Vector Graphics SVG Yes Export from Draw; embedding (non-editable) from 3.4 Software602 (T602) 602, TXT Yes Unified Office Format UOF, UOT, UOS, UOP Yes Yes Microsoft Office 2007 Office Open XML DOCX, XLSX, PPTX Yes Yes Miscellaneous features

LibreOffice can use the GStreamer multimedia framework in Linux to render multimedia content such as videos in Impress and other programs.

Visually, LibreOffice uses the large "Tango style" icons that are used for the application shortcuts, quick launch icons, icons for associated files and for the icons found on the toolbar of the LibreOffice programs. They are also used on the toolbars and menus by default.

LibreOffice also ships with a modified theme which looks native on GTK-based Linux distributions. It also renders fonts via Cairo on Linux distributions; this means that text in LibreOffice is rendered the same as the rest of the Linux desktop.

Licensing

The LibreOffice project uses a dual LGPLv3 (or later) / MPL license for new contributions to allow the license to be upgraded. Since the core of the OpenOffice.org codebase was donated to the Apache Software Foundation there is an ongoing effort to get all the code rebased to ease future license updates. At the same time there were complaints that IBM didn't really release the Lotus Symphony code as open source, even though they promised to. It was reported that some LibreOffice developers wanted to overtake some code parts and bug fixes which IBM already fixed in their OpenOffice fork.

Libreoffice Basic

Libreoffice Basic is a programming language similar to Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) but based on StarOffice Basic. LO Basic is available in Writer, Calc and Base. It is written in functions called subroutines or macros, with each macro performing a different task, such as counting the words in a paragraph.

Extensions

LO supports third-party extensions. As of June 2013, the LO Extension Repository lists more than 118 extensions. Another list is maintained by the Free Software Foundation.

Future developments Android

In 2011 it was announced that plans are under way to port LibreOffice to both Android and iOS.

Cloud support

LibreOffice Online will allow for the use of LibreOffice through a web browser by using the canvas element. Development was announced in October 2011 and is ongoing. It has not yet been released.

Flat icon set The new LibreOffice flat icons that will replace tango

To modernise the aesthetics of the office suite, the icon theme is going to be updated. A flat icon set is being prepared that will replace the current tango icons as the default. The goals of this new icon set are to be flat, monochrome, and scalable rather than bitmap icons.

History

See also: History of OpenOffice.org and History of Go-oo Initial release LibreOffice Writer

On 28 September 2010, several members of the OpenOffice.org project formed a new group called "The Document Foundation". The Document Foundation created LibreOffice from their former project in response to Oracle Corporation's purchasing of Sun Microsystems over concerns that Oracle would either discontinue OpenOffice.org, or place restrictions on it as an open source project, as it had on Sun's OpenSolaris.

It was originally hoped that the LibreOffice name would be provisional, as Oracle was invited to become a member of The Document Foundation. Oracle rejected requests to donate the OpenOffice.org brand to the project and demanded that all members of the OpenOffice.org Community Council involved with The Document Foundation step down from the OOo Community Council, citing a conflict of interest.

LibreOffice was initially named BrOffice in Brazil. OpenOffice.org was distributed as BrOffice.org by the BrOffice Centre of Excellence for Free Software because of a trademark issue.

Another fork of OpenOffice.org, Go-oo, merged into LibreOffice very early on. Since most Linux distributions already used Go-oo (and just called it OpenOffice) that meant a large number of distributions changed to LibreOffice very early since for them it meant little change. Switching back to OpenOffice would have meant a conscious change and no major distribution took that route.

By 2013 the founding aims of The Document Foundation were achieved. Hosting infrastructure had been set-up and enlarged to cope with increased demand The Document Foundation was officially as a german non-profit foundation.

As a result of the fork of OpenOffice.org into LibreOffice, Oracle announced in April 2011 that it was ending its development of OpenOffice.org and would release the majority of its paid developers. In June 2011, Oracle announced that it would donate the OpenOffice.org code and trademark to the Apache Software Foundation, where the project was accepted for a project incubation process within the foundation.

In June 2011 Google, Free Software Foundation, Red Hat, SUSE, SPI and Freies Office Deutschland e.V. each contributed one employee to The Document Foundation's Advisory Board to serve for an initial term of one year.

Versions

Two different major versions of LibreOffice are available at any time. The latest version is available for users looking for the latest enhancements while the previous version caters to users who prefer stability.

Release schedule

The Document Foundation intends to release new major versions of LibreOffice once every six months and to eventually do so in March and September aligning it with other free software projects.

Release history Version 3.3 Screenshot of LibreOffice Calc 3.3

LibreOffice 3.3.0 Beta 1, which was based on the beta release of OpenOffice.org 3.3, was made available on 28 September 2010 and was downloaded over 80,000 times. The first stable version of 3.3 was released on 25 January 2011. Because The Document Foundation and most of the software's new and former developers considered LibreOffice a direct continuation of OpenOffice.org, LibreOffice 3.3 continued the OpenOffice.org version numbering.

LibreOffice 3.3 features several functions not found in its OpenOffice.org counterpart, mainly as a result of Sun and then Oracle's requirement of assignment of copyright to themselves. Most of the features found in the 3.3 release were directly adapted from several already-created plugins, as well as the Go-oo fork. Among features unique to LibreOffice are:

SVG image import Lotus Word Pro and Microsoft Works import filters Improved WordPerfect import Dialog box for title pages Navigator lets one heading be unfolded as usual in a tree view. "Experimental" mode that allows unfinished features to be tried by users Some bundled extensions, including Presenter View in Impress Colour-coded document icons Load and Save ODF documents in flat XML to make external XSLT processing easier PPTX chart import feature AutoCorrections match case of the words that AutoCorrect replaces Vastly improved RTF export Embedding of standard PDF fonts Version 3.4 Redesigned Move/Copy Sheet dialog in Calc Improved GTK+ theme integration

Version 3.4.0 was released on 3 June 2011. Early versions of v3.4 contained some bugs, including compatibility issues with Microsoft Office, and was therefore only recommended as suitable for early adopters. By 3.4.2, the release was considered suitable for enterprises.

New features and improvements in 3.4 include:

Memory usage improvements Improvements to Calc, including improved speed and improved compatibility with Microsoft Excel, including pivot tables (formerly called DataPilot in OOo/LO), support for an unlimited number of fields, and a redesigned Move/Copy Sheet dialog There is now no need to close Writer's style edit dialog to check how a new style looks. Several thousand lines of German comments were translated into English. Over 5,000 lines of dead code were removed from Writer, Calc and Impress. Improved GTK+ theme integration The Linux version renders fonts via Cairo so that text in LibreOffice is rendered the same as the rest of the desktop. Reduction of LibreOffice's reliance on Java Continuing the transition to GNU Make for building LibreOffice Saving documents in StarOffice file formats was removed Version 3.5 Impress in LibreOffice 3.5.5

Version 3.5 was released on 14 February 2012. New features include:

Visio .vsd import, A native PostgreSQL driver. Java 7 support. AES encryption support for ODF file encryption. A .msi Windows Installer, Improved Office Open XML support. Introduction of an online update checker. By default, this feature is not fully automated. Version 3.6

Version 3.6 was released on 8 August 2012. New features include:

Support for color scales and data bars in Calc. Added word count to status bar. PDF Export with watermark option. 10 new Impress master pages. Support for importing Office SmartArt. Import Filter for Corel Draw documents. Version 4.0 LibreOffice 4.0.0 Writer with the "GNU - I" Persona and showing a comment set for a text range

Version 4.0 was released on 7 February 2013. New features include:

Import / export support for native RTF math expressions. Import filter for Microsoft Publisher publications. Support of all versions of Visio files Improved XLSX Load Time. Various DOCX improvements. CMIS Support. Support for Firefox Personas. PDF Import, Presenter Console and Python Scripting Provider are now core features. Support for comments to text ranges in Writer.

The release plan is defined to (at least) version 4.0.6 in October 2013.

Version 4.1

The first beta of LibreOffice version 4.1 was released on 26 May 2013. New features include:

Images embedded in writer can now be rotated easily in 90 degree increments Writer textframes now support having a gradient as background Embedding fonts in documents Import large HTML documents with more than 64k table cells. Import / Export of charts into odc. (ODF chart files) Charts can be exported to vector graphics (e.g. SVG, PDF) OOXML and RTF bugs and enhancements, Basic implementation of EMF+ metafiles. legacy Mac formats support: Microsoft Word for Mac 1 - 5.1, Microsoft Works for Mac Write Now 4.0, MacWrite Pro 1.5 ClarisWork and AppleWorks

The release is planned for the end of July 2013.

Release history overview LibreOffice release history overview Legend: Old version Older version, still supported Current version Latest preview version Future release Branch Version  Release date Notes / Major changes 3.x Old version, no longer supported: 3.3 28 September 2010 Version 3.3.0 Beta 1 was based on the beta release of OpenOffice.org 3.3. First stable version released on 25 January 2011. LibreOffice 3.3 continued the OpenOffice.org version numbering. Introducing functions not present in the OpenOffice.org counterpart, most of them directly adapted from already-created plugins. Some features unique to LibreOffice are: SVG image import New or improved import filters: Lotus Word Pro, Microsoft Works, WordPerfect. PPTX chart import feature "Experimental" mode that allows unfinished features to be tried by users Bundled extensions, including Presenter View in Impress Colour-coded document icons Load and Save ODF documents in flat XML AutoCorrections match case of the words that AutoCorrect replaces Vastly improved RTF export Embedding of standard PDF fonts Old version, no longer supported: 3.4 3 June 2011 Early releases only recommended for early adopters due to bugs like compatibility issues with Microsoft Office. By 3.4.2, the release was considered suitable for enterprises. New features and improvements in 3.4 include: Memory usage improvements Speed and MS-Excel-compatibility improvements to Calc, redesigned Move/Copy Sheet dialog Code cleanup: German comments translated to English, dead code removed Improved GTK+ theme integration and font rendering in Linux. Reduction of LibreOffice's dependance on Java Continuing the transition to GNU Make for building LibreOffice Old version, no longer supported: 3.5 14 February 2012

New features include:

Visio .vsd import, A native PostgreSQL driver. Java 7 support. AES encryption support for ODF file encryption. A .msi Windows Installer, Improved Office Open XML support. Introduction of an online update checker. By default, this feature is not fully automated. Older version, yet still supported: 3.6 8 August 2012

New features include:

Support for color scales and data bars in Calc. Added word count to status bar. PDF Export with watermark option. 10 new Impress master pages. Support for importing Office SmartArt. Import Filter for Corel Draw documents. 4.x Current stable version: 4.0 7 February 2013

New features include:

Import / export support for native RTF math expressions. Import filter for Microsoft Publisher publications. Support of all versions of Visio files Improved XLSX Load Time. Various DOCX improvements. CMIS Support. Support for Firefox Personas. PDF Import, Presenter Console and Python Scripting Provider are now core features. Support for comments to text ranges in Writer.

The release plan is defined to (at least) version 4.0.6 in October 2013.

Future release: 4.1 26 May 2013

New features include:

Improved image rotation Gradient backgrounds Embedding fonts in documents Import large HTML documents with more than 64k table cells. Import /export of charts to odc (ODF chart files) and export to vector graphic formats OOXML and RTF bugfixes and enhancements, Basic implementation of EMF+ metafiles. Support of several legacy Mac formats.

Final release planned for end of July 2013.

Users and deployments

The Document Foundation estimated in September 2011 that there were 10 million users worldwide who had obtained LibreOffice via downloads or CD-ROMs. Over 90% of those were on Windows, with another 5% on Mac OS X. LibreOffice is the default office suite for most Linux distributions, and is installed when the operating system is installed or updated. Based on International Data Corporation reckonings for new or updated Linux installations in 2011, The Document Foundation estimated a subtotal of 15 million Linux users. This gave a total estimated user base of 25 million users in 2011. The Document Foundation has set a target of 200 million users worldwide before the end of 2020.

LibreOffice has seen various mass deployments since its inception:

In 2010 the Irish city of Limerick gradually started migrating to open-source solutions to free itself from vendor lock-in and improve its purchase negotiation power. One of the key aspects of this move has been the use of LibreOffice. In 2011 the administrative authority of the Île-de-France region (which includes the city of Paris) included LibreOffice in a USB flash drive given to students which contains free open source software. The USB flash drive is given to approximately 800,000 students. In 2011, it was announced that thirteen hospitals of the Copenhagen region would gradually switch to LibreOffice, affecting "almost all of the 25,000 workers". In 2012, the Greek city of Pylaia-Chortiatis migrated its PCs to use LibreOffice. The local Linux User Group estimated cost savings to be at least 70,000 euros. In July 2012, the Spanish city of Las Palmas switched its 1200 PCs to using LibreOffice, citing cost savings of €400,000. In 2012, the administration of Umbria, Italy, started a project to migrate an initial group of 5000 civil workers to LibreOffice. The U.S. city of Largo has been a long-time user of open-source software using Linux thin clients. Originally using OpenOffice.org, the city of Largo switched to LibreOffice in 2013. In June 2013 the government of the Italian province of South Tyrol will be switching 7000 PCs in administration and "many more thousands" PCs in health services using LibreOffice and ODF.

LibreOffice Conferences

Starting in 2011, The Document Foundation has organized the annual LibreOffice Conference as follows:

2011 – Paris, France – 12–15 October 2012 – Berlin, Germany – 17–19 October

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