OpenOffice.org 2.4 Released

ahziem writes "The multiplatform, multilingual office suite OpenOffice.org has announced the release of version 2.4. New features include 5 PDF export enhancements, text to columns in Calc, rectangular selection in Writer, bug fixes, performance improvements, improvements supporting the growing library of extensions such as 3D OpenGL transitions in Impress, and much more. Downloads are available either direct or P2P. In September, OpenOffice.org 3.0 will add PDF import, Microsoft Office 2007 file format support, and ODF 1.2."

Also, Neooffice 2.2.3

[Anonymous Coward]

FWIW, NeoOffice [neooffice.org], a Mac Os X port of OpenOffice.org just had a new release last week. It's based on the 2.2.1 code and adds Quicktime video support, import from scanners and cameras, Mac OS grammar checking in Leopard, and some more stuff. Details here [neooffice.org]. Don't forget if you download it to grab the latest patch [neooffice.org] too.

The insane thing is NeoOffice only has two code developers.

Thank god!

[Digi-John]

My life has been empty without the ability to switch between slides in STUNNING 3-D! I seriously just peed a little in excitement.
Come on; there's not even a reason to have *any* transitions between slides. Nothing says "Oh god, what an amateur" than seeing slide after slide spiral into another one, or slowly dissolve, etc. Transitions are just a way to waste your time trying out different possibilities instead of polishing your content or doing something else useful.

Re:Thank god!

[stuporglue]

Nothing says "Oh god, what an amateur" than seeing slide after slide spiral into another one, or slowly dissolve, etc.

Depends on the transition, the material and the audience. For example, if you're switching between a before and after slide (eg. with photos) using a crossfade can make it more clear what the differences are. Also, some suits prefer a smooth transition to a blocky sudden switch.

Re:Thank god!

[morgan_greywolf]

Yeah, for that matter, we should just go back to using transparencies and overhead projectors. REAL professionals don't embed video or audio or anything in their presentations either. Just an outline. Why, back in my day, we just wrote on big sheets of paper with a marker!

C'mon, don't be such a luddite.

New features include [...] bug fixes

[phaunt]

Since when is a bug fix a new feature?

Re:Thank god!

[Colonel Korn]

The GP's complaint against transitions is that they serve no functional purpose. One reply pointed out that in some very limited cases, they do (before/after photos benefit from a crossfade), which is reasonable. Your reply equates transitions with video and audio, which is absolutely unreasonable in the framework of the GP's post. Video and audio have obvious utility. Transitions are almost always decoration, and I agree with the GP that they're usually a distraction from the material.

Re:Thank god!

[claus.wilke]

I would argue that if you are preparing a presentation that is running by itself, without a human presenter, a simple but elegant transition effect will work better than no effect at all. This might be quite useful for exhibits at tradeshows and similar occasions.

Re:I wish OOo would sign (PGP or authenticode)

[Zadaz]

a number of companies won't install anything on their machines unless the files are cryptographically signed in some way

Sure! Just like my copy of Windows, OSX, Photoshop, Acrobat, Office, Toast, and... every other commercial application that I've ever had are cryptographi--

Oh, wait. Hell, even Firefox doesn't have a sig. to download.

I'm not saying the danger isn't there, but generally if someone has access to make nefarious changes to an archive, modifying the signature as well is pretty trivial, if not mandatory.

Re:Only one comment

[zappepcs]

I do. Also contribute to EFF, Chronix Radio, Ubuntu, and several other F/OSS applications. I don't think everything should be free, but I feel damned comfortable paying what feels comfortable to me in a value for dollar kind of way. I happened to pay $45 for OOo and think it was a damned good deal at that price.

Re:PDF import?

[Knuckles]

Just FYI, Acrobat can do a million things more than just creating dumb display-only files.

Re:PDF import?

[rbanffy]

"I can't wait for that. PDF import will turn OpenOffice.org into a poor-man's Adobe Acrobat."

I would rather say a free man's Adobe Acrobat. It's not about the cost - it's about the freedom.

Re:PDF import?

[genesus]

Never used fillable forms? Acrobat's ability to change and manage the form data and the advanced editing features are a godsend, especially working with locked government pdf forms that are not set up properly at all.

Re:Thank god!

[xtracto]

Transitions have a specific use and is to "inform" your audience that you have changed the slide. Even a very discrete fade out transition is sometimes useful. When you give a presentation people are usually looking at you and hear you talking. They just refer to the slide when it is shown at first *or* when you point at a specific feature of the slide.

Re:PDF import?

[nurb432]

Acrobat sux for reading in and editing existing documents. You would be better off editing the original document and re-exporting to PDF.

OpenGL 3D effects before antialiased graphics????

[wpegden]

Openoffice still doesn't do good anti aliasing of vector graphics (for example, in a presentation). It seems idiotic to implement OpenGL "eye candy" before dealing with this half-decade old issue. Who is going to put up with crappy-looking drawings, just because they can now transition between them smoothly?
Here's one thread on the issue: http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=33584 [oooforum.org]

Re:PDF import?

[corky842]

Do you consider 219 MB portable? [portableapps.com]

Re:Mac Version

[Quixotic Raindrop]

If it's a known hold, then the download page should note that and not just spin wheels waiting for Bouncer to time the download request out. Yes, I reported that to OOo.

Re:PDF import?

[mhall119]

Which is essentially what the GP was saying, you can't edit a PDF as a text document in Gimp, you can only edit it as an image.

Re:Only one comment

[MojoStan]

OTOH, I have given up powerpoint altogether -- it's safer to have open office presentations + OOo installer on a CD than to have a powerpoint presentation and hope they have the right version of MS office.

I might be missing something, but why can't you just put the free PowerPoint Viewer on the CD along with your PowerPoint presentation? Wouldn't it be nicer (to them) to install the 2 MB PowerPoint Viewer on "their" computer than whatever needs to be installed to view OOo presentation files? (OTOH: I wouldn't be surprised if there were simple "viewers" available for OOo presentations.)

• PowerPoint Viewer 2003 (1.9 MB) [microsoft.com] (for versions 97 thru 2003)
• PowerPoint Viewer 2007 (25.8 MB, requires 5 MB of hard disk space) [microsoft.com]

Get rid of modal dialog boxes

[xiox]

One of the most annoying features of OpenOffice are all those modal dialog boxes. Why do I have to keep closing the formatting dialog whenever I switch between different bits of text? It really slows down repetitive operations. Many of the dialogs could become non-model, giving a much smoother feel to the whole program.

Re:PDF import?

[Heembo]

Agreed. Acrobat does a great job of leading you down the road of depending on Abobe's proprietary world of advanced PDF functionality that is better left to other technologies.

Re:PDF import?

[Knuckles]

Be that as it may (and I think it's a good point), fact is that it allows non-experts to do very fancy stuff that I wouldn't even know how to do with other means. Maybe the non-proprietary alternatives should simply try to be better, this approach seems to be more promising than simply being annoyed about PDFs impressive feature set.