Looking forward to OpenOffice.org 2.0

We installed OpenOffice.org 1.9.65 from the snapshot builds page on a SUSE 9.2 system. Unlike previous versions of OpenOffice.org, version 1.9.x is being distributed in "native" installer format for various systems. The Linux build is available as an RPM rather than the old OpenOffice.org setup application.

One of the goals for the 2.0 release of OpenOffice.org is for the application to start faster than previous releases. At this point in development, the startup for OpenOffice 1.9.65 is not noticeably faster than 1.1.3, however.

Let's start with the word-processing application, Writer. The sad fact is that OpenOffice.org could be the best word processor ever invented -- but if it fails to import Microsoft Word documents well, it will have a tough time in the general market. This is also true of other OpenOffice.org applications, so we spent a good deal of time testing Office compatibility.

To test out the Word and other Microsoft document import features, this reporter searched for Microsoft Office documents on Google using the "filetype" search feature. Writer is still better at importing Microsoft Word documents than AbiWord, and 1.9.65 does a slightly better job of importing Microsoft Office files than 1.1.3. There still seem to be a few glitches. One Word document, for example, looked almost perfect, with the exception of a bulleted list presented outside the page borders.

The interface for Writer has changed very little, so users who are familiar with Writer already will be able to jump right in to the next version. There are a number of noteworthy new features in Writer aside from its Microsoft Word compatibility. This version of Writer allows an author to count words in a selection, in addition to counting words in the entire document. Nested table support has also improved in this version, which will also help with importing complex Microsoft Word documents.

The Impress interface has changed quite a bit, with floating toolbars for formatting and a tabbed interface to switch between views of the document. This reporter likes the new interface a little more, but the transitions between views are a bit jarring. The "slide sorter" view is particularly nice if one needs to re-arrange a presentation quickly.

Calc looks and feels the same as its predecessor. It has undergone a few improvements under the hood, however. In particular, Calc's limitation of 32,000 rows has been removed. Calc can now handle sheets with up to 65,536 rows, which is the same as Microsoft Excel. We tested this by importing a CSV document with 59,621 rows. Calc had no problem importing this document or saving it as a native OpenOffice.org file.

Calc is a bit better at importing Excel files with odd text formatting than Gnumeric, but Gnumeric does still seem to have the edge in supported functions. Calc fails several tests in Gnumeric's testing files which test for Excel compatibility.

One of the big additions to OpenOffice.org 2.0 is a database application like Microsoft Access. The OO.org Base application is, or should be, a nice addition to the OpenOffice.org suite when it's complete. Unfortunately, Base isn't very stable at the moment, and testing usually resulted in a complete crash in a short time. The Table Wizard is very user-friendly, but each time this reporter tried to create a database using the Wizard, OpenOffice.org would crash at the final step.

Unfortunately, the entire suite is only as stable as its least-stable component. When Base crashed, it brought down the entire suite in one fell swoop. This is a bit of a design flaw, as a user with Writer, Calc and Base open will have all applications crash simultaneously. This did give us a chance to work with the document recovery wizard. At startup, OpenOffice.org would try to recover all documents open at the time of the crash. OpenOffice.org's recovery feature was fairly dependable, but this reporter is looking forward to using it a little less often.

There are also a number of features that can be found throughout the OpenOffice.org suite rather than any specific application. The native file formats have changed to the OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications. OpenOffice.org applications still support the older format, but new files are saved in the new format by default unless the user changes default file format preferences. Users have a great deal of flexibility in this area, including the ability to save in Microsoft Office formats if they prefer.

OpenOffice.org 2.0 also has a document conversion wizard that allows the user to convert older OpenOffice.org and Microsoft Office documents into the new OpenOffice.org document formats. Rather than forcing the user to convert documents one at a time, the wizard allows a user to convert all documents in a directory at once. This feature isn't quite error-free just yet.

We were also interested in OpenOffice.org 2.0's digital signatures feature. Apparently, OpenOffice.org will allow the user to sign or verify macros and documents in the new format. Unfortunately, this feature didn't seem to be working in the 1.9.65 build.

From a test of the 1.9.65 build, it's pretty clear that the OpenOffice.org project has a way to go before it's finished. However, this release does provide a pretty good overview of what to expect, and it does look like 2.0 will be a formidable suite when finished.

For LWN readers who wish to participate in testing, or just see what else is on the way, a feature guide to 2.0 is available. According to the roadmap, the OpenOffice.org project should be releasing a 2.0 beta some time this month, with a final release tentatively planned for March of this year.