Bitstream @ Sun: Musings on the bitstream

The brand new version of OpenOffice 3.0 is official since today. I have been running beta versions of Staroffice 9 - which is the Sun version based on this code with some extras - since a few months and it rocks. I use it all the time, even when presenting. Since 3.0 now runs native on Mac, I dropped NeoOffice and iWork.

Besides Mac support, there is Open Doc Format 1.2 support, compatibility with MS Office 2007 file formats (and MS Office 2008 on Mac) and full PDF pizzas. There is even limited VBA support for people claiming they cannot move due to Excel macros they have... And I have never, ever seen a file I could not open, or that someone else could not read from me. Full features here. But the server looks swamped at the moment...

An incredible and unique feature of OpenOffice is the fact that you can use extensions that people write, including Sun. There is a presenter console that gives you a nice presenter display in a dual monitor setup (like Keynote), a pdf importer that allows you to edit pdf files and much more. See all extensions here.

 Oh and did I mention OpenOffice comes with a database ? Check it out today !

I love the Sun Learning Exchange. It is a site that symbolizes what Sun is all about these days: open. SLX is a kind of Youtube for Sun knowledge; you can find presentations, podcasts, videos, but also pdfs for example. The topics vary wildly from official news and product training to employees filming demos themselves. There is something for everyone, from ZFS to the internal voicemail system, over CMT servers and OpenOffice. I think it is great to watch a presentation with the voice comment of the person who created it, also cool to send to customers or colleagues.

And did I mention the site works great on any iPhone or Ipod Touch ? And all of it free, free, free. I get a buzz from this site and vow myself to look at an item every day. Let's see how long I can keep that up...