Just last week, the Document
Foundation rolled out LibreOffice 4.0. The updated version of the free open
source productivity suite promises a wide range of improvements, ranging from
enhanced compatibility with Office documents and document management systems to
small upgrades in Writer and Calc. Beyond these, however, LibreOffice 4.0's
significant improvements can be felt upon its thorough use and here are some
good reasons why it is worth the shot.Enhanced inoperability
The
engineers at Document Foundation put a whole lot of work in improving the
inoperability of LibreOffice 4.0. It now better supports Microsoft documents
formats, allowing the import of ink annotations from Word, inclusion of
comments to text ranges, and Microsoft Publisher layouts can now be opened in
Draw.
The
upgraded version now also supports checking documents from almost all document
libraries as long as they support CMIS open standard. These include IBM FileNet
P8, Visio, Microsoft Sharepoint 2010, Alfresco, Nuxeo, SAP NetWeaver Cloud
Service and OpentText.
Remote accessibility of presentations
Perhaps
one of the most promising features that LibreOffice 4.0 has is the Remote
Control App, which allows users to control their presentations from their
Android phones or notebooks over Bluetooth. Here, users can view slide
thumbnails, read speaker notes, and move to the next slide using the volume
control of their phones. According to Michael Meeks, developer of LibreOffice
and distinguished SUSE engineer, this simple addition is something that users
can utilize to carry out product or service demos at customer sites with great
ease.
Although
the feature is currently available for Linux users, Document Foundation assured
that in the next upgrade (which they promise will be released soon), the Remote
Control App can be supported on MacOS X and Windows.
Better-looking user interface
The interface
still has the usual menus, toolbars and icons. However, what makes the UI more
interesting is that it now supports Firefox themes, which means you can choose
from multiple icon sets or pick one from the thousands of personas available to
spiff up the interface. In addition, the Linux version integrates with the
Unity interface for GNOME. Other notable upgrades in the UI include Template
Manager dialog and the ability to preview fonts.
Faster reaction time
LibreOffice
4.0 is faster than its 3.5 version. There is a significant improvement in the
way it loads and saves different kinds of documents, but this is more
noticeable for larger .xls spreadsheets, .ods and .rtf files.
It is free
Of
course, the biggest draw about LibreOffice 4.0 (or LibreOffice in general) is
that you can get it for free. And since it is an open source solution, you have
the power to customize it according to your needs.
Although
LibreOffice 4.0 may not be as powerful as the other ones available as it has
areas that still needs tweaking, it cannot be denied that for a two-year old
office suite, it shows a lot of promise, especially now there is an influx of
developers who are working on providing neat improvements for the program.
Simply put, if you are looking for a free alternative to the usual expensive
office suites available, LibreOffice 4.0 is a smart choice.
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