OpenOffice 3.0 is now available for download. Get it at openoffice.org/
Demand for downloads was so high that it crashed the website. I still managed to download it a few hours ago with no problems. You could also download it via a BitTorrent.
I haven’t really delved into any of the new features, but the interface has been updated with a more modern look, while all the menus and icons that used to be there seem mostly the same.
I have a positive initial impression, but they still haven’t added a feature I love in Word (the ability to collapse the upper and lower margins in Print Layout View by clicking in the space between the pages).
[quote=“wix”]I haven’t really delved into any of the new features, but the interface has been updated with a more modern look, while all the menus and icons that used to be there seem mostly the same.[/quote]I remember reading that it would open .docx files (default save format for MS Office 2007) directly, as well as having better MS Office compatibility overall. That will be quite handy.
I’ve had problems with Open Office in the past while working in an MS-centric shop. VB macros often didn’t work, and doing anything like embedding Visio Calc diagrams into documents was out of the question.
That said, I’ve been relying on Open Office for nearly all my school’s word processing and spreadsheet needs. I’ve been pretty happy with OO for the last couple of years, and the new language selector tool makes multi-lingual documents more convenient than before.