[ale] Fwd: [tdf-announce] The Document Foundation launches LibreOffice 3.3

Tue Jan 25 14:02:00 EST 2011

Actually early on that was one of the selling points of Lotus 1-2-3 over Visicalc - it could be used for database functions (albeit in a limited way).  In fact the name 1-2-3 was based on the fact it could be used for 3 different things.   Lotus Symphony expanded on that by adding true word processing AND could be used for communications much like Procomm and other utilities of the day.   Since many packages back then cost you $500/copy AND tried to prevent you from loading them on more than one workstation at a time by odd copy protection mechanisms having one package that could do multiple tasks was a boon.

These days most folks get office suites and really ought to use databases but old habits die hard. 

Side note:  In my accounting days I had a boss who loved Supercalc and was always trying to tell me it did everything Lotus did.  I walked him over to my desk and logged into our Linux system from my DOS Symphony installation and asked him to show me how he did that in Supercalc.   He finally admitted that there was something Lotus did that Supercalc didn't.   (Of course I never mentioned to him that Symphony did it but 1-2-3 didn't.)   

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of Jim Kinney
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 1:35 PM
To: stephen.r.blevins at gmail.com; Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts
Subject: Re: [ale] Fwd: [tdf-announce] The Document Foundation launches LibreOffice 3.3

1 million rows. That's a database not a spreadsheet!

My M$ colleague and I were laughing about how people abuse
spreadsheets as databases and page layout tools .

congrats to LibreOffice on the outstanding effort.

On Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 11:48 AM, Stephen R. Blevins
<stephen.r.blevins at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Stephen R. Blevins
> stephen.r.blevins at gmail.com
>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [tdf-announce] The Document Foundation launches LibreOffice 3.3
> Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 12:06:36 +0100
> From: Florian Effenberger <floeff at documentfoundation.org>
> Reply-To: noreply at documentfoundation.org
> Organization: The Document Foundation
> To: announce at documentfoundation.org, discuss at documentfoundation.org,
> marketing at libreoffice.org, marketing at us.libreoffice.org
>
> The Document Foundation launches LibreOffice 3.3
>
> The first stable release of the free office suite is available for download
>
> The Internet, January 25, 2011 - The Document Foundation launches
> LibreOffice 3.3, the first stable release of the free office suite
> developed by the community. In less than four months, the number of
> developers hacking LibreOffice has grown from less than twenty in late
> September 2010, to well over one hundred today. This has allowed us to
> release ahead of the aggressive schedule set by the project.
>
> Not only does it ship a number of new and original features, LibreOffice
> 3.3 is also a significant achievement for a number of reasons:
>
> - the developer community has been able to build their own and
> independent process, and get up and running in a very short time (with
> respect to the size of the code base and the project's strong ambitions);
>
> - thanks to the high number of new contributors having been attracted
> into the project, the source code is quickly undergoing a major clean-up
> to provide a better foundation for future development of LibreOffice;
>
> - the Windows installer, which is going to impact the largest and most
> diverse user base, has been integrated into a single build containing
> all language versions, thus reducing the size for download sites from 75
> to 11GB, making it easier for us to deploy new versions more rapidly and
> lowering the carbon footprint of the entire infrastructure.
>
> Caolán McNamara from RedHat, one of the developer community leaders,
> comments, "We are excited: this is our very first stable release, and
> therefore we are eager to get user feedback, which will be integrated as
> soon as possible into the code, with the first enhancements being
> released in February. Starting from March, we will be moving to a real
> time-based, predictable, transparent and public release schedule, in
> accordance with Engineering Steering Committee's goals and users'
> requests". The LibreOffice development roadmap is available at
> http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleasePlan
>
> LibreOffice 3.3 brings several unique new features. The 10 most-popular
> among community members are, in no particular order: the ability to
> import and work with SVG files; an easy way to format title pages and
> their numbering in Writer; a more-helpful Navigator Tool for Writer;
> improved ergonomics in Calc for sheet and cell management; and Microsoft
> Works and Lotus Word Pro document import filters. In addition, many
> great extensions are now bundled, providing PDF import, a slide-show
> presenter console, a much improved report builder, and more besides. A
> more-complete and detailed list of all the new features offered by
> LibreOffice 3.3 is viewable on the following web page:
> http://www.libreoffice.org/download/new-features-and-fixes/
>
> LibreOffice 3.3 also provides all the new features of OpenOffice.org
> 3.3, such as new custom properties handling; embedding of standard PDF
> fonts in PDF documents; new Liberation Narrow font; increased document
> protection in Writer and Calc; auto decimal digits for "General" format
> in Calc; 1 million rows in a spreadsheet; new options for CSV import in
> Calc; insert drawing objects in Charts; hierarchical axis labels for
> Charts; improved slide layout handling in Impress; a new easier-to-use
> print interface; more options for changing case; and colored sheet tabs
> in Calc. Several of these new features were contributed by members of
> the LibreOffice team prior to the formation of The Document Foundation.
>
> LibreOffice hackers will be meeting at FOSDEM in Brussels on February 5
> and 6, and will be presenting their work during a one-day workshop on
> February 6, with speeches and hacking sessions coordinated by several
> members of the project.
>
> The home of The Document Foundation is at http://www.documentfoundation.org
>
> The home of LibreOffice is at http://www.libreoffice.org where the
> download page has been redesigned by the community to be more user-friendly.
>
>
> *** About The Document Foundation
>
> The Document Foundation has the mission of facilitating the evolution of
> the OOo Community into a new, open, independent, and meritocratic
> organization within the next few months. An independent Foundation is a
> better reflection of the values of our contributors, users and
> supporters, and will enable a more effective, efficient and transparent
> community. TDF will protect past investments by building on the
> achievements of the first decade, will encourage wide participation
> within the community, and will co-ordinate activity across the community.
>
>
> *** Media Contacts for TDF
>
> Florian Effenberger (Germany)
> Mobile: +49 151 14424108 - E-mail: floeff at documentfoundation.org
> Olivier Hallot (Brazil)
> Mobile: +55 21 88228812 - E-mail: olivier.hallot at documentfoundation.org
> Charles H. Schulz (France)
> Mobile: +33 6 98655424 - E-mail: charles.schulz at documentfoundation.org
> Italo Vignoli (Italy)
> Mobile: +39 348 5653829 - E-mail: italo.vignoli at documentfoundation.org
>
> --
> Florian Effenberger <floeff at documentfoundation.org>
> Steering Committee and Founding Member of The Document Foundation
> Tel: +49 8341 99660880 | Mobile: +49 151 14424108
> Skype: floeff | Twitter/Identi.ca: @floeff
>
> --
> Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to announce+help at documentfoundation.org
> List archive: http://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/announce/
>
>
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-- 
--
James P. Kinney III
I would rather stumble along in freedom than walk effortlessly in chains.

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