The goal of the OpenOffice.org community is to "create the leading international office suite that will run on all major platforms and provide access to all functionality and data through open-component based APIs and an XML-based file format." As described in the overview document, "OpenOffice.org is both an Open Source product and a project. The product is a multi-platform office productivity suite. It includes the key desktop applications, such as a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation manager, and drawing program, with a user interface and feature set similar to other office suites. Sophisticated and flexible, OpenOffice.org also works transparently with a variety of file formats, including those of Microsoft Office... StarDivision, the original author of the StarOffice suite of software, was founded in Germany in the mid-1980s. It was acquired by Sun Microsystems during the summer of 1999 and StarOffice 5.2 was released in June of 2000... The OpenOffice.org source code initially includes the technology which Sun Microsystems has been developing for the future versions of StarOffice software. The source is written in C++ and delivers language-neutral and scriptable functionality, including Java APIs. This source technology introduces the next-stage architecture, allowing use of the suite as separate applications or as embedded components in other applications. Numerous other features are also present including XML-based file formats and other resources."
"The OpenOffice.org XML project develops the OpenOffice.org XML File Format, as well as the necessary implementation for the OpenOffice.org application. The XML File Format Specification document defines the XML file format used OpenOffice.org and serves as reference for the format. The XML File Format DTD (document type definition) provides a handy reference against which all OpenOffice.org XML files can be validated." As described in the FAQ document, all OpenOffice.org applications use XML-based file formats. All applications (except Math) use the same format as defined in the specification. The Math component uses the package structure and format, but uses MathML inside the package." The project uses the "well-known ZIP file format as a package format. In addition, it uses an XML-based manifest file that describes the package content and may supply additional information about the included files (e.g., encryption method). Since ZIP is used, most archive programs can already handle OpenOffice.org files."
[October 14, 2000] On October 13, 2000, Sun Microsystems announced the public availability of XML DTDs and source code for StarOffice [OpenOffice.org] software. Development is being coordinated through OpenOffice.org. "OpenOffice.org will also allow other companies the opportunity to license the source for commercial release under a royalty-free Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL) that requires only that they maintain compatibility with the GPL reference implementation."
References:
OASIS Open Office XML Format Technical Committee [Became: OpenDocument TC]
OASIS Open Document Format Adoption Technical Committee (ODF Adoption TC)
"Members Approve OpenDocument as OASIS Standard. IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Others Develop Royalty-Free Standard for Office Applications Document Format." - "OASIS, the international e-business standards consortium, today announced that its members have approved the Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) v1.0 as an OASIS Standard, a status that signifies the highest level of ratification. OpenDocument provides a royalty-free, XML-based file format that covers features required by text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphical documents. 'XML doesn't always mean open. You can hide a lot in a file format. OpenDocument represents an opportunity to ensure truly open file formats for productivity applications, which is why it will receive the enthusiastic support of public sector steering organizations on a global basis,' commented James Governor, principal analyst at RedMonk. 'The participation of enterprises in vertical industries, such as aerospace, will also ensure adoption in the private sector. One key to success will be the royalty free status of the spec; there are no financial penalties associated with developing to it.' 'Office productivity applications and the documents they create are key to today's knowledge economy. Information critical to the long term functioning of any organization is stored in the spreadsheets, presentations, and text documents its employees create,' said Michael Brauer of Sun Microsystems, chair of the OASIS OpenDocument Technical Committee. 'Today, for the first time in the 25-year history of office applications, such documents can be stored in an open, standardized, and vendor-independent format.' OpenDocument provides a single XML schema for text, spreadsheets, charts, and graphical documents. It makes use of existing standards, such as HTML, SVG, XSL, SMIL, XLink, XForms, MathML, and the Dublin Core, wherever possible. OpenDocument has been designed as a package concept, enabling it to be used as a default file format for office applications with no increase in file size or loss of data integrity. 'OpenDocument is a fine example of an OASIS Standard that originated in and continues to be endorsed by the open source community,' noted Patrick Gannon, president and CEO of OASIS. 'The work of OpenOffice.org was submitted to OASIS in 2002 by Sun Microsystems with the approval of the OpenOffice.org community for advancement under royalty-free terms, so that it would be freely available to developers and users of any office software application. Now that OpenDocument has been approved as an OASIS Standard, we look forward to its robust use by the many organizations and governments from around the world that have been calling for an open, safe, standardized schema for office documents.' Gannon referenced OpenDocument implementations in software from Novell, OpenOffice.org, Stellent, and Sun Microsystems, as well as several other open source projects, as evidence of significant support in the marketplace..." See the news story "OASIS Releases OpenDocument 1.0 Committee Draft Specification for Public Review."
[February 16, 2005] "Replacing FrameMaker with OpenOffice.org Writer." By Bruce Byfield. From TECHWR-L, originally published October 05, 2004 on NewsForge. "Replace Adobe FrameMaker with OpenOffice.org Writer? Most people's first reaction is amused disbelief. 'FrameMaker is a hugely capable publishing product,' my editor at Newsforge admonished me. 'OOo is a marginally competent word processor.' However, a functional comparison of several important desktop publishing features in both products shows that the products are more comparable than you might think... I considered all the reasons commonly cited in the North American tech-writer community for using FrameMaker rather than Microsoft Word, as well as the features I had come to rely on during 10 years of writing and designing in FrameMaker: Styles; Indexes and tables of contents; Cross-references; Conditional Text; Sideheads; Long documents. In each category, I considered both functionality and ease of use, then made a verdict about which software was preferable. Users of Writer may wish for some features of FrameMaker. They may need to adjust to a different logic and layout. However, so long as they take the time to learn Writer, they can be in little doubt that they are using software that competes with FrameMaker on its own terms, and wins as often it loses. Even ignoring the cost and philosophical differences, OpenOffice.org is clearly an acceptable alternative to FrameMaker..."
[December 31, 2004] "OpenOffice 2.0 Nears Beta Testing." By Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols. In eWEEK (December 20, 2004). "OpenOffice.org 2.0, the open-source office suite sponsored by Sun Microsystems Inc., is getting closer to reality. While StarOffice (OpenOffice's commercial, closed-source brother) has long had a database, Software AG's ADABAS D relational DBMS, OpenOffice has not had one. Microsoft Office, with which OpenOffice is often compared, comes with the Access database. Starting with 2.0, however, OpenOffice will include the open-source HSQL database engine. The new OpenOffice will use the OASIS Open Office XML Format as its default file format. Despite its name, this is not OpenOffice-specific. The format is a new standard, based on OpenOffice formats and supported by OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards). This is meant to be an open standard for office documents. If all goes well with the beta testing, Sun will roll out the OpenOffice 2.0 release candidate in February [2005] and the final version in March [2005]..." Note: The OASIS Open Office XML Format Technical Committee announced that a second revision of the Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) 1.0 specification was approved as an OASIS committee draft. This "revised specification, formerly called Open Office Specification, contains new definitions in response to new developments in the office application space, but also error corrections and clarifications. The Committee Draft contains three embedded Relax-NG schemas: (1) The RNG schema for office documents, specified in chapters 1 to 16; (2) the normative schema for the manifest file used by the OpenDocument package format, specified in chapter 17; (3) the strict schema for office documents that permits only meta information and formatting properties contained in this specification itself, specified in appendix A. The approved Committee Draft is available in PDF format and OpenOffice.org XML format. A proposal has been made to rename the OASIS TC (to): "OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications (OpenDocument) TC."
[September 30, 2004] "Sun Pushes OpenOffice Standard." By David Becker. From CNET News.com (September 30, 2004). "Sun Microsystems is backing European Union efforts to standardize office document formats, including a proposal that would enable people to switch easily between Microsoft-based documents and those created with open-source software. In a recent letter to the European Commission, Sun President Jonathan Schwartz said he agrees with a recommendation by the EC's Interchange of Data between Administrations unit to establish the format used by OpenOffice.org, an open-source productivity suite based on Sun's StarOffice, as an international standard. The proposal is one of the guidelines issued by the IDA in May to address growing concerns about the interchange of electronic documents. The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards is already working on making OpenOffice.org's handling of XML (Extensible Markup Language) a standard, called the OASIS Open Office XML Format... The IDA report also recommended that software makers create filters to allow XML-based documents created by one application to be read by another. Schwartz said it's a good idea, and Sun will add filters to the next versions of StarOffice and OpenOffice.org to allow interchange of documents based on WordML and ExcelML, Microsoft's respective word processing and spreadsheet dialects of XML. 'These filters will be available for adaptation and re-use by others in industry,' Schwartz wrote. 'We intend to continue developing new interoperability filters for StarOffice and OpenOffice.org as we see new software releases from other vendors." See OASIS Open Office XML Format TC.
[September 28, 2004] "Open Office XML May Satisfy ISO." By Michael Singer. From InternetNews.com (September 28, 2004). "A letter to Sun Microsystems' COO Jonathan Schwartz by the European Commission (EC) this week may set the stage for the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to adopt the Open Office XML format (also known as OO.o XML) as an ISO standard. If it does, the stamp of approval would mark the largest ever validation of Sun's work on the desktop. The ISO has yet to chime in on the XML specification, which allows documents from different vendors to interoperate. An ISO representative was not immediately available for comment... The story began back in May 2004, when an EC advisory group -- the Interchange of Data between Administrations (IDA) -- recommended OOo.org XML be used, 'Where electronic, revisable documents are required, XML-based formats hold the promise of separating content, structure, semantics and presentation. A range of applications are available that support XML-based formats.' The IDA also suggested the industry, 'provide filters that allow documents based on the WordML specifications and the emerging OASIS Open Document Format to be read and written to other applications whilst maintaining a maximum degree of faithfulness to content, structure and presentation. These filters should be made available for all products'..."
[September 26, 2004] "Smart EC." By Tim Bray. From Ongoing Blog (September 26, 2004). "For [the title of] this piece I wanted to use 'The European Commission Makes Extremely Smart Moves Concerning Open XML-Based Office Document Formats and Browbeats Vendors Deftly; As a Result the Open Office XML Format Will Probably Become an ISO Standard.' This story started for me back in March when an OpenOffice team and a Microsoft team were invited to present to the European Commission on the relative merits of their XML-based office document format. On September 1, 2004 we proposed the idea of taking the OASIS spec, once it's finished, to ISO. The committee seems to like that idea and so does the OASIS management, so apparently the chances are good. We've built filters for MSWordML and ExcelML and they'll be in the next releases not only of our own StarOffice but in the mainstream OpenOffice.org open-source code, so anyone can use them. There is room for endless debate as to the proper role of the public and private sectors in a well-governed society. But this just seems to me like a complete no-brainer. Vendors will as a matter of course attempt to achieve lock-in whenever they get a chance, unless they're willing to take the long bet on enlarging the whole market; the reason I work here is that Sun usually likes that kind of bet. So it seems to me entirely appropriate for governments to lay down the law to fight lock-in and send letters to executives and use their massive purchasing power in support. We all come out ahead..."
[March 02, 2004] CreativeCommons OASIS Open Office Module. By Nathan R. Yergler (yergler.net), with contributions from Mike Linksvayer. A draft specification for embedding Creative Commons licenses in OpenOffice.org/OASIS documents: "This document describes the format for embedding metadata regarding a document's copyright license within the document. In particular, this document describes the method for embedding metadata in an OASIS Open Office XML file format document. As the title suggests, it originates from the Creative Commons project, but is not restricted to the licenses that they produce. Rather, it is designed to allow for the inclusion of any existing and future licenses, and to provide for the simple description thereof..." See the reference page. [cache]
[January 05, 2004] "OpenOffice Finds Sweet Spot with Governments." By Sean Michael Kerner. From InternetNews.com (January 01, 2003). "Following a trend by foreign administrations, the Israeli government this week suspended its acquisitions of new computer software from Microsoft. Price issues and the U.S. company's refusal to sell individual programs from its standard software package are cited as the main reason behind the switch, according Associated Press reports. Instead, Israeli news outlet Arutz Sheva said Wednesday that the Israeli Ministry of Finance will begin distributing Openoffice.org to its users beginning this week. The Israeli government plans to begin distributing Openoffice.org software on CD-ROM to public access points across the country in 2004. The Hebrew version of Openoffice.org was translated by Sun Microsystems and IBM with the support and assistance of the Israeli Finance Ministry... The Open Office software suite (properly referred to as Openoffice.org or OOo) is one of the better-known applications of the open source movement. It provides an alternative to Microsoft's ubiquitous Office application with similar word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software... Governments around the world appear to be taking an interest in Openoffice.org and open source software in general. The city of Austin, Texas recently adopted openoffice.org software and governments in Germany, France, Brazil and China to name of few have stated interest in going the open source route as well. In the U.K Scottish Public Libraries have made Openoffice.org software available for lending to the public... In the case of governments, open standards may potentially be viewed as a necessary form of democratic pluralism themselves. 'Should governments be using a format that is unique to a particular vendor to talk to its citizens? 'Noted Linux Guru and author of the Open Source Definition Bruce Perens asks. 'The government should not be saying you can only drive up to a government office in a particular brand of car. In the same sense the government should not be saying you can only talk to your government if you have Microsoft Windows software on your computer'..." See also the news story "Danish Board of Technology Report Recommends Open Source Software for E-Government."
[December 18, 2003] "OpenOffice Makes Government Inroads." By Matthew Broersma. In CNET News.com (December 18, 2003). "Government bodies in Israel and Texas are starting to shift from Microsoft Office to open-source alternatives, driven by budget pressures. Two significant government bodies, the Israel Department of Commerce and the City of Austin, Texas, are moving toward replacing Microsoft Office installations with the OpenOffice.org productivity suite. This continues a worldwide trend of governments attempting to cut costs with open-source software. The Department of Commerce has made a strategic decision to reduce government dependency on Microsoft, and is to replace most of its Microsoft Office desktops with OpenOffice, according to a report this week in the Israeli business daily Globes. The software is to run on Windows using IBM hardware, the paper said. Also this week, the City of Austin said it would migrate several hundred Microsoft Office installations to OpenOffice beginning in January, as part of an ongoing testing program. OpenOffice is an open-source office suite based on Sun Microsystems' StarOffice. Open-source software is not controlled by any one company, making it attractive for organizations wary of paying steep licensing fees to a single supplier. Many public-sector bodies are also eyeing, or actively migrating to, the open-source Linux operating system for desktop use. Linux is widely used on servers, but has yet to make a serious dent in Microsoft's dominance of the desktop. Austin made the decision to shift 300 desktops in the Communications Technology Management department to OpenOffice after testing the software on 30 desktops for several months, according to Austin's acting chief information officer, Pete Collins. He said that testing would continue, with the possibility of more of the city's 5,200 desktops shifting to OpenOffice..." See also the news story "Danish Board of Technology Report Recommends Open Source Software for E-Government"
[December 08, 2003] "Review: StarOffice 7 -- Innovation In Action." By Bruce Byfield. From OSDN NewsForge (December 08, 2003). "Sun Microsystems' StarOffice 7, released November 12, offers significant advantages in performance, usability, and stability over rival commercial office suites, including Microsoft Office. However, when the comparison is to OpenOffice.org version 1.1, the open source project from which StarOffice takes its code, it's harder to say where the advantage lies. StarOffice 7's new features extend its usability in several directions. Its improved Microsoft Office filters, while still far from perfect, are an advance on those in StarOffice 6. Their results are certainly no worse than the formatting nightmares that occur between different installations of Microsoft Office because of the risky combination of a flaky template system and ignorant users... Some new features, such as export filters for Flash and Palm formats and an editor for XML export, acknowledge the rise of technologies newer than the office suite. Others, such as support for bi-directional and vertical writing, make Asian and Hebrew versions possible -- a possibility that is already being realized in OpenOffice.org localizations. Support for MySQL as a data source and for Python scripting, accessibility options, expanded Help sections -- all of these new features show StarOffice/OpenOffice.org developers listening to users. These features are built on a dependable core. Although it is possible to crash StarOffice, the breaking point is higher than with most office suites... OpenOffice.org has had almost 19 million downloads from its official sites. Since the software can be given away freely, this total could mean that some 60-80 million copies are floating around. In comparison, the unofficial word is that StarOffice has sold some 50 million licenses -- and that was before Sun's recently announced deal to supply the Republic of China. These are respectable figures for software whose release history (beginning with StarOffice 6.0 and OpenOffice.org 1.0, the first released after the open sourcing of the code) is less than two years old. It seems likely that, long after StarOffice has overcome it general obscurity, its real competition won't be Microsoft Office, but OpenOffice.org, its own shadow..."
[July 15, 2003] "New OpenOffice on the Threshold." By David Becker. In CNET News.com (July 15, 2003). "The first major upgrade of OpenOffice moved a step closer with the introduction of a near-final version of the revamped open-source software. A 'release candidate' version of OpenOffice 1.1 is available now through the Web site of the organization behind the productivity package. With commercial software, the release candidate is the edition sent to manufacturers for distribution. But OpenOffice developers will make a few final tweaks to 1.1 before declaring a final version next month, said Sam Hiser, co-leader of the marketing project for OpenOffice.org. OpenOffice is the free, open-source sibling of Sun Microsystems' StarOffice, a software package that includes a word processor, spreadsheet application and other software tools. The package competes with Microsoft's dominant Office product, but can open and save files in Office formats. While it's dwarfed in market share terms by Microsoft Office, OpenOffice is slowly winning a following, thanks in part to its cost advantages and its ability to work with files created by Microsoft applications. Key additions to OpenOffice 1.1 include the ability to export files in the portable document format (PDF) created by Adobe Systems and in Macromedia's Flash animation format. Both standards are widely used by Web publishers and usually require the use of special authoring software... Version 1.1 also incorporates more support for XML (extensible markup language), the format increasingly embraced as the standard for exchanging data between disparate computing systems. Besides allowing people to save files in industry-standard XML, OpenOffice 1.1 is also designed to work with third-party 'schemas' (custom XML configurations), including those Microsoft plans to use in the upcoming version of Office. In addition, OpenOffice 1.1 offers support for non-Latin character sets, allowing easier creation of customized versions of OpenOffice for specific languages. The software is currently available in 30 languages, and another 60 localization projects are under way..."
OpenOffice.org XML File Format 1.0. Technical Reference Manual. Version 1. July 2002. 584 pages. "This manual describes the OpenOffice.org XML file format. XML is the new native file format for the OpenOffice.org suite, replacing the old binary file format. Our goal is twofold: to have a complete specification encompassing all OpenOffice.org components, and to provide an open standard for office documents. In our opinion, XML is ideal as an open standard because of the free availability of XML specifications and document type declarations (DTDs), and the XML support for XSL, XSLT, XLink, SVG, MathML, and many other important and emerging standards. One single XML format applies to different types of documents, for example, the same definition applies to tables in text documents and tables in spreadsheets..." [cache]
[March 07, 2003] "Sun Set to Release StarOffice Beta." By Peter Galli. In eWEEK (March 07, 2003). "Sun Microsystems Inc. will release the first beta of StarOffice 6.1 next week, further heating up the competitive war in the office desktop productivity market. News of the upcoming StarOffice 6.1 beta, which is focused on the corporate and enterprise customer, follows that from Corel Corp., which on Wednesday unveiled the first beta of WordPerfect Office 11, expected to be available in North America late next month... Sun's product line manager for StarOffice, Iyer Venkatesan, told eWEEK in an interview Thursday that the first StarOffice 6.1 beta will be available as a free download for the general public, but will be limited to 50,000 participants. 'We are screening participants in the first beta to make sure all the platforms and languages are fully represented. 'We have already had more than 10,000 pre-registrations for the beta and are also working with our current enterprise customers to participate in the program,' he said. The first beta program will run for about two months, followed by a second beta in early May that will be restricted to a handful of enterprise customers and a few public consumers. That program will also run for about two months, with the final release of the product slated for early fall. 'The 6.1 release is really an enterprise-focused release, and a lot of the feature-set is geared toward the larger corporate market as opposed to the consumer market. We have added accessibility to the product, which allows people with physical disabilities to use it. 'This will now help us promote the product with the U.S. government and its agencies, as it now meets the government requirement that all the products it standardizes and uses are accessible,' Venkatesan said. Sun is also working on a new set of configuration tools, the StarOffice Configuration Manager, to help system administrators and network administrators install, deploy and manage StarOffice across the enterprise. Sun will also release a software developer kit (SDK) for StarOffice 6.1, and will include a lot of new technologies to allow localization in regions with complex languages -- those, such as Hebrew, Hindi and Arabic, that require bidirectional text and complex text layouts..."
[November 27, 2002] "Sun to Release Java Toolkit for StarOffice." By Matt Berger. In InfoWorld (November 27, 2002). "Sun Microsystems Inc. will release a software development kit in the middle of next year that will allow businesses to customize applications in its open source StarOffice productivity suite to better suit their needs, an executive for the company said... Sun's StarOffice Software Developers Kit (SDK) is intended in part to make the productivity suite more competitive with Microsoft Corp.'s Office suite. It will allow developers to use Java in order to add custom features to the productivity software, by writing software plug-ins or customizing menus, for example, said Joerg Heilig, Sun's director of engineering for StarOffice. Currently, StarOffice developers can tweak the software using a scripting language called StarOffice Basic, which is similar to Microsoft's Visual Basic language, he said... Microsoft Office developers have long used tools to customize the Redmond, Washington, company's software suite for specific business uses. For example, a developer can create macros within Microsoft Excel that automate steps for filling out expense reports, such as currency conversion. Sun's goal is to let developers create similar macros with Java, taking advantage of its widespread use by developers... An early version of the SDK is currently available on the OpenOffice.org Web site..."
[December 20, 2002] "XML For The Masses: An Open Office XML File Format." By Daniel Vogelheim (Software Engineer, Sun Microsystems). Prepared for presentation at the IDEAlliance XML 2002 Conference, December 10, 2002. 18 pages (from the presentation slides). "XML Office File Format is designed to support 'Matching Customer's Requirements' -- in XML, for easy integration and processing of a complete office vocabulary. Requirements for the office file format are that it be: full featured, covering full office productivity space, easy to process and easy to generate; not vendor or application specific. Why a Fixed Office Vocabulary in an XML Office Format: (1) allows traditional usage patterns; (2) mass-market compatible; (3) add XML processing as needed; (4) tools can operate on semantic units; (5) transform into custom vocabularies. Use of Custom Vocabularies: work well in specialized, structured work-flows but requires tooling, extensive preparations...[adapted]" Context is provided in the extended abstract "XML For The Masses - An XML Based File Format for Office Documents." General references in "XML File Formats for Office Documents." [OpenOffice.org format == ZIP]
File Format Filters and Transformations. "One of the most important and prominent applications of the OpenOffice.org XML File Format is the transformations of office documents from and into other formats." Tools are referenced.
Announcement 2002-05-15: "Sun Microsystems Announces Staroffice 6.0 Software: Provides Dramatic Savings To Cost-Conscious Businesses Worldwide. Enterprise Pricing at $25-$50 Provides Affordable Alternative to Proprietary Office Productivity Suites." [source]
[May 02, 2002] "Sun Offers Free Version of StarOffice." By Tom Krazit. In InfoWorld (May 01, 2002). "A free version of Sun Microsystems' StarOffice business productivity suite is now available for download from OpenOffice.org, an open-source developer community sponsored by Sun. OpenOffice.org 1.0 provides users with a nearly identical software package to Microsoft's Office suite, featuring word processor, spreadsheet and presentation programs, said OpenOffice.org in a statement Wednesday. The source code from the previous release, StarOffice 5.2, was the code base for both OpenOffice.org 1.0 and StarOffice 6.0, but the two products are both advances over that version. The StarOffice 5.2 software was distributed as a free download prior to the release of 6.0. Sun's desire to capture business customers led it to offer paid support contracts for 6.0, and still allow free downloads of an improved release, OpenOffice.org 1.0, for users who didn't require support or training. StarOffice 6.0, announced in March and slated for availability this month, comes with additional features such as a database and special fonts. Sun, in Palo Alto, Calif., also provides training for StarOffice, which will be priced at under US $100, according to an earlier Sun announcement. E-mail and calendar functions that were disliked by users of StarOffice 5.2 have been removed from OpenOffice.org 1.0, said Zaheda Bhorat, a community manager for OpenOffice.org and a marketing manager for Sun. Future releases will add those functions back in when the community agrees on the best way to do that, she said. The product also contains support for XML, which will allow users to save files to PDAs (personal digital assistants) and other mobile devices when plug-ins for that type of file transfer are completed, said Sam Hiser, co-leader of the marketing project at OpenOffice.org and chief information officer of New York startup ReelAmerica. Users running Linux, Windows, Solaris, and other Unix flavors will be able to run OpenOffice.org 1.0. A port for Macintosh users is in the works, said Bhorat. The software also was set up to work with several different file formats so Microsoft Word and Excel files could be kept and worked with in the new version. However, macros and other specially created programs for the Microsoft products will not work with OpenOffice.org 1.0, Hiser said..."
[March 20, 2002] "StarOffice Goes Commercial, and Stays Open-Source." By Tom Krazit. In InfoWorld (March 19, 2002). "Sun Microsystems's StarOffice 6.0 will come with enhanced features and added support, but at a price, as Sun aims to attract a wider audience, such as businesses, towards the office-productivity software suite. A less sophisticated version of the product will still be available for free download from OpenOffice.org, the open-source community sponsored by Sun, the company announced Tuesday. 'We are positioning this product as a direct competitor to Microsoft's Office,' said Mike Rogers, vice president and general manager of desktop and office productivity at Palo Alto, California-based Sun. StarOffice is an office suite that includes word processing, spreadsheet, Web publishing and database applications. Along with version 6.0, currently in beta-testing, Sun will throw in 'enhanced support features,' such as online and phone support, training and deployment assistance, said Rogers. 'CIOs (chief information officers) at enterprises are uneasy about (adopting) a product without support and training for their IT staff. Our beta testers told us they wouldn't standardize on a product without that,' which led Sun to make those support features available, Rogers said. It will also come with features such as added fonts, a larger clip-art library, a database, a spell-checker, and other third-party applications. The current version, StarOffice 5.2, has been available for download on http://www.openoffice.org/, or purchased via retail outlets for $39.95, which included a CD and documentation. With the release of 6.0, Sun will stop distributing version 5.2 altogether; free downloads will end and the product will not be shipped either, said Rogers..."
[July 13, 2001] "Roadmap: A Guide to OpenOffice.org. [A Guide to OpenOffice.org through December, 2001.]" By Sun Microsystems. July 2001. 41 pages. "XML File Format: XML has been adopted as the new native file format, replacing the old binary file format. The new XML based format provides an open standard for office documents and represents a complete specification encompassing all OpenOffice.org documents. The XML filters of the different OpenOffice.org modules store packages instead of plain XML files. A package is simply a compressed file (zip, tar). The plain XML file is contained within the 'Content' entry of the package. To reflect the new XML format, the file name extensions have been changed: word processing: sxw; word processing Master Document: sxg; spreadsheets: sxc; draw: sxd; presentations (packed): sxi (sxp); math: sxm (fully compliant with mml standards). Documents created in StarOffice 5.2 or earlier versions will continue to be supported. They will be able to be loaded and saved either in the new XML based format or in the old binary format... New WebDAV Support: With OpenOffice.org it will be possible to access resources using the WebDAV protocol, the IETF standard for collaborative authoring on the Web. WebDAV (Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning) is a set of extensions to the HTTP protocol which facilitate collaborative editing and file management between users located remotely on the Internet. This enables users to collaborate over the Web in the same way as they might over a corporate intranet... New Configuration Files: Configuration data, formerly mainly stored in *.ini-files, will be saved as XML data. The data has been restructured to store the configuration settings for different program packages or modules in appropriate XML files. The program will install the files under share\config\registry while special user data will be stored under user\config\registry..." [Post from Michelle Milledge: "I'd like to announce that OpenOffice.org now has a Roadmap detailing the features expected to be implemented by the end of the year 2001. Please check this out [from among] the list of white papers. In addition, I'd like to announce that OpenOffice.org will be represented in the Sun booth at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference which is taking place in San Diego, California this month. The whole conference is July 23-27 but the exhibits will be open July 25-27. We are sponsoring the keynote on Thursday where our good friend Craig Mundie of Microsoft will be touting the virtues of Shared Source followed by Michael Tiemann of Red Hat who will speak on Open Source. We will also be holding a Birds of a Feather session on Thursday night at 7pm to talk about where we've been and how we can better meet the needs of our expanding community in the future..." [cache]
[August 31, 2001] "Sun Details StarOffice 6." By David Worthington. In eWEEK (August 30, 2001). "This week at LinuxWorld, Sun Microsystems Inc. is demonstrating the latest incarnation of its popular StarOffice Suite several weeks after placing a teaser on its Web site to gauge public interest. Overall, the focus of this release will be centered on ease of use rather than adding an overabundance of new features. Performance, compatibility and the introduction of XML (Extensible Markup Language) as the suite's default file format are among several areas that have received attention by developers. Set for a public beta in early October and release some time in the first quarter of 2002, StarOffice has undergone numerous changes since Version 5.2. Sun has made good on it promise to target key areas cited by user feedback and has opted to remove the much maligned integrated desktop. In addition, performance has been enhanced through componentization. The entire suite will not load when users simply wish to perform a routine task -- leading to quicker load times and a lower utilization of system resources... As always, popular formats such as binary and files saved with Microsoft Office are supported. However, Sun is banking on XML to provide universal compatibility to its product while side-stepping proprietary formats. With XML, the recipient of a file will not be required to have StarOffice installed to view it. Not only will XML provide for smaller file sizes, it also opens the door to interactivity. Once technology progresses, users will be able to edit files through a Web browser. Continuing its push toward the Web applications, Sun is banking on Sun One Webtop to bring its productivity suite to the masses. As far as Sun is concerned, the adoption of XML, combined with its open-source business model, is laying the groundwork for the future... To sign up for early notification of the beta release, visit the StarOffice 6 home page."
[December 29, 2000] StarOffice XML File Format. Technical Reference Manual. Draft 9, December 2000. 393 pages. This manual describes the StarOffice XML file format. XML is the new native file format for the StarOffice suite, replacing the old binary file format. Our goal is twofold: to have a complete specification encompassing all StarOffice components, and to provide an open standard for office documents. In our opinion, XML is ideal as an open standard because of the free availability of XML specifications and document type declarations (DTDs), and the XML support for XSL, XSLT, XLink, SVG, MathML, and many other important and emerging standards. One single XML format applies to different types of documents, for example, the same definition applies to tables in text documents and tables in spreadsheets. This working draft manual contains the current specification of the StarOffice XML file format. As the term 'working draft' implies, the StarOffice XML file format is work in progress. This fact has the following implications for this manual: (1) The specification contained in this working draft is not complete. The XML specification for many of the StarOffice features has not yet been decided or documented. (2) This working draft may contain specifications that are not currently implemented in the StarOffice XML import and export filters. This draft should also not omit specifications for any features that are already implemented in the StarOffice XML filters but there may be exceptions to this. (3) The specifications described in this working draft may change. This is especially true for specifications that are not currently implemented in the StarOffice XML filters, but may also be the case for specifications that are already implemented. The reasons for changing the specifications include changes to related working drafts like XSL-FO or SVG, suggestions from reviewers of the manual, errors or inconsistencies that are found, or problems with new specifications that can only be resolved by changing existing specifications. (4) This working draft may contain errors, missing information, or incomplete specifications. The StarOffice XML project "contains the support for the XML based file format. (1) The module sax contains an XML parser and an XML writer component, both based on the SAX interface. (2) The module xmloff contains the document type definitions (DTDs) for the XML based file format. It also contains most of the C++ code to read and write these files through the SAX interface. Some additional code exists within the application modules. (3) The module package contains the Zip file access API implementation + the 'generic' package API implementation. It will also contain the code to support the XML Manifest file." See also the XML DTD modules in the CVS repository. Update notice from Daniel Vogelheim 2000-12-29. [cache]
[June 26, 2001] "Department of Defense Adopts StarOffice." By Peter Galli. In eWEEK (June 25, 2001). "In a significant win for open source desktop productivity suites, Sun Microsystems Inc. today announced that the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) would implement up to 25,000 units of its StarOffice 5.2 software. StarOffice, Sun's open source productivity application suite that includes word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and database applications for the Solaris, Windows and Linux platforms, would replace Applix on more than 10,000 of DISA's Unix workstations at 600 client organizations worldwide, said Susan Grabau, the product line manager for StarOffice. DISA has already begun implementing StarOffice as the automation Unix desktop solution for its Global Command and Control System, she said. The deal had not cost DISA anything as there was no license fee associated with StarOffice, and the federal government already had extensive support contracts with Sun which would cover this implementation, she said...Sun is also on track to release StarOffice 6 later this year. Iyer Venkatesan, the senior product manager for StarOffice, told eWeek in late April that StarOffice 6 would include the recently finalized XML file format specifications, which would make file sharing far easier. 'Files will now be able to be saved in either an XML format or in the current binary format. The lets users easily share information across applications, and will simplify the importing and exporting of files from different programs while greatly improving file sharing and readability,' he said."
[Older version spec] XML File Format Specification, [cache]
[February 09, 2001] "Tutorial: Adventures with OpenOffice and XML." By Matt Sergeant. From XML.com. February 07, 2001. ['The lack of a competitive open source XML editor has long been lamented by the XML developer community. The move towards an XML file format in the OpenOffice word processor looks set to change that. In our main feature this week, "Adventures with OpenOffice and XML," Matt Sergeant explores the new XML file format and shows how transformations can be used to integrate OpenOffice into an XML content management solution.'] "At the Open Source conference in Monterey last year, Sun announced their plans to release the current source code for Star Office, renamed OpenOffice. In October they followed up on their plans, releasing both the source code and binaries for OpenOffice build 605. One of the features added since Star Office 5.2 was the ability to save files as XML. In addition to being open source, saving as XML makes OpenOffice truly open. Aside from being open source, XML's self-documenting nature allows us to dive into the document format without having to dive into C++. And more significantly, XML allows us to use simple, free tools to manipulate the documents themselves. In this article we will examine the structure of the format. We will not go into great detail, as Sun has already done so in a 400 page specification. Instead we will focus on using the XML to generate something of potential interest to web developers and content editors. It's important to note that OpenOffice isn't ready to be an every day word processor. Components like printing and spell checking were removed in the migration to open source because Sun didn't own them. I expect they will be added back by the open source community as time goes by. When Sun releases Star Office 6 I expect they will include the proprietary spell checker and print engine again. Also worth noting is that OpenOffice is relatively unstable at the moment. I experienced several crashes and other serious problems while working on this article. Thanks to Daniel Vogelheim of Sun for helping me through those troubles... the server side of XML processing is competitive with, if not better than, proprietary products, the client-editor side of things was a long way off. OpenOffice's XML format changes everything. Now you really can edit a richly formatted document in a WYSIWYG word processor and publish it directly to the Web. That's a huge step in the right direction for the open source community. Other ideas that could be implemented include (1) convert a presentation file to Sun's XML slide format and then to SVG using their toolkit; (2) use stylesheets to generate OpenOffice's XML format from XML formats like DocBook or XHTML (or the output from the transformation above) to create a form of round-trip editing; (3) use stylesheets to generate XHTML directly, rather than an interim format. Doubtless there are many more possibilities."
[January 09, 2001] "Sun makes headway toward StarOffice 6." By Peter Galli. In eWEEK (January 09, 2001). "Sun Microsystems Inc. on Tuesday will release the latest draft specification of the XML file format that will be included in the next version of its StarOffice software suite due out later this year. StarOffice is the open-source productivity application suite that includes word-processing, spreadsheet, presentation and database applications for all major platforms, including Solaris, Windows, Linux and the MacOS. Bill Roth, Sun's group product manager for OpenOffice.org, said that Sun hopes ultimately to establish a standard file format for open office productivity. 'The new specification lets StarOffice users easily share information across applications, thus eliminating the need to save files in different formats,' he said. 'It will also simplify the importing and exporting of files from different programs.' The new draft spec was released on OpenOffice.org, the open-source community for the source code behind StarOffice, and is available at xml.openoffice.org. StarOffice 6 will include the final XML file format. It will also include Asian language support (completing Sun's 'localization' road map) as well as a number of feature enhancements to each of the components. 'But exactly what enhancements will be added for this version is still under discussion with engineering," Venkatesan said'."
[February 12, 2001] From Daniel Vogelheim: How to implement import and export filters for OpenOffice.org. I've just finished a write-up on how to implement import and export filters in OpenOffice.org. The main focus is on implementing filters using the XML-based file format, but it also describes how to implement a filter component in general, without XML. It can be read at: http://xml.openoffice.org/filter/. Note that this document describes how to implement the filter component itself. An additional write-up on how to register the component should follow shortly. It will describe what is necessary to make the filter and file type known to the application, such that your new filter can be chosen in the load and save dialogs, and that it will be selected automatically for the proper files.
[October 14, 2000] StarOffice Code Available. A recent announcement from Sun announces the availability of StarOffice source code as 'open' source, and the decision to adopt XML to replace the old binary file format; the project is dedicated to establishing open productivity XML-based file formats and language-independent component APIs. "The source code for StarOffice software is now available under the GNU Public License at OpenOffice.org. Sun has also made the StarOffice APIs and XML file formats available as well, in an effort to drive standardization across office productivity suites. Developers around the world now have the freedom to use StarOffice technology to best suit their needs, whether to improve their own products, build new value-added products on top of the StarOffice suite, improve existing technology in StarOffice software, or contribute new StarOffice components to the open source community. This move opens up the office productivity market to unlimited possibilities for innovation. In one of the largest actions of its kind, Sun is working with the leaders of the free software and open source community to make the source code for its StarOffice software suite freely available under the GNU General Public License (GPL). In addition, Sun will commit the efforts of its development team, as well as the resources of a $14 billion global company, to work side by side with members of the community to continue to develop the code at OpenOffice.org, a site hosted and managed by CollabNet. No longer will any one company determine what is best for the market or the user, but the market will decide and users will choose. No longer will files and documents wear the cement shoes of a single vendor or operating system, but standards will flourish and compatibility reign across platforms. For the first time, a commercial grade, full-featured office suite will be opened up to the innovative input of the global developer community." [On the XML File Format:] We adopted XML to replace the old binary file format and become the OpenOffice.org suite's new native file format. Our goals were twofold: to have a complete specification encompassing all components, and to provide an open standard for office documents. One single XML format applies to different types of documents -- e.g., the same definition applies for tables in texts and in spreadsheets. XML is ideal as an open standard because of the free availability of XML specifications and DTDs, and XML's support for XSL, XSLT, Xlink, SVG, MathML, and many other important and emerging standards. Beside replacing the binary file format with XML, the OpenOffice.org suite will use XML internal for exchanging any type of content between the different applications. OpenOffice.org provides today an infrastructure for using different XML components. The XML-Parser and the XML-Printer are all implemented as components. Every of these component support the Simple API for XML (SAX). This infrastructure will allow in the future to dynamically configure a pipelines of different XML components, like XML-Parser, XSLT-Processor, etc. to process XML-Input and Output. This will allow transformation of XML-Data into different formats on the fly, without storing intermediate files and parse them again for every transformation step. . . There are many benefits to making StarOffice software open source, including: (1) Higher quality product. Since there are more developers on the project fixing bugs, there will be fewer bugs. (2) Faster development time. Leveraging the efficiencies of the open source model, the community will get access to new features sooner. (3) Ports to any platform. Since the code is open, anyone can port the StarOffice code to any platform. (4) Many languages. It will be possible to localize StarOffice software to any language the community has knowledge of. (5) Standard APIs. A single API set for manipulating and extending StarOffice software. (6) Standard file formats. XML will allow any XML-capable program to read StarOffice files. (7) More templates and sample documents. By building a community, users will be able to share sample documents, document templates, and macros, making it easier to produce professional-quality content. . . With XML file formats and language-independent APIs, OpenOffice.org ushers in an era of compatibility, giving developers the power to innovate and build new applications that easily work together, regardless of platform. End users will be able to choose from an array of powerful, free software, assured that their work is transportable and can be shared with anyone. Sun will continue to drive the development of the OpenOffice.org source code and distribute its own certified, StarOffice branded version of the OpenOffice.org software for free. To ensure consumer confidence and promote uniformity, OpenOffice.org will also allow other companies the opportunity to license the source for commercial release under a royalty-free Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL) that requires only that they maintain compatibility with the GPL reference implementation. Companies that meet this requirement may also qualify for and license the StarOffice brand for use on their product. . . As promised, Sun Microsystems and CollabNet have worked together to build the infrastructure to put the StarOffice code into the open source arena on October 13, 2000. The CVS repository is up and running, and the code is now available for checkout and download. A complete set of technical documentation is available, including a guide to the projects, whitepapers, a 'build guide,' and a porting guide..." See (1) the Technical Overview and (2) the main StarOffice web site.
[October 14, 2000] Technical Overview of the OpenOffice.org source project. "Through the OpenOffice.org source project, Sun Microsystems is open-sourcing the technology that powers its StarOffice office productivity application suite. Sun recognizes that the open source community expects openness, interoperability, and adherence to standards and, now that the underlying technology of the StarOffice suite will be available to the community in the form of the OpenOffice.org sources and binaries, Sun presents in this document the OpenOffice.org suite's technological foundations and where they stand with respect to these expectations. The OpenOffice.org suite's high level of interoperability derives from the standards it supports as well as its premier import/export interfaces with the various office productivity applications produced by Microsoft. The OpenOffice.org suite employs a component-based development system that exemplifies all the important characteristics of Component Ware - consistent interface allocation, support for important component standards, transparent localization components, batch job capability, and platform independence. OpenOffice.org's component technology is open, object oriented, interface based, and independent of both platform and development system. The OpenOffice.org API is version independent, scalable, durable, and re-applicable. Because the component technology is used in its implementation, the OpenOffice.org API is programming language independent. XML replaces binary as OpenOffice.org's file format and becomes the suite's new native file format. Sun and OpenOffice.org are positioning XML, with its extremely high standards profile, as the next standard for exchange of office documents..."
[October 14, 2000] StarOffice XML File Format. Working Draft. Technical Reference Manual. Draft 7, October 2000. 318 pages. "This manual describes the StarOffice XML file format. We adopted XML as the new native file format for the StarOffice suite, replacing the old binary file format. Our goal is twofold: to have a complete specification encompassing all StarOffice components, and to provide an open standard for office documents. In our opinion, XML is ideal as an open standard because of the free availability of XML specifications and document type declarations (DTDs), and the XML support for XSL, XSLT, XLink, SVG, MathML, and many other important and emerging standards. One single XML format applies to different types of documents, for example, the same definition applies to tables in text documents and tables in spreadsheets. This working draft manual contains the current specification of the StarOffice XML file format. Each structural component in a StarOffice XML document is represented by an element, with associated attributes. The structure of XML documents applies to all StarOffice applications. There is no difference between a text document, a spreadsheet or a drawing, apart from the content. Also, all document types may contain different styles. You can exchange document content that is common to all document types from one type of document to another. . . As the term 'working draft' implies, the StarOffice XML file format is work in progress. This fact has the following implications for this manual: (1) The specification contained in this working draft is not complete. The XML specification for many of the StarOffice features has not yet been decided or documented. (2) This working draft may contain specifications that are not currently implemented in the StarOffice XML import and export filters. This draft should also not omit specifications for any features that are already implemented in the StarOffice XML filters but there may be exceptions to this. (3) The specifications described in this working draft may change. This is especially true for specifications that are not currently implemented in the StarOffice XML filters, but may also be the case for specifications that are already implemented. The reasons for changing the specifications include changes to related working drafts like XSL-FO or SVG, suggestions from reviewers of the manual, errors or inconsistencies that are found, or problems with new specifications that can only be resolved by changing existing specifications..." [cache]
[October 16, 2000] "Sun Microsystems Announces Availability of StarOffice Source Code On OpenOffice.Org. Sun Works With CollabNet to Deliver Largest Donation of Source Code to Open Source Community." - "Sun Microsystems Inc. today announced the availability of the StarOffice source code on OpenOffice.org, the site that will host the StarOffice source code. In an attempt to drive standardization for technologies for office productivity suites, Sun also released the XML file formats and StarOffice API specifications. OpenOffice.org is managed by CollabNet and serves as the coordination point for the source code, the definition of XML-based file formats, and the definition of language-independent office application programming interfaces (APIs.) In addition, CollabNet is providing its SourceCast platform for developers around the world to easily collaborate on the StarOffice source code. OpenOffice.org establishes the necessary facilities to make all of the StarOffice source code available under dual licensing -- the GNU General Public License architecture (GPL) and the Sun Industry Standard Source License (SISSL). StarOffice software is a leading, full-featured productivity suite for all major platforms, including Solaris Operating Environment, Windows, Linux, and, during the first half of next year, the Macintosh. StarOffice 6 software, the next version currently in development, will serve as the source code base for OpenOffice.org. StarOffice 6 software will feature a modularized design, breaking down StarOffice software into re-useable components and discrete applications."
[October 15, 2000] Summary of StarOffice 2000-10 from Daniel Veillard (W3C), posted to XML-DEV. "Just a bit of feedback on it [Sun StarOffice], as I did play with it yesterday: (1) it uses expat for parsing encapsulated in C++; (2) they don't do DTD validation at loading -- which makes sense due to the following points; (3) it makes serious use of namespaces: all elements are in a well defined namespace, there is multiple namespaces depending on the semantic of the elements/attributes - the generated XML looks clean though there is a bit of style extra information stored even if not used; (4) their namespace support is done in a clean way (i.e., one can change the prefix string and the application still recognizes it; (5) they can import document with extra namespaces, but they can't save the unknown part; this generates a message at save time which seems to indicate that those information are kept in the internal document model which is a Good Thing, because it's probably easy to fix; (6) I just looked at the SAX wrapper, and though I don't enjoy C++, the code is somewhat clean and commented. Globally, the impression is very positive so far! Though the whole application isn't really lightweight :-) Thank you Sun for providing this great piece of free software!" -- Daniel, with his Gnome hat.
[October 14, 2000] "StarOffice open-source code released to rocky start." By Todd R. Weiss and Lee Copeland. In InfoWorld (October 13, 2000). "The release of the source code for Sun Microsystems' StarOffice productivity suite Friday was a bit too much of a crashing success. By 8:45 a.m. Eastern time, just 45 minutes after going online, the servers used to host the long-awaited open-source code Web site, www.OpenOffice.org, were overloaded by download requests, causing a crash that was not fully repaired until 3 p.m. The number of hits to the site was not disclosed, but analysts and officials said the deluge of downloads demonstrates the potential popularity of the StarOffice software and open-source code development in general. Sun decided to release StarOffice's source code in July, less than a year after acquiring Germany-based StarDivision for $73.5 million in August 1999. Beginning with Version 6.0 of the suite, Sun said, StarOffice will be built using the OpenOffice.org sources, application programming interfaces, file formats, and reference implementation. In July, Sun also signed Collab.Net, a San Francisco-based start-up, to build and host www.OpenOffice.org as an open-source development site for StarOffice. The site is supposed to offer programmers services such as source versioning, source browsing, and maintenance of developer contact lists. Developers who register on the Web site can get free access to the StarOffice source code..." Similarly: "Sun's source code for office software hiccups onto Web" (CNET News.com).
[October 14, 2000] "A Gnu Star May Be Rising On Friday The Thirteenth." By Alan Winston. From ScreamingMedia, Microtimes.com (October 04, 2000). "Sun Microsystems is putting StarOffice under the GNU Public License. What does this mean for freeware users? At the recent Open Source conference in Monterey, CA, Sun Microsystems Inc. of Palo Alto, CA, reportedly announced that it would make the StarOffice source code available under the GNU Public License, with a release due Oct. 13. I'm not sure why Sun chose Friday the 13th for the release date. Sun plans to make StarOffice available under the GNU Public License (GPL), the Lesser GNU Public License (LGPL) and the Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL). Not only will the actual applications be available, but file format specifications, application programming interfaces (APIs) and multiple language bindings (or libraries) also will be accessible to the public. Sun will be an equal member of the Openoffice.org Foundation, a nonprofit modeled on the Apache Foundation to guide open source development of the software; Openoffice.org is already up with mailing lists, forums and plans for a CVS source code repository. What difference does this make to the ordinary Linux user? None, at least, right away. If you have the free, personal-use version of StarOffice with your Linux distribution, you already have a reasonably good office suite. This doesn't change that, for now. But it could have a broad and sweeping effect, potentially rippling through large parts of the software industry -- and it could affect vendors who don't do UNIX at all. WHAT IT MEANS Why does Microsoft Corp. own the office suite market now? Basically, once you have a large-enough market share -- attained in whatever way, whether it's because everybody loves your software and rushes out and buys it, you make deals to sell it cheaply bundled with computers for home and office or you have really good advertising -- everybody else has to deal with your stuff. . ."
