89. About OpenOffice.org

OpenOffice.org is an open source, cross-platform suite of productivity applications. OpenOffice.org includes applications that allow you to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and drawings. The NLD OpenOffice.org installation, which has been adapted for NLD by Novell, includes the following applications:

• Writer A powerful document processor that allows you to create every possible type of document from simple letters to brochures to complex reports that contain data from the other OpenOffice.org applications. Writer also makes it easy to create tables of contents and indexes and provides autocomplete and autoformat options that make it easy to create any document quickly.

• Calc A spreadsheet application that provides all the tools that you need to create invoices, balance sheets, and budgets and chart the data in a variety of chart formats. Calc also provides advanced tools for "What If" analysis of data and provides a number of wizards to help you work with more advanced analysis features.

• Impress An application that allows you to create simple slideshows and advanced multimedia presentations that include pictures, sound, and other multimedia content such as video. Impress also provides drawing and diagramming tools that allow you to create an impressive array of highly informative slides for your presentations.

• Draw A drawing tool that allows you to create simple and complex drawings to include in your OpenOffice.org documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Draw is particularly useful for creating flowcharts and other complex diagrams.

Note

At the time of the writing of this book, OpenOffice.org version 1.1.4 was the most recent "stable version" of this application suite. A version 2 is in the works and will include a database application. Because Novell has "fine-tuned" the version of OpenOffice.org that accompanies NLD, it is unclear when version 2 will be available for NLD and which applications will be included in newer versions of the suite.

The OpenOffice.org applications use an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) file format as the default format when you save a document or other file in one of the Open.Office.org applications. OpenOffice.org embraces XML as the default file format because XML files can readily be opened by a variety of applications. Because OpenOffice.org is open source, the developers of the application suite chose a default file format that is also open and nonproprietary.

Key Term

XML XML or eXtensible Markup Language was developed by the World Wide Web Consortium and is a markup language that allows for the creation of extended tags (a tag language like HTML). It provides a universal file format that can be embraced by many different types of applications.

Because the OpenOffice.org applications share a number of tools and a common interface, you will find that the learning curve for taking advantage of more advanced features in the applications is fairly flat; meaning that you will be up and running in all the applications in no time. Let's take a look at how you start the various applications and then we can look at configuring OpenOffice.org options.