OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta and Extensions Show Strong Momentum;
Office Productivity Suite Delivers Document Accessibility for Mac
Users with Disabilities
Advanced Integration of OpenOffice.org with Apple VoiceOver, ODF
Editing is Now Accessible on All Key Desktop Platforms; More Than 100
Extensions Available for OpenOffice.org
BERLIN (Business Wire EON/PRWEB ) May 29, 2008 --
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:JAVA), the leading Open Source company,
and the OpenOffice.org(TM) community today announced the availability of
more than 100 extensions in the OpenOffice.org Extension Repository with
the most popular ones achieving downloads of more than 200,000.
Extensions are additional components downloaded on top of an existing
OpenOffice.org installation to add extra features, templates, languages
and dictionaries to the software.
Created through worldwide community collaboration, the OpenOffice.org
Extension Repository includes template packs, a report designer, tools
for professional writers, translation, presentation compression
functionality and more. Two new OpenOffice.org 3.0 features, highlighted
on the product roadmap and expected to be released as extensions within
weeks are the Sun Presenter Console and the Sun PDF Import Extension.
The Sun Presenter Console extension is available now to preview from the
extension repository. It allows users to view their speaker notes, the
next slide and the time on their laptop screens while presenting via a
connected projector. The Sun PDF Import Extension allows users to edit
PDF files.
“The Network Economy has ushered in new,
dramatically different business models that have changed both the pace
and approach with which individuals, communities and companies compete
and succeed. It is critical for the participants in this new market to
have the right tools and technologies so we encourage developers to get
involved with OpenOffice.org,” said Jim
Parkinson, vice president of Tools and Services at Sun. “With
more than 1.2 million downloads per week and the growing adoption of the
ISO standard OpenDocument Format, OpenOffice.org is a very attractive
platform for developers and consumers. And until June 23, developers
have the chance to win a share of the $175,000 USD that will be awarded
by Sun Microsystems as part of the OpenOffice.org Community Innovation
Program.”
OpenOffice.org extensions can be easily created by developers as
multi-platform components using technologies, such as, Java(TM) and
NetBeans(TM) Integrated Development Environment (IDE). This is important
as OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta has added platform support for Apple Mac OS X
in addition to Windows, Linux and the Solaris(TM) OS. The Mac OS X
version of OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta is receiving particularly good
feedback from early testers for its performance, stability,
cross-platform interoperability and feature richness.
In addition, OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta is receiving very positive feedback
for its strong accessibility support on Mac OS X. OpenOffice.org is the
first application that is multi-platform accessible, exposing a rich set
of information to assistive technologies on Windows, Solaris, GNU/Linux
and with this upcoming release, Mac OS X (Intel-based Macs only).
OpenOffice.org 3.0 will be the first version to run on Mac OS X that
will have the look and feel of an Aqua application while supporting the
Mac OS X accessibility APIs, and integrating well with the built-in
Macintosh VoiceOver screen reader - offering better accessibility
support than many other applications available for Mac OS X.
“Sun and the OpenOffice.org community take
accessibility very seriously, whether in schools, in the home, in the
workplace or in government institutions. An accessible solution for
editing documents, spreadsheets, and creating presentations is of vital
importance to the hundreds of millions of people worldwide with
disabilities,” said Peter Korn, accessibility
architect at Sun Microsystems and co-chair of the OASIS OpenDocument
accessibility subcommittee. “Sun has listened
and responded to the community. Our engineering efforts are a direct
result of the requests we’ve received from
our user community and exemplifies the innovation and success of the
many open source initiatives at Sun.”
“We are very pleased with this latest
demonstration of leadership by OpenOffice.org, Sun, Apple, and the
OpenDocument community to further the cause of accessibility to the Open
Document format by the blind and other people with disabilities,”
said Curtis Chong, president of the National Federation of the Blind in
Computer Science. “This move –
to make OpenOffice.org accessible on the Mac –
is an important step for people who want access to the OpenDocument
format and the OpenOffice.org software, and it is reassuring to know
that as OpenOffice.org moves into the Mac arena, it will be usable by
everyone. We sincerely hope that similar efforts are underway to ensure
access to OpenOffice.org on all platforms where it is available.”
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Sun Microsystems develops the technologies that power the global
marketplace. Guided by a singular vision -- "The Network is the
Computer" -- Sun drives network participation through shared innovation,
community development and open source leadership. Sun can be found in
more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com.
Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Java, OpenOffice.org, NetBeans and
The Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. UNIX is
a registered trademark in the United States and other countries,
exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd.
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