The OpenOffice.org Community has released
OpenOffice.org 3.0. The third major update of the
productivity suite now runs natively on the Mac
OS X platform. With this release the basic
components -- which include word processor,
spreadsheet, presentation, graphics, formula and
database capabilities -- can be supplemented by
extensions downloaded from the OpenOffice.org
extensions repository.

According to Louis Su√°rez-Potts, community
manager of OpenOffice.org, OpenOffice.org 3.0
naturally has a fresh look, with a new start
center, new splash screen, new icons, and a host
of usability improvements. New core features
include:

° Writer (word processing): a new slider control
for zooming that allows multi-page display while
editing; new multilingual support; improved notes
capabilities; and the ability to edit wiki
documents for the web, in addition to
conventional office documents.

° Calc (spreadsheet): an increase in capacity of
up to 1,024 columns per sheet; a new equation
solver; and a new collaboration feature for
multiple users.

° Draw (graphics): the ability to cope with
poster-size graphics -- up to three square meters
or 32.3 square feet.

° Impress (presentation): a fully featured table
designer inside a presentation.

An expanding number of additional features are
available from different developers to add
capabilities such as an Impress presenter
console, support for business analytics, PDF
import, creation of Hybrid PDF documents, and a
new way of supporting additional languages. You
can download OpenOffice.org for free at
http://download.openoffice.org/