IBM's Version of Open Office

[neu5eeCh]

Relatively recent release... FYI & for those who are curious:

http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/download/search.jsp?pn=Lotus+Symphony

Note: I am not endorsing IBM. I've heard bad things about Lotus 1.3. I don't know abou the new Beta but am downloading it for Ubuntu. You have to "register" with IBM to download the software (provide them an E-Mail address). Yadda... Yadda...

[autonomy]

It has a couple nice features: the right panel that automatically changes for font or graphics editing and the tabs, but it doesn't look like it improves Open Office. For example, the interface for making and editing charts in both applications leaves much to be desired.

[TheNosh]

in my experience it takes much longer to open and offers no advantage that i care about. in concept it's kinda neat, i may look at it again in a year or two, but for now it doesn't suit me.

[Hman242]

I would try it, but it doesn't run on 64bit. At least not since the last time I tried which was on the stable release.

[tekkidd]

i tried it. its ok. i liked it bcause i could load documents into tabs and switch quickly between documents. other than that i would rather use OOo

[legolas_w]

Hi,

If you have downloaded this version, can you please post some screenshot from this beast?

It looks to have a larger download file compared to OO, anyone know why?

thanks

[legolas_w]

i tried it. its ok. i liked it bcause i could load documents into tabs and switch quickly between documents. other than that i would rather use OOo

Can you please let me know whether it opens doc, docx, odp and all files that OO.org opens?

Also, is it based on OO core and uses similar GUI framework?

thanks

[neu5eeCh]

Hi,

If you have downloaded this version, can you please post some screenshot from this beast?

It looks to have a larger download file compared to OO, anyone know why?

thanks

Hi Legolas,

IBM seemed to be having server problems so I couldn't try out Lotus until today. My impression? I actually like it *more* than Open Office. Having documents in tabs (rather than each being in a separate window) is a deal-maker for me. All I use it for is writing. I don't care about excel compatibility or presentation.

I'll get you some screen shots this evening - although why don't you just download it and try it out?

And yes, it's a larger download than OO.

It can't open my WordPerfect files (unlike OO). It appears to save documents in either ODT or 2003-Word97. So, at first glance, IBM's version seems to have far fewer options in terms of file saving formats - which I also don't care about.

They have a plug-ins site but there isn't much there.

Overall, it's polish, as others have commented, surpasses OO. I like it. Having multiple documents in tabs is killer. I'm baffled why OO doesn't do this?

[legolas_w]

Hi Legolas,

IBM seemed to be having server problems so I couldn't try out Lotus until today. My impression? I actually like it *more* than Open Office. Having documents in tabs (rather than each being in a separate window) is a deal-maker for me. All I use it for is writing. I don't care about excel compatibility or presentation.

I'll get you some screen shots this evening - although why don't you just download it and try it out?

And yes, it's a larger download than OO.

It can't open my WordPerfect files (unlike OO). It appears to save documents in either ODT or 2003-Word97. So, at first glance, IBM's version seems to have far fewer options in terms of file saving formats - which I also don't care about.

They have a plug-ins site but there isn't much there.

Overall, it's polish, as others have commented, surpasses OO. I like it. Having multiple documents in tabs is killer. I'm baffled why OO doesn't do this?


Thank you for posting the explanation. I will download it today,
I hope they release a newer version when 10.04 is comming out. I think it is not possible to only have Lotus symphony as it it lacks the "Draw" application of which is included in OO.Org.

Thanks.

[autonomy]

I think it is not possible to only have Lotus symphony as it it lacks the "Draw" application of which is included in OO.Org.You could supplement Lotus with OO Draw as Xubuntu does with AbiWord.

[dragos240]

500 INTERNAL SERVER ERROR. Can't access the site.

[Psumi]

Too bad I don't meet its requirements:

http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/help.nsf/GeneralFAQ#5

I have less than 512 MB of RAM usable at any given time. (Actually, less than 200 usable at any given time when running a web browser.)

[bash]

Does this version still look completly out of place compared to native GTK+ applications?

[forrestcupp]

in my experience it takes much longer to open and offers no advantage that i care about. in concept it's kinda neat, i may look at it again in a year or two, but for now it doesn't suit me.

The old version actually had a lot of advantages over OOo. But in my opinion, the problems outweighed the advantages enough that I didn't want to use it.

Maybe they worked out some of those problems. I heard the new version is based on the new version of OpenOffice instead of a dinosaur version.

[handy]

It is a shame it comes from IBM, as they have shown themselves to be such a right wing red-neck organisation.

I'm sure that IBM would like to write their own version of history to cover up for the fact that they supported Hitler.

http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/

http://news.cnet.com/2009-1082-269157.html

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jun2001/ibm-j27.shtml


Such an horrendous nightmarish part of our history.

Godwin was being funny; how could anyone make humour out of this stuff?

[forrestcupp]

It is a shame it comes from IBM, as they have shown themselves to be such a right wing red-neck organisation.

I'm sure that IBM would like to write their own version of history to cover up for the fact that they supported Hitler.

http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/

http://news.cnet.com/2009-1082-269157.html

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jun2001/ibm-j27.shtml


Such an horrendous nightmarish part of our history.

Godwin was being funny; how could anyone make humour out of this stuff?

I know a lot of "right wing red-necks" and I can assure you that none of them have any affinity for the Nazis. In fact, if you asked them, they would all probably say they hate the Nazis. ;)

[MrNatewood]

Does it have better support for MS office 2007 files?

[handy]

I know a lot of "right wing red-necks" and I can assure you that none of them have any affinity for the Nazis. In fact, if you asked them, they would all probably say they hate the Nazis. ;)

Obviously not all right wing red-necks were created equal...

[azagaros]

I find it funny you guys talk about this stuff. These applications have been around longer than Open Office has been. The word processor I was using when I learned to program and it was far better than MS word at the time. If you look up Ami Pro you will see the word processor in the early days.

I don't expect these to be based on gtk but they could be. The Symphony brand name has been around for a while.

It will be my first choice over Open Office that is for sure.

[dca]

Current release = 1.3 is not so good if at all on the OOXML MS)2k7 front, however, I'm hearing semi-decent things about their test vers: v3beta2

http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/lswiki.nsf/xpViewCategories.xsp?lookupName=Lotus%20Symphony%2 03%20Beta%202

...can't remember if that link talked about Office 2007...

[lancest]

It is a shame it comes from IBM, as they have shown themselves to be such a right wing red-neck organisation.

I'm sure that IBM would like to write their own version of history to cover up for the fact that they supported Hitler.

http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/

http://news.cnet.com/2009-1082-269157.html

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jun2001/ibm-j27.shtml


Such an horrendous nightmarish part of our history.

Godwin was being funny; how could anyone make humour out of this stuff?
Hitler started out left wing. National Socialist....
But lets not argue politics.

[handy]

Hitler started out left wing. National Socialist....
But lets not argue politics.

Both left & right in the extreme meet each other round the back of the toilet block.

[steve161]

Agreed handy. The political spectrum is a circle, not a straight line.

[dragos240]

Too bad I don't meet its requirements:

http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/help.nsf/GeneralFAQ#5

I have less than 512 MB of RAM usable at any given time. (Actually, less than 200 usable at any given time when running a web browser.)

That is a memory hog.

[qamelian]

I find it funny you guys talk about this stuff. These applications have been around longer than Open Office has been. The word processor I was using when I learned to program and it was far better than MS word at the time. If you look up Ami Pro you will see the word processor in the early days.

I don't expect these to be based on gtk but they could be. The Symphony brand name has been around for a while.

It will be my first choice over Open Office that is for sure.

The brand name has been around but not these specific applications. IBM resurrected the brand by creating all new apps. Last time I checked, Lotus Symphony was a slightly customized version of OpenOffice 1.X apps being used as some form of plugin to the Eclipse IDE. The current incarnation of Symphony is not the ancient brand you are familiar with and is actually much "younger" than OpenOffice. The reality is, when you choose Symphony, you are choosing OpenOffice...just an older customized version.

[qwerty57]

I'm giving it a try in an effort to avoid the OO/MSoffice incompatibility problem. It seems to work fine for spreadsheets and powerpoints, but it's worse than OO for docs and freezes up when I try to open a docx file.

Most of the people I work with use MSOffice 2003, so compatibility is a big issue with me. I have both my computers set up for dual boot, but I'm ending up speeding all of my time on Windows with my work computer.:(

The docs that I tried to open had formating issues and only the tables and headings showed up. The text didn't load! Has anyone else encountered this problem?

[Untitled_No4]

I have both my computers set up for dual boot, but I'm ending up speeding all of my time on Windows with my work computer.

Office 2003 + 2007 worked well for me in Linux using CrossOver, or if you don't want to pay for it, you should be able to run it using wine.

[ssj6akshat]

Does it have better support for MS office 2007 files?

if you want Office 2007 files support and don't mind spending some money Softmaker Office 2010 works great with Office 2007 files.

they make linux version,yeah support them and it is good

[alfplayer]

SoftMaker's website doesn't claim xlsx write support. Probably it's not available.

[GMU_DodgyHodgy]

It is a shame it comes from IBM, as they have shown themselves to be such a right wing red-neck organisation.

I'm sure that IBM would like to write their own version of history to cover up for the fact that they supported Hitler.

http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/

http://news.cnet.com/2009-1082-269157.html

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/jun2001/ibm-j27.shtml


Such an horrendous nightmarish part of our history.

Godwin was being funny; how could anyone make humour out of this stuff?
As someone who works for IBM and knows many people from its many business units I take great umbrage at the redneck comment. It is a very well managed company with lots of bright hard working people doing a lot of good work.

Methinks you generalize way too much.

[GMU_DodgyHodgy]

The brand name has been around but not these specific applications. IBM resurrected the brand by creating all new apps. Last time I checked, Lotus Symphony was a slightly customized version of OpenOffice 1.X apps being used as some form of plugin to the Eclipse IDE. The current incarnation of Symphony is not the ancient brand you are familiar with and is actually much "younger" than OpenOffice. The reality is, when you choose Symphony, you are choosing OpenOffice...just an older customized version.

Actually the latest version of Lotus Symphony is based on the latest code of Open office. IBM also offers other enhancements.

The latest version is a beta however, the RC candidate is supposed to come out in June.

[legolas_w]

Actually the latest version of Lotus Symphony is based on the latest code of Open office. IBM also offers other enhancements.

The latest version is a beta however, the RC candidate is supposed to come out in June.

Hi,

can you please let me know how do you know when will the beta come?

thanks.

[Lux Perpetua]

I'm confused about one thing. Does IBM have a private agreement with Oracle or something? OpenOffice.org is released under the LGPL, which doesn't allow someone to modify it and redistribute it without an open-source license. As far as I can tell, Lotus Symphony is not open-source.

[cloyd]

I'm confused about one thing. Does IBM have a private agreement with Oracle or something? OpenOffice.org is released under the LGPL, which doesn't allow someone to modify if and redistribute it without an open-source license. As far as I can tell, Lotus Symphony is not open-source.

I have the same question. It is clearly based on open office. Open office is supposed to be GPL, and IBM's terms are not GPL. How are they getting away with this?

With that said, I tried Symphony. I was tempted because I cut my teeth on the computer with Lotus 1-2-3 years ago. I noticed it used more memory than any other program I used. I searched and searched to find a way to highlight text (not for altering text, but for marking it, like you'd normally do with a magic marker). I use this feature frequently with colleagues as we work on documents together, with suggested changes highlighted. Maybe I just didn't search long enough. I eventually removed it and kept on with Open Office.



Then, to Handy:
I've read part of IBM and the Holoclst. I've never heard this refuted. I only read half, because it depressed me too much to read the rest. I console myself by remembering that the people who were leading IBM then are not the people who are leading IBM now. In addition, we took Warner von Braun and others who designed weapons for Hitler, and used them in our own space program. And lastly, I loved my Volkswagen when I had it, but I understand the whole concept was Hitler's brainchild. "The people's car." That disturbed me when I learned it. But others in our economic history had ideologies which we find very distasteful today. Henry Ford was an anti-Semite. I don't like that. But I've driven many a Ford.

There is just no way we can completely distance ourselves from all those who have had activities or ideologies that we find distasteful or morally repulsive. I think the question is, who will we support, defend, and work with who will support freedom and justice in the future? And, sometimes, in the name of pragmatism, we need some of the technology developed by those we oppose. We can use what they have developed, but we must never, ever use the methods that they used. The results are there. They cost many people immensely. There is no justification for what IBM did in helping Hitler. If we could bring those individuals to justice today, we should. I don't think that is possible now.

But then, maybe in this age of international commerce and knowledge sharing, there is a lesson there. For instance, what use has Linux been put to that most of us would object to? I'm sure there are many who use it in ways that I as an American would heartily object to. I'm sure there is a terrorist here and there who uses it. But I use it, and I am no terrorist. How do we walk the line of freedom, openness, and not wanting to help those who would use knowledge and technology in ways most would find objectionable? I don't know. I hope we err on the side of freedom.

If I have trespassed on the limits against political discussions, I am sorry. It does reference technology, but if the moderators decide to remove it, I will understand, and I will apologize. I certainly will not take offence.

[yyyc186]

The current version of Symphony is just plain sad. The prior version, while only working in 32-bit Ubuntu, would work in both 32-bit and 64-bit OpenSuSE because the SuSE camp got the thunking stuff correct.

Version 1.2 of Symphony was much more stable than OO with respect to book layout. I used it for both "The Minimum You Need to Know About Service Oriented Architecture" and "The Minimum You Need to Know About Java and xBaseJ" http://www.theminimumyouneedtoknow.com

That version was also the only version to offer any kind of filter/support for opening Lotus WordPro files.

Support for plug-ins was abysmal...about like plug in support for 64-bit OO in this release of Ubuntu.

The rendering engine chosen by IBM couldn't have been worse. It only works correctly on Windows and barely pays lip service to other platforms. On OpenSuSE you couldn't look at it for more than an hour without getting severe headaches. On Ubuntu it would look OK on the screen, but randomly insert spaces in the middle of words when exporting to PDF.

While the current version is supposed to be a major re-write, it still keeps the same worthless rendering engine. There are some nice features for people writing and laying out books or other book like professional documentation, but since it doesn't install/run on 64-bit, I won't be using it. The prior version was used to write and layout this book as well:

http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?WRD=Infinite+Exposure

IBM fixed a few things which were just ()&ing in-excusable with OO. Until you try to create page headers with running page numbers that alternate so the page numbers are always on the outside of the page, you just won't understand.

However, I must point out that creating a professionally laid out index is a pain in the **** with both products. It explains why so much of the OpenSource documentation either has no index or has a useless one.

[yyyc186]

I have the same question. It is clearly based on open office. Open office is supposed to be GPL, and IBM's terms are not GPL. How are they getting away with this?

With that said, I tried Symphony. I was tempted because I cut my teeth on the computer with Lotus 1-2-3 years ago. I noticed it used more memory than any other program I used. I searched and searched to find a way to highlight text (not for altering text, but for marking it, like you'd normally do with a magic marker). I use this feature frequently with colleagues as we work on documents together, with suggested changes highlighted. Maybe I just didn't search long enough. I eventually removed it and kept on with Open Office.



Actually that part is quite easy. I do it a lot with source code in my technical book series. They didn't call it "hilight" or "highlight" though. You simply change the text and change the background color. That is assuming you don't have change tracking turned on along with note taking, if that's the case, what you want happens more or less automatically.

[yyyc186]

Perhaps some of you should install KWord and give it a spin. I always make a point to install it for quite note taking, etc., then again, I use KUbuntu because KDE is a much more humane desktop that Gnome.

Many of the side panel features which IBM put forward in Symphony are now present in KWord. Oddly, KWord separates out Font from style, or at least appears to. I'm not certain how I feel about that since I've become used to clicking on a paragraph style and having all settings, including font-indent-and-tab applied.

[Zlatan]

+1 for KOffice but it could deal with MSOffice formats much better


Perhaps some of you should install KWord and give it a spin. I always make a point to install it for quite note taking, etc., then again, I use KUbuntu because KDE is a much more humane desktop that Gnome.

Many of the side panel features which IBM put forward in Symphony are now present in KWord. Oddly, KWord separates out Font from style, or at least appears to. I'm not certain how I feel about that since I've become used to clicking on a paragraph style and having all settings, including font-indent-and-tab applied.

[neu5eeCh]

KDE is a much more humane desktop that Gnome.

Genuinely curious what you mean by "humane"?