What Is in OpenOffice.org?
OpenOffice.org contains a number of productivity applications for use in creating text documents, preparing spreadsheets, organizing presentations, managing projects, and more. The following components of the OpenOffice.org package are included with Fedora:
> Writer — This word processing program enables you to compose, format, and organize text documents. If you are accustomed to using Microsoft Word, the functionality of OpenOffice.org Writer will be familiar to you. You will learn how to get up and running with Writer later in this chapter. Writer is found under Applications, Office, Word Processor.
> Calc — This spreadsheet program enables you to manipulate numbers in a spread sheet format. Support for all but the most esoteric Microsoft Excel functions means that trading spreadsheets with Excel users should be successful. Calc offers some limited compatibility with Excel macros, but those macros generally have to be rewritten. We walk through setting up a basic spreadsheet with some formulas and show you how to build a basic Data Pilot later in this chapter. Calc is found under Applications, Office, Spreadsheet.
> Impress — This presentation program is similar to Microsoft PowerPoint and enables you to create slide show presentations that include graphs, diagrams, and other graphics. Impress also works well with PowerPoint files. Impress is found under Applications, Office, Presentation.
> Math — This math formula editor enables you to write mathematical formulas with a number of math fonts and symbols for inclusion in a word processing document. Such symbols are highly specialized and not easily included in the basic functionality of a word processor. This is of interest primarily to math and science writers, but Math can be useful to anyone who needs to include a complex formula in text. You download Math using Add/Remove Software.
> Base — This database was introduced with the OpenOffice.org 2.3 suite, which is provided with Fedora. It provides a fully functional database application. You down load Base using Add/Remove Software.
> Draw — This graphics application enables you to create images for inclusion in the documents produced with OpenOffice.org. It saves files only in OpenOffice.org format, but it can import most common image formats. You download Draw using Add/Remove Software.
> Dia — This technical drawing editor from the GNOME Office suite enables you to create measured drawings, such as those used by architects and engineers. Its functionality is similar to that of Microsoft Visio. You download Dia using Add/Remove Software.
> Planner — You can use this project management application for project planning, scheduling, and tracking; this application is similar to, but not compatible with, Microsoft Project. It is found in the Office menu as the Project Management item.
The OpenOffice.org office suite is based on a commercial suite called StarOffice. Originally developed by a German company, StarOffice was purchased by Sun Microsystems in the United States. One of the biggest complaints about the old StarOffice was that all the component applications were integrated under a StarOffice 'desktop' that looked very much like a Microsoft Windows desktop, including a Start button and menus. This meant that to edit a simple document, unneeded applications had to be loaded, making the office suite slow to load, slow to run, and quite demanding on system resources.
After the purchase of StarOffice, Sun Microsystems released a large part of the StarOffice code under the
Installing and Configuring OpenOffice.org
Fedora provides an RPM package for OpenOffice.org. If you do not install the RPM package during your initial Fedora installation, you can install it later, using the Add/Remove Software tool or by using yum install openoffice.org from the command line.
OpenOffice.org is constantly improving its productivity applications. You can check the OpenOffice.org website (http://www.openoffice.org/) for the latest version. The website provides a link to download the source or a precompiled version of the most current working installation files. A more current version might offer file format support that you need. Should you need a Windows-compatible version, you will also find it at the website.
The installation of OpenOffice.org is done on a systemwide basis, meaning that all users have access to it. However, users have to go into OpenOffice.org to configure it for their individual needs. This initial configuration happens transparently the first time you load any of the OpenOffice.org components, and might mean the application takes a little longer to load as a result. Be patient, and your desired application will appear.
Shown in Figure 6.1 is OpenOffice.org Writer, with a blank document ready for you to compose your masterpiece. OpenOffice.org shares common preferences across all its associated applications, meaning that you only have to define once some of your personal details or paths to save documents.
FIGURE 6.1 OpenOffice.org Writer, awaiting your input.
As is the case with many Linux applications, you might be somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer number of configuration options available to you in OpenOffice.org. Mercifully, a lot of thought has gone into organizing these options, which are available if you click the Tools menu and select Options. It does not matter which program you use to get to this dialog box; it appears the same if summoned from Writer, Impress, or Calc. It acts as a central configuration management tool for all OpenOffice.org applications. You can use it to set global options for all OpenOffice.org applications, or specific options for each individual component. For instance, in Figure 6.2, you can change the user details and information, and this is reflected across all OpenOffice.org applications.
FIGURE 6.2 You can set user details for all OpenOffice.org applications from this dialog.
Two websites provide additional information on the functionality of OpenOffice.org:
> http://lingucomponent.openoffice.org/download_dictionary.html — This site provides instructions and files for installing spelling and hyphenation dictionaries, which are not included with OpenOffice.org.
> http://sourceforge.net/projects/ooextras/ — This site provides templates, macros, and clip art, which are not provided with OpenOffice.org.
OpenOffice.org is a constant work in progress, but the current release is on par with the Sun version of StarOffice 8.0. You can browse to the OpenOffice.org website to get documentation and answers to frequently asked questions and to offer feedback.
