KOffice 2.1 released
By Inge Wallin
The KOffice team is very happy to announce version 2.1.0 of KOffice, 6 months after the platform release 2.0.0. This release brings a number of new features as well as general improvements in the maturity of the individual applications. Importing of documents have also been given an overhaul.
The advantages of the clean and well-structured codebase have started to show. Despite a relatively limited developer group, there are a large number of improvements over 2.0. During the development of 2.1, it was also announced that KOffice is going to be used in the Nokia n900 smartphones based on Maemo Linux.
The State of KOffice 2.1
This release is a marked improvement of almost all parts of KOffice compared to 2.0. Version 2.0 was labeled a “platform release”, which was meant as a first preview of the framework and new UI paradigm. In version 2.1, most applications and components have improved significantly but should still only be used by early adopters and probably not as the primary worktool.
The exceptions are the graphics applications: Krita, the picture editor / paint application, and Karbon, the vector editor application. Nuno Pinheiro, the designer of the Oxygen KDE theme and icon set says: “I have tested Karbon and it is definitely usable for real work even if lacks a few advanced SVG features“. What Krita is capable of can be seen at the Gallery in the Krita forums.
Targeted Audience
Our goal for this release is to show the public the current state of KOffice and create a platform for further improvements. This release is mainly aimed at developers, testers and early adopters. It is not aimed at end users, and we do not recommend Linux distributions to package it as the default office suite yet.
It is noteworthy that KOffice 2.1 still does not have all the features that KOffice 1.6 had, even if it in some ways greatly exceeds KOffice 1.6. These features will return in the upcoming version 2.2, in most cases better implemented and more efficient. Also, not all applications which were part of KOffice 1.6 made it into KOffice 2.1. The missing applications will return in 2.2 or possibly 2.3.
Applications and Components
The following applications and plugins are part of KOffice 2.1:
General
All parts of KOffice, including the underlying libraries have received many bugfixes and improvements. Special attention has been paid to support for the OpenDocument Format, ODF. One example of that is handling of lists. To ensure the quality of the ODF implementation, the KOffice team has participated in ODF interoperability tests called the ODF Plugfest. For a more detailed list, refer to the announcements and changelogs for the alpha and beta versions of KOffice 2.1.
KWord – Word processor
KWord has a new implementation of tables. The tables are more advanced than the ones in version 1.6: They can be larger than one page and support nested tables in tables and they support a number of formatting properties. The drawback is that the table contents can be edited, but the tables themselves will only become editable in the next version.
Another large new feature in KWord is change tracking. Changes in the document can be tracked and are displayed color coded. Insertions, deletions and formatting changes have different colors. Still lacking is a dialog to select individual changes and make them permanent.
KSpread – Spreadsheet calculator
There are no big new features in KSpread, but a fair number of bugfixes.
KPresenter – Presentation manager
KPresenter has a few new features and many bug fixes. Some of the new features are an infinite canvas and slide numbers.
KPlato – Project management software
KPlato has been improved a lot, and has support for many different manipulations of resources, currencies and work types. It also has support for offline work using a small utility called KPlatoWork. KPlato was featured in the release announcement for KOffice 2.1 RC1.
Karbon – Vector graphics editor
Karbon 2.1 has a new framework for svg filter effect plugins. There are also a few filters implemented: offset, blur and merge. These can be combined to create a drop shadow effect.
Also new in 2.1 is an import filter for PDF files.
Krita – Raster graphics editor
Krita has new brushes: among them a spray brush, a deform brush and a 3D visualization of brushes. It also has a new infinite canvas feature and a dyna tool that can simulate a pressure sensitive input device by using the speed of the mouse.
Plugins
The Chart plugin (or so called shape) has received a number of bugfixes but no new features.
The Formula shape is now back in KOffice 2.1 after being absent in 2.0. It is not very advanced at the moment.
The Picture shape has seen many optimizations.
Import and Export
Import and export of foreign file formats have been given an overhaul, and especially the import filters for Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt) and Word (.doc) have been much improved. This is a result of the work done for the Nokia n900 Office viewers.
The desktop database creator Kexi was scheduled for inclusion in 2.1, but has not been finished. Right now we hope to be able to release it in version 2.2. Kivio, the flowchart editor, is currently without maintainer and it is not certain when or if it will be released.
Highlights of KOffice 2
KOffice 2 is a much more flexible application suite than KOffice 1 ever was. The integration between the components is much stronger, with the revolutionary Flake Shapes as the central concept. A Flake Shape can be as simple as a square or a circle or as complex as a chart or a music score.
With Flake, any KOffice application can handle any shape. For instance, KWord can embed bitmap graphics, Krita can embed vector graphics and Karbon can embed charts. This flexibility does not only give KOffice unprecedented integration, but also allows new applications to be created very easily. Such applications can e.g. target special user groups like kids or certain professions.
Unified Look and Feel
All the applications of KOffice has a new GUI layout better suited to todays wider screens. The GUI consists of a workspace and a sidebar where tools can dock. Any tool can be ripped off to create its own window and later be redocked for full flexibility. The tool layout is of course saved and reused the next time that KOffice is started.
Platform Independence
KOffice is available on Linux (with any desktop), Windows and Macintosh. Solaris will follow shortly and we expect builds for other Unix versions to become available soon after the final release. It is possible that the release of binaries for Windows and Macintosh will occur after some time if other packages that KOffice depend on need more time.
Since KOffice builds on Qt and the KDE libraries, all applications integrate well with the respective platforms and will take on the native look and feel.
Native Support for OpenDocument
The OASIS OpenDocument Format (ODF) is the ISO standard for office document interchange. ODF has been selected as the national standard for many countries around the world, and continues to grow stronger every month.
KOffice uses the OpenDocument Format as its native format. This will guarantee interoperability with many other Office packages such as OpenOffice.org and MS Office. The KOffice team has representatives on the OASIS technical committee for ODF and has been a strong participant in the process of shaping ODF since its inception.
Bug Reports and User Feedback
The developers are very interested in user feedback and bug reports. Please report bugs that you find at bugs.kde.org. In particular, the KOffice Team is interested in bugs in the following areas:
- OpenDocument support
- Crashes
- Errors on non-Unix platforms since most developers run Linux and may overlook these.
Press Contacts
Africa
AJ Venter Unit 7B Beauvallon Village Phone: +27-83-455-9978 |
Asia and India
Pradeepto Bhattacharya A-4 Sonal Coop. Hsg. Society Phone : +91-9821033168 |
Europe
Inge Wallin Adamstorpsvägen 3 Phone: +46-13-290853 |
North America
Wade Olson 2422 Johnson St NE Phone: (612)805-5678 |
Oceania
Hamish Rodda 11 Eucalyptus Road Phone: (+61)402 346684 |
South America
Helio Chissini de Castro R. José de Alencar 120, Phone: +55(41)262-0782 / +55(41)360-2670 |
November 25th, 2009 at 01:35
Wasn’t there a note taking app in the making? Was that dropped?
November 25th, 2009 at 09:28
@KOffice never had such an app, however I am sure that there are various note taking applications that you can use besides KOffice apps quite nicely.
November 25th, 2009 at 11:43
Keep on rocking guys! I am just waiting for a package for my distro!
I will use KOffice 2.1 as my primary tool for work, since OO just too heavy and bloated. Even if it is more advanced.
November 25th, 2009 at 13:26
[...] Per maggiori informazioni che riguardano KOffice 2.1 e per il download, consultare l’annuncio ufficiale. [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 14:15
@Thomas:
This is what I meant:
http://cyrilleberger.blogspot.com/2009/05/braindump.html
November 25th, 2009 at 15:07
[...] detalja o izdanju može se naći u najavi. No change log za 2.1 izdanje tek treba biti objavljena na sajtu projekta. Zapakovane binarne [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 15:42
[...] افتراضي صدور KOffice 2.1 [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 16:28
[...] To see all the release changes and improvements, visit the KOffice announcement. [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 18:47
[...] pakiet biurowy KOffice 2.1. Po sześciu miesiącach pracy możemy cieszyć się stabilnym wydaniem pakietu biurowego. Zawiera [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 20:05
[...]KOffice 2.1 veröffentlicht [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 20:12
[...] chi è interessato, può leggere l’annuncio ufficiale per conoscere le nuove caratteristiche e le novità di questa [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 21:27
[...] a KDE (és így a Kubuntu) irodai programcsomagjának, a KOffice programcsomag legújabb, 2.1-es verziója. Ez a verzió rengeteg javítást tartalmaz a 2.0 verzióhoz képest – ami egy új [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 21:43
[...] KOffice.org » Blog Archive » KOffice 2.1 released [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 23:18
[...] months after KOffice announced their programme 2.0.0 make available, KOffice has now announced style 2.1.0 of the principles which delivers new features and prevalent [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 23:39
[...] months after KOffice announced their platform 2.0.0 release, KOffice has now announced version 2.1.0 of the platform which delivers new features and general [...]
November 26th, 2009 at 12:31
[...] equipo de desarrolladores de KOffice acaba de anunciar KOffice 2.1, una versión que aparece 6 meses después del lanzamiento de la versión 2.0 y que incluye [...]
November 26th, 2009 at 13:59
About the note taking application (aka Braindump) it is not intended to be part of KOffice in the short-term (maybe one day, we will see), I hope to find the time to make a beta release sometime soon.
November 26th, 2009 at 14:34
[...] KOffice 2.1 released [...]
November 26th, 2009 at 15:46
Good work
November 26th, 2009 at 16:40
[...] hasn’t stopped KDE from pushing out more good stuff, though. The project also announced KOffice 2.1.0. The release is still tagged as an "early adopter" version, and not quite ready for [...]
November 26th, 2009 at 19:43
[...] sur le repositionnement lien 4 : D’autres explications sur ce repositionnement lien 5 : L’annonce de KOffice 2.1 lien 6 : Possibilités en terme de Multipoint Visitez [...]
November 26th, 2009 at 23:06
[...] KOffice 2.1 is released, how user ready it is ? 25 November, 2009 Cyrille Berger Leave a comment Go to comments Yesterday, we released KOffice 2.1, the first major release in the 2.x cycle. It brings many improvements over 2.0, providing a much more stable and rich full experience, you can read more details in the 2.1 release announcement. [...]
November 27th, 2009 at 17:42
[...] anterior, el proyecto de la suite ofimática multiplataforma, libre y de código abierto KOffice anunció así el lanzamiento de su nueva versión 2.1. Pero a pesar de que la mayoría de sus aplicaciones se han [...]
November 27th, 2009 at 21:03
[...] Nella home page del sito ufficiale Maemo.org è comparsa nella sezione News la notizia pubblicata su Maemo-Freak che KOffice avrebbe annunciato il rilascio di Koffice 2.1.0, il quale, oltre ai vari miglioramenti del software, secondo l’articolo, porta con se la compatibilità Con Maemo 5! Purtroppo questo news presenta alcuni errori di comprensione (o omissioni) dell’autore nel leggere il comunicato Ufficiale di Koffice! [...]
November 28th, 2009 at 03:23
[...] anterior, el proyecto de la suite ofimática multiplataforma, libre y de código abierto KOffice anunció así el lanzamiento de su nueva versión 2.1. Pero a pesar de que la mayoría de sus aplicaciones se han [...]
November 28th, 2009 at 05:10
¿What happend with Kivio? Its a great software, better than Dia
November 29th, 2009 at 07:04
@Sergio: Probably the main developer currently doesn’t have time and no one else volunteered to take over. I also would love to see Kivio advance, but well as a non-programmer I can’t do anything about it, except hope.
Anyways, a very nice relese people. Krita and Karbon have already replaced the more well known altenatives here. They might not have all the features, but hey, I don’t need them anyway as I’m not a professional designer so… I also love Plato. Great work on ths and keep up the grat work. Can’t wait to replace other OOo components some day.
December 1st, 2009 at 14:10
Keep on rocking guys its awesome. Like the way its going. It has all the necessary features in it. Though they may not have the features that a professional designer needs but still its just perfect.
December 1st, 2009 at 21:29
[...] Más info [...]
December 4th, 2009 at 12:34
i like koffice. is koffice support for docx, xlsx,
December 4th, 2009 at 17:45
@yulida: 2.2 will have import filters. I just committed them yesterday. 2.1 will not.
December 5th, 2009 at 14:42
First I’d like to congratulate you great release. Things are looking pretty good. Yet there are still things to improve. KOffice needs better font kerning mechanism, adjustable kerning preffered. Try to write words like Sql or digital in KWrite and change the fonts. Some letters were widelty spaced when some of them overlapped. It looks bad. Also I’d enable tools properities by default in KWrite, all in all chenging font type, size and effets is essential to modern text editing.
KRita works sweet, ‘tho I miss few options from gimp, mostly rounded corners in drawing tools. It’s handy with this round corners mania in www design.
Just to sum it up KOffice is progressing really fast and I hope I’d be able to ditch Gmp and OOo soon.