Welcome to StarOffice 9

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Welcome to the StarOffice™ 9 Office Productivity Suite. This document provides an overview of the new and enhanced features and other key changes introduced in the StarOffice 9 software. There are some great new features, over 1,500 of them, and numerous patches that have fixed many issues. When designing this new version, the team paid close attention to feedback from existing StarOffice users around the globe as well as users of other office suites and platforms.

h2. Something for everybody

StarOffice 9 has something for everybody. Existing StarOffice users will get better Microsoft Office compatibility (including reading and editing Office 2007 OOXML files), new charting, and an online update feature that makes installing product updates and extensions a snap. Mac users now get a native port of StarOffice and with that, a low-cost, full-featured office suite that can read and write to Microsoft Office files. Microsoft Office users now have an office suite that offers the features they need (including an Outlook alternative), and get a familiar user interface at a great price. Developers and Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) will benefit from a extension framework that allows them to develop their own components for StarOffice and StarSuite that can be used to add value to their offerings. Educators and students will appreciate the Web 2.0 tools, multilingual writing aids, improved online help, and advanced graphics capabilities of this award winning office suite.

All users will benefit from the many usability enhancements, increased Microsoft Office interoperability, easy multi-language install, new productivity tools, and PDF import and editing. As always, StarOffice improves stability, reliability, security and accessibility (assistive technology) support with every release.
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* OpenDocument Format is default file format - StarOffice 9 supports ODF 1.2.
* Multi-platform - StarOffice 9 software runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac (with OS X), Linux, and the SolarisTM Operating System (SPARC® and x86).
* Support for third party applications like PDF, FLASH, WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, PDAs, and Internet Explorer.
* StarOffice 9 delivers the capability to import PDF files so you can edit them.
* Users of Microsoft Office will find StarOffice easy to learn because of its familiar user interface, industry standard menus, icons, and dialog boxes, layout. .
* Accessibility support - Through third party assistive technology tools, StarOffice (along with online help and user documentation) can be used by people requiring large fonts, screen readers, and alternative input devices.

h2. Key Focus areas and Benefits of StarOffice 9


h3. Improved Interoperability and file sharing

We have made it much easier for users of StarOffice 9 to share files and data with other users. We have improved our world-class Microsoft Office filters and added support for the Microsoft Office 2007 OOXML file format. StarOffice 9 offers PDF Import so you can edit PDF files and we have enhanced the existing one-click PDF export by adding security, better hyperlink handling, and PDF/A support.

h3. Communication and Collaboration

With StarOffice 9, Sun is providing a calendar extension called Lightning to go with the Mozilla Thunderbird client. Together they are called a Personal Information Manager (PIM) and form a strong Outlook alternative. There are also two web-based tools that make it easier to communicate on the Internet - a blogger and a MediaWiki publisher.

h3. Multi-platform capabilities - extended to include the Mac

For the first time, StarOffice 9 offers a native Mac port with support for the Mac OS X operating system. Mac users can take advantage of the Microsoft Office compatibility of StarOffice to read and write Microsoft Office files (from version 97 to 2003), and read Microsoft Office 2007 OOXML files.

h3. Improved Productivity

StarOffice 9 makes great strides in productivity:
* The Sun Presentation Console in Impress gives the presenter fine-tuned control of their slides so they can have confidence while presenting.
* Notes in Writer are handled more efficiently.
* The Database Report Builder can be used to create great summary reports.
* The Solver tool in Calc lets you easily solve optimization problems.

h3. Usability

StarOffice 9 has made many improvements to its usability, look, and feel. There is a fresh new icon set, new charting capabilities in Calc, native tables in Impress (so you do not have to copy and past from a spreadsheet), a Presentation Minimizer that reduces the file sizes of presentations, and an online update feature that lets you install the latest product updates and extensions with just a click.

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