IBM updates free Symphony suite
IBM is releasing an update today to its free Lotus Symphony productivity suite, which remains in beta testing.
The three desktop applications, Documents, Spreadsheets and Presentations, are counterparts to Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The latest iteration of Symphony is supposed to be faster than its predecessor, which debuted less than two months ago.
The package is one of several low-cost or free alternatives to Microsoft Office. Unlike products such as ThinkFree, Zoho and Google Docs & Spreadsheets, there is no online component to Symphony.
Like its close competitor, the $79 Sun StarOffice, Symphony works on Windows and Linux computers and saves documents in Microsoft Office formats as well as ODFs and PDFs. But Symphony does not include a database application or e-mail client.
More than one quarter of a million people have downloaded the software to date, according to IBM.
Our first take review details how Symphony worked in CNET's early tests.
http://pack.google.com/
Google is nice enough to give you a free version of StarOffice and other software like Norton Security Scan (Free version of Norton Anti-Virus), PC-Tools Spyware Doctor, Google Toolbar, Google Earth, Adobe Acrobat PDF Reader, Firefox, etc. All in one download.
IBM/Lotus Symphony is still in beta tests and it crashes on me. StarOffice handles ODF and PDF documents as well as MS-Office 2002/2003 documents.
Microsoft Office 2007 is one heck of a good product full of practical innovations. The ribbon feature alone is worth the cost. As a student I wouldn't trust anything else for my work.
FYI, read some of these comments by following the attached links:
http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.jspa
http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/index.jspa?search_type=forum
Besides, like OpenOffice - it runs on OS/2 Warp too!
It is refreshing to know there are people like you out there willing to pay Micro$oft big bucks for an office application of which there are a million features most users will never understand let alone use...
And contrary to your beliefs, Free is a good thing if its something that does the job!
- Not worthy of Lotus name
- by frankwick November 14, 2007 8:41 PM PST
- This product should not wear the Lotus badge. if IBM wants to call it IBM Symphony then that's fine, but this suite is not on par with Office 2007 -- it's not even close. I don't even think this product is even close to Lotus SmartSuite from 5 years ago. I've tried this on Windows and Ubuntu, and it is practically OpenOffice. Not much to brag about.
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- To Each His/Her Own!
- by Commander_Spock November 14, 2007 9:40 PM PST
- You have said inter alia "This product should not wear the Lotus badge. if IBM wants to call it IBM Symphony then that's fine, but this suite is not on par with Office 2007 -- it's not even close. I don't even think this product is even close to Lotus SmartSuite from 5 years ago. I've tried this on Windows and Ubuntu, and it is practically OpenOffice..." One question for you: Why does Lotus Symphony has to be just like "Office 2007" when "Office 2007" in itself does not offer a suite of "standardized products. Have you not heard of an institution called the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) or what; if not, what is it that has really brought you to this newly found "spring" that is Lotus Symphony . If the products that you have chosen are your entrapment paraphernalia, TCO choices/preferences ... and to have your "Office 2007" Blinders on so that you are not able to discern certain things in the computing world; then, why should all else follow in your foot steps.
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(10 Comments)What Lotus could have been if they were left independent. They were the true competitor to MS.
For all we know, Lotus Symphony might very well become that "Open" Lotus SmartSuite that the latest Lotus SmartSuite is not at present; and, here is why for the thousandth time in quotation: Re: "Concerning the issues with 1-2-3 that are talked about in the documentation you gave me, most of the issues are related to converting files between older and newer versions of product and converting documents between Lotus and Microsoft. Anytime a file is saved backwards or saved with an older file format than the format the file was created under, such as saving a 1-2-3 , 97 file for Windows 95 into a WK1 format for DOS, then naturally we are expected to loose certain features due to technology and features that are present now that were not present 8 - 10 years ago. Similarly, if we try to convert a file from Lotus into Excel or Excel into Lotus, due to differences in the products not every feature will be converted perfectly with the file filters that are available. Both Lotus and Microsoft create similar spreadsheet programs; however, there are several differences in both programs and these differences will remain to distinguish the products apart. We do try to design conversion filters that will allow as much of the file formats as possible to be exchanged and converted without disrupting the actual file design and format.
In one of your letters you made mention of the @IRR and @ERR functions in the 1-2-3 product. By design the @IRR (notably "absent" in Open Office) will calculate the Internal Rate of Return; where the @ERR is used in conjunction with other formulas, posted was an "ERR" showing an error was received in the calculations. As far as I can see in the program I cannot find an @ERR function that will allow us to calculate an Economic Rate of Return"
After all, "Who Ever Said That Elephants Cannot Dance"!