OpenOffice 2.4 is out. Verdict? It's excellent

I've long preferred OpenOffice for my presentations. It has functionality (like the ability to enter a group of objects I've grouped and edit just one of them) that I simply can't get in Microsoft Office, and the performance is quite good. I'm therefore happy to see version 2.4 hit public release. The good just got better, as The Register reports:

The OpenOffice.org 2.4 database, Base, now supports MS-Access 2007, while capabilities for MySQL, Oracle JDBC and native HSQL databases have been improved.

PDF handling has been improved with five export options, and Writer has been rounded out with improved "find and replace", new keyboard short cuts, and the ability to set options for printing hidden or place-holder text and for following hyperlinks.

There are also improvements to Chart and Draw feature, and the Impress presentation package includes 3D transition effects.

In the past I've been harshly critical of OpenOffice. Back when I started using it (some eight years ago), it was pathetic. But it's amazing how far it has come since then, largely due to the corporate efforts of Novell and Sun.

If you haven't used it recently, you haven't used it at all. Give 2.4 a spin. You'll be impressed.

[RiemerT]

OOo Writer does not have "normal view". That's the rendering where can keep on typing and where page breaks are indicated with dotted lines. All word processors since WordStar (yes, all of them) have normal view. Except for OOo Writer. OOo does not have a "Hide white space" function either. At every page break, you will see a large band of white space on your screen.
So, in OOo Writer you cannot type on or read on. That makes the program completely unusable for professional writers, like journalists, scientists, civil servants, PR people and so on.
OOo is not a car. It is a luxurious tricycle. And now it has become even more luxurious. But without normal vieuw, it remains a tricycle.

[Mc-Kiernan]

As a scientist who uses OpenOffice, I find the claim that it is "completely unusable for professional writers, like [http://...|http://...] scientists" to be hyperbolic. (The weak area of OpenOffice, for mathematical scientists, is the formula editor which is evidently written by an if-I-don't-use-it-then-it-ain't-important sort of dork, but I can do an end-run around that by exporting LaTeX. and tweaking that.)

[bria]

Hello,
I am having a problem with 2.4. I can't seem to export images in any format from DRAW without backgrounds. Please advise if any clues, settings, et.c

Thanks.

Brian