Comparison of office suites
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[edit] Multi-platform office suites
[edit] Proprietary suites
- SoftMaker Office 2008 — a word processor, spreadsheet and presentation graphics program, provided by a German company.
- StarOffice — an office suite from Sun Microsystems. Based upon code from the OpenOffice.org project, which Sun funded and continues to support.
- WPS Office — a native Chinese-language office suite, considered to be a serious player in that country. English and Japanese versions are currently available also. For Microsoft Windows and Linux.
- IBM Lotus Symphony — based upon an older version of OpenOffice.org. Its components include Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations.
[edit] Free suites
- OpenOffice.org Novell Edition — features the OpenXML translator add-on. Based upon OpenOffice.org. Its components include Writer, Impress, Math, Draw, Calc, and Base.[1]
- OpenOffice.org — an open-source software project upon which Sun's StarOffice is based. The initial code was developed by Sun Microsystems, which has provided much of the labor for its development since. Its components include Writer, Impress, Math, Draw, Calc, and Base. For Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
- Koffice - includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, flowchart, vector drawing, bitmap, report and chart, formula, database and project management applications.
- GNOME Office — includes AbiWord, Gnumeric and GNOME-DB data access components.
[edit] Office suites for Microsoft Windows
[edit] Proprietary suites
- Ability Office
- Celframe Office — supports Microsoft Office and OpenOffice file formats, with a MS 2003 UI.
- EasyOffice
- Framework — historical but also still supported for Windows by the present developer, Selection & Functions Inc.
- IBM Lotus SmartSuite — Includes the famous Lotus 123 spreadsheet and the renamed AmiPro word processor and recently IBM Lotus Symphony (free word, spreadsheet and presentation suite).
- Floppy Office
- Gobe Productive — Originally written for BeOS by developers of the original ClarisWorks, GoBe Productive is a lightweight integrated Works-like office suite with a generous "Hassle-Free License."
- Microsoft Office
- Microsoft Works
- Papyrus Office — An office suite with DTP ability for several platforms.
- Corel WordPerfect Office
[edit] Free suites
- OpenOffice.org Novell Edition[2]
- OpenOffice.org
- KOffice
- Lotus Symphony
[edit] Office suites for Mac
The following software programs run on Mac computers from Apple, Inc. running Mac OS X.
[edit] Proprietary suites
- iWork — Apple Inc.'s Mac-only office suite. Includes Pages, for word-processing, Numbers for spreadsheets, and Keynote, for presentations. iWork replaces the now-discontinued AppleWorks suite.
- MarinerPak — MarinerPak includes Mariner Write, a fully-featured word processor, and Mariner Calc, a fully-featured Spreadsheet application.
- Microsoft Office for Mac — Microsoft's office suite for Mac operating systems. The current version is a universal binary that supports both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs. Prior editions ran on PowerPC systems and Intel based systems using Rosetta[3].
- Microsoft Works - 4.0 is the last version for Mac.
[edit] Free suites
- NeoOffice — NeoOffice is a Mac-specific free/open-source software development project, to integrating OpenOffice.org with native features of Mac OS X such as Quartz and Aqua, and by so doing giving the suite a more "Mac-like" look and feel.
- OpenOffice.org also runs on Mac under X11. A native Aqua version is currently in its beta stages.
[edit] Office suites for Unix/Unix-like OS
The following software programs run on Unix and Unix-like operating systems such as BSD, Solaris and Linux.
[edit] Proprietary suites
- Evermore Integrated Office — a new Chinese-language integrated office suite. Available for Red Hat Linux 8.0 KDE desktop environment or above.
- SoftMaker Office 2008. Available for Linux and FreeBSD.
[edit] Free suites
- 602Office — a Czech and Slovak commercial version of OpenOffice.org. Contains the 602SQL database program.
- Andrew — an office suite developed by Carnegie Mellon University and named after Andrew Carnegie.
- Jambo OpenOffice — a Swahili version of OpenOffice.org.
- KOffice — a free, integrated office suite for KDE.
- MagyarOffice and EuroOffice — Hungarian and European multilingual commercial office suites based on OpenOffice.org
- Siag Office — a free office suite for Unix systems. Primarily written by programmer Ulric Erikkson, with contributions from other authors. Includes a word processor, a spreadsheet, and an animation program.
[edit] Online office suites
- Google Docs — an AJAX-based online office suite from Google, Inc. The suite includes a word processor, a spreadsheet program, and a presentation editor.
- ShareOffice — a Web-based office suite from ShareMethods. This suite utilizes separate word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications from other vendors. It is distributed through Salesforce.com's AppExchange program.
- Simdesk — an online office suite from Simdesk Technologies, Inc. This suite offers partial compatibility with the Microsoft Office file formats (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint). With a monthly subscription to Simdesk Services (costing $3.50 – $20 per month), one is allowed to install the application anywhere.
- ThinkFree Office — an office suite written in Java, from ThinkFree, Inc. It includes a word processor (Write), a spreadsheet (Calc), and a presentation program (Show). For Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
- Zoho Office Suite — a free online office suite from AdventNet, Inc. Includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentations, and collaboration groupware.
[edit] Compare general and technical information
The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of office suites. Please see the individual products' articles for further information. The table only includes systems that are widely used and currently available. A distinction should be made between offline (e.g. Microsoft Office and StarOffice), hybrid (e.g. Microsoft LIVE and Google Docs read along with Google Gears) and purely online (e.g. Thinkfree, Zoho, and eDeskOnline) versions of office suites.
[edit] General information
Developer | First public release | Predecessor | Latest Stable version | Operating system | Standard cost (USD) | Office Open XML support | OpenDocument support | License | Online capability | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ability Office | Ability Plus Software | 1985 | — | 4.15 | Windows | $59.99 | No | Planned for Ability Office 6 | Proprietary | ? |
AppleWorks | Apple | 1991 | ClarisWorks | 6.2.9 | Mac OS, Mac OS X and Windows | Discontinued[4] | No | No | Proprietary | ? |
Celframe Office | Celframe | 2006 (Windows) | Celframe Office 2006 Celframe Office Vista - 2007 | Celframe Office 2008 | Windows | varies by region and edition | Yes | (With several free plugins, Yes native support) | Proprietary | Celframe Office Online - 2009 |
ConXPoint | CXP Solutions | 2007 | — | 2007 | Mac OS, Mac OS X and Windows | monthly/annual subscription | No | No | Proprietary | Fully online |
WordPerfect Office | Corel | 1991 | WordPerfect (1982) | X4 | Windows | $300 | Yes | Yes | Proprietary | ? |
GNOME Office | GNOME Foundation AbiSource |
? | — | 2.4.5/1.6.3/1.9 & 0.62 | Cross-platform | Free | (Gnumeric has limited SpreadsheetML support) | Yes | GPL | ? |
GobeProductive | Gobe Software | 1998 | — | 3.04 / 2.01 | Windows and BeOS | $49.95 | No | No | Proprietary | ? |
Google Apps Google Docs |
2006 | — | beta | Cross-platform | Free | No | Yes | Proprietary | Fully online | |
iWork | Apple | 2005 | AppleWorks[5] | '08 | Mac OS X | $79 | (Read-only support) | No | Proprietary | ? |
KOffice | KDE Project | 1998 | — | 1.6.3 | BSD, Linux, Solaris (Mac OS X and Windows in KDE 4) | Free | No | Yes | LGPL and GPL | ? |
Lotus SmartSuite | IBM | 1992[6] | — | 9.8 | Windows and OS/2 | $190 | No | No | Proprietary | ? |
Lotus Symphony | IBM | 2007 | OpenOffice.org | Beta 4 | Windows and Linux | Free | No | Yes | Proprietary | ? |
MarinerPak | Mariner Software | 1996 | — | 10.0 | Mac OS and Mac OS X | $79.95 | No | No | Proprietary | ? |
Microsoft Office | Microsoft | 1990 (Macintosh), 1992 (Windows) | Microsoft Word Microsoft Excel PowerPoint | 2007 (12.0) (Windows), 2008 (12.1.0) (Macintosh) | Windows and Macintosh | varies by region and edition | Yes | (With several free plugins, Microsoft Office 2007 SP2 will add native support[7]) | Proprietary | Microsoft Office Live |
Microsoft Works | Microsoft | ? | — | (9.0) (Windows), (4.0) (Macintosh) | Windows and Macintosh | varies by region | Yes | No | Proprietary | ? |
NeoOffice | Planamesa Software | 2005-06-02 | OpenOffice.org 1.1 for Mac OS X | 2.2.3 | Mac OS X | Free | (Supported since version 2.1) | Yes | GPL | ? |
OpenOffice.org | OpenOffice.org Organization | October 2001 | StarOffice | 2.4 (all versions require Java runtime environment) |
Cross-platform | Free | (With several free plugins, or partial import support in version 3.0 beta) | Yes | LGPL | yes - with several free extensions |
ShareOffice | ShareMethods | May 2007 | — | Cross-platform | $15 per user per month | No | Yes | Proprietary | Fully online | |
SoftMaker Office | SoftMaker | 1989 | — | 2008 (Windows), 2006 (Linux, FreeBSD, PocketPC, Windows CE) |
FreeBSD, Linux, PocketPC and Windows | $69.95 | No | TextMaker | Proprietary | ? |
StarOffice | Sun Microsystems | 1995 | StarWriter | 8.0 - Update 10 | Cross-platform | $70 | No | Yes | Proprietary | yes - with several free extensions |
StarOffice from Google Pack |
Sun Microsystems | 1995 | StarWriter | 8.0 - Update 10 | Cross-platform | Free | No | Yes | Proprietary | yes - with several free extensions |
ThinkFree Office | Haansun | 1994 | — | Cross-platform | Free | (Supports OOXML word processing files, support for spreadsheets/ presentation files is planned) | Yes | Proprietary | Fully online | |
WPS Office | Kingsoft | 1988 | — | 2007 | Windows and Linux | variation by versions and purchase quantities(free for individual non-commercial use on Windows and Linux) | No | Yes | Proprietary | ? |
ZCubes | ZCubes Inc. | 2006 | — | 2007 | Cross-platform | Free | No | Yes | Proprietary | Fully online |
Zoho Office Suite | AdventNet | ? | — | Cross-platform | Free | (Supports OOXML word processing files) | Yes | Proprietary | Fully online | |
Developer | First public release | Predecessor | Stable version | Operating system | Standard cost (USD) | Office Open XML support | OpenDocument Support | License | Online Capability |
[edit] Operating system support
The operating systems the office suites were designed to run on without emulation; for the given office suite/OS combination, there are six possibilities:
- No indicates that it does not exist or was never released.
- Partial indicates that while the office suite works, it lacks important functionality compared to versions for other OSs; it is still being developed however.
- Beta indicates that while a version of the office suite is fully functional and has been released, it is still in development (e.g. for stability).
- Yes indicates that the office suite has been officially released in a fully functional, stable version.
- Dropped indicates that while the office suite works, new versions are no longer being released for the indicated OS; the number in parentheses is the last known stable version which was officially released for that OS.
- Included indicates that the office suite comes pre-packaged as part of or has been integrated into the operating system.
Please note that the list is not exhaustive, but rather reflects the most common operating systems today.
Office suite | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Ability Office | Windows 98 or later | No | No | No | No |
AppleWorks | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Celframe Office | Windows 98 or later | No | No | No | No |
GNOME Office | Partial [8] | Partial [9] | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Gobe Productive | Windows 98 or later | 1Q '08 | 1Q '08 | No | No |
Google Apps | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) |
iWork | No | Yes | No | No | No |
KOffice | Partial [10] | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Lotus SmartSuite | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Lotus Symphony | Yes | Yes (Lotus Jazz) | Yes | ? | ? |
MarinerPak | No | Yes | No | No | No |
Microsoft Office | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
Microsoft Works | Yes | Dropped | No | No | No |
NeoOffice | No | Mac OS X v10.3 or above | No | No | No |
OpenOffice.org | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
ShareOffice | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) |
SoftMaker Office | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No |
StarOffice | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
ThinkFree Office | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) |
WordPerfect Office | 98, Me, 2000, XP, Vista | No | No | No | No |
WPS Office | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
ZCubes | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) |
Zoho | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) | Yes (fully online) |
Office suite | Windows | Mac OS X | Linux | BSD | Unix |
[edit] Main components
[edit] Historical
- AppleWorks (previously known as "ClarisWorks") — an early Mac Office suite. It has morphed and branched into AppleWorks and GoBe Productive. When the original developers split up, ClarisWorks continued as AppleWorks after being bought by Apple, and GoBeProductive was redeveloped from the ground up using ideas from the original. Apple discontinued this suite after the release of iWork '08 in August 2007.[16]
- IBM Works — was an office suite for the IBM OS/2 operating system. It included word processing, spreadsheet, database and PIM applications.
- Island Office was available in the 1990s on many Unix platforms. This included Island Write, Draw, Paint, Presents, Calc, Chart, Table and Equation. Island Draw was, at the time, an extremely powerful PostScript editor. The company that created this software was/is called Island Software.
- Lotus Symphony — Following the popularity of office suites made by competitors, the makers of the wildly popular Lotus 123, tried their hand at a suite for Windows. (Name resurrected by IBM in September 2007 as a free OpenOffice based suite)
- Lotus Jazz — Mac sister product to Lotus Symphony.
- LotusWorks — DOS and Windows suite containing a word processor, spreadsheet, database, graphing tools and telecommunications (modem terminal) module.
- Open Access — Integrated software by Software Products International (SPI).
- WindowWorks — Successor to LotusWorks above.
- Xoom Office — Historical but still available on eBay and elsewhere. Produced by the former makers of WordStar.
[edit] See also
- Office suite
- OpenDocument software
- Online Office
- Comparison of office suites
- List of collaborative software
- List of online spreadsheets
- List of word processors
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.novell.com/products/desktop/features/ooo.html
- ^ http://www.novell.com/products/desktop/features/ooo.html
- ^ MacTech Editorial Staff. "Office 2004 Benchmarks on Intel-based Macs", MacTech. Retrieved on 2008-04-06.
- ^ Evans, Jonny. "Apple cans AppleWorks", Macworld UK, 2007-08-15. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.
- ^ Apple Unveils iWork ’05. Apple, Inc. (2005-01-11).
- ^ Release date of Lotus SmartSuite from http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3563/is_n7_v9/ai_14346979
- ^ Microsoft Expands List of Formats Supported in Microsoft Office
- ^ Only Abiword, Gnumeric, GIMP and Inkscape are available for MS Windows.
- ^ Only Abiword is available as a native application. Using X11 one can run GIMP and Inkscape. With X11 and DarwinPorts - also Gnumeric.
- ^ Kexi is available for Windows as a commercial product. A Cygwin port of KDE[1] (which includes KOffice) is in progress although the status of that port is poor. With KOffice 2.0 based on KDE4 native MS Windows and MacOS ports will be available.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Not included in this office suite, but provided in the OS.
- ^ With free Microsoft plugin [2]
- ^ a b c Speech by Michael Bemmer (PDF)PDF (737 KB), Director StarOffice Engineering at Sun Microsystems in Hamburg, 12 September 2006 at the OpenOffice.org-Conference in Lyon
- ^ a b c When in WYSIWYG HTML editing mode.
- ^ a b c german only
- ^ Evans, Jonny. "Apple cans AppleWorks", Macworld UK, 2007-08-15. Retrieved on 2007-08-15.