The traffic for OpenOffice 3 was overwhelming. In fact, the traffic for the release was so enthusiastic that it crashed the site yesterday. It seems that the download / traffic issues have been resolved. The new release is ‘downloadable’ now:

“…On first run there is an introduction, set-up and registration process where existing OpenOffice users are given the option to transfer settings and information from their previous installation.

The latest version provides a total of six applications: word processor, spreadsheet, presentation creator, database, drawing program and mathematical formula editor.”

link: First Look: OpenOffice 3.0

This release has been criticized for lack of compatibility with Microsoft Office 2007. For example, OpenOffice 3 cannot write to “xlsx”, “docx” and “pptx” files. The read function is not a problem. Nevertheless, the most salient feature of OpenOffice 3 is something that completely beats Microsoft - it is free.

Catherine Forsythe