Linux Journal: OpenOffice.org Project Update

“OpenOffice.org (“OOo”)–the development project behind
OpenOffice.org 1.0 (“OOo1”), the open-source office suite–declared
its 2nd birthday on October 13th, 2002, and the tone was
optimistic. On that day, the Community announced 8.5 million binary
downloads tracked over the life of the Project, with about 5
million of those coming after the launch of version 1.0 in May
2002.

“These numbers caused the trade and open-source press to prick
up their ears sharply, a contrast to the laconic well-wishing that
colored the 1.0 release a few months prior. The numbers also
stimulated some FUD from the direction of Washington State. So
there is a palpable sense of obligation in the Community to the
large amount of work ahead, as well as great anticipation.

“OpenOffice.org 1.0, the software, seems to have struck a chord
based on the combination of its low price (free) and its promise of
file format compatibility and continuity. The suite allows users to
open and save-as the file format of the leading suite (from Word
6.0/97/2000/XP). In addition, OOo1’s well-documented implementation
of the XML file format offers guaranteed access to work created in
the OOo suite (since future changes to the XML standard, properly
implemented, will always be continuously accessible if not
backward-compatible)…”

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