OpenOffice.org: Spreadsheet

Features and advantages

Calc, the spreadsheet which comes as part of the OpenOffice.org office suite, is user friendly and easy to learn.

It's main features and advantages are as follows:

• It is open source - This means that many more developers have access to the code and can share their insights into improving and modifying it.
• It is able to read and write many of the most popular spreadsheet file formats including Open Document Format (odf), Microsoft Excel (xls), Comma Separated Values (csv), Unified Office Format (.uos) and others.
• It has a vast set of functions built into its formulas. These fall into categories such as Mathematical (e.g. SUM), Statistical (e.g. AVERAGE), Financial (e.g. YIELD), Text (e.g. UPPER) and many others.
• It is available on most modern platforms. These are most notably Windows, Linux, Unix and MacOS.
• Works better than most spreadsheets in handling dates before 1900.
• It has a DataPilot to assist in importing data from corporate and other databases. We will look at this in a little more detail in a later article.
• Because its main file format is an open standard (Open Document Format) there can be no vendor lock-in.

Document Sharing

OpenOffice.org 3's Calc introduces document sharing. This allows Open Document Format files to be share and edited by multiple users at the same time. In order to use this feature, set the sharing by clicking on 'Tools' and selecting 'Share Document'. When the 'Share Document' dialog appears check the 'Share this spreadsheet with other users' check box. Now the document is available to all users who can access the shared place on the network where the file is stored.

When changes are saved, if there is a conflict with something someone else has changed since the document was opened, the conflict resolver will display a dialog with the conflicts listed. Basically you get a list of conflicts and you can select each one and decide whether to 'Keep Mine' or 'Keep Other'. You may also decide to 'Keep All Mine' or 'Keep All Other'.

Conclusion

The look of the interface has been improved dramatically with the use of anti-aliasing in all graphics. This makes curves and lines far smoother than before and more pleasing to the eye. With all of these benefits and features and the fact that speed has been improved drastically, makes one realize that it is just a matter of time before people begin to support and use OpenOffice.org Calc en mass.