What OpenOffice.org Is and What OpenOffice.org Does
OpenOffice.org is a set of integrated programs maintained by the OpenOffice.org team that you download from the OpenOffice.org website. Talk about name branding!Originally, a German company named StarDivision created StarOffice in the mid-1980s. Sun Microsystems purchased StarOffice in 1999 and added features, lowered the price (to free ), and changed the name to OpenOffice.org. OpenOffice.org works on the Windows, Linux, Macintosh, FreeBSD, and Solaris operating systems too. Current versions of OpenOffice.org share most features and an almost identical interface with Sun Microsystem's StarOffice package, a suite offered for sale as another alternative to Microsoft Office.

What's in OpenOffice.org?
OpenOffice.org contains the most needed applicationsa word processor, a spreadsheet program, a presentation program, a drawing program, a database programand more inside a single system. OpenOffice.org is designed so that its programs work well together, and although you might not need every program in OpenOffice.org, you can easily share information between any OpenOffice.org programs that you do want to use. Program collections such as OpenOffice.org are often called program suites .
An application that contains multiple programs, each of which performing a separate function. These programs generally work well together, with each one easily reading the other programs' data.The following is a quick overview of the primary OpenOffice.org programs:
- Writer
A word processor with which you can create notes, memos, letters, school papers, business documents, books, newsletters, and even web pages. - Calc
An electronic spreadsheet program with which you can create graphs and worksheets for financial and other numeric data. After you enter your financial data, you can analyze it for forecasts, generate numerous what-if scenarios, and publish worksheets on the Web. - Impress
A presentation graphics program with which you can create presentations for seminars, schools, churches, web pages, and business meetings. Not only can Impress create the presentation overheads, but it can also create the speaker's presentation notes and print compacted audience handouts. - Draw
A powerful drawing program that you use to create drawings, utilize predesigned shapes, develop logos, and even design web page graphics. - Base
A database management system you use to store large amounts of data such as an inventory, mailing lists, even movie and CD collections. Not only does Base store the data, it lets you analyze it, create forms, and generate reports, all quickly and easily.
30 Use Mathematical Formulas in Documents ).All the OpenOffice.org programs share common features and common menu choices. The next two figures show an Impress editing session and a Draw editing session. Even though the Impress screen shows a slide from a presentation and the Draw screen shows a flier being created, the surrounding interface elements are extremely similar. The menus, toolbars, and status bar buttons are almost identical for both programs. When you learn one OpenOffice.org program, you are well on your way to knowing quite a bit about all the other OpenOffice.org programs, too.When you design and edit presentations with Impress, you'll recognize the interface because OpenOffice.org programs share a similar interface. [View full size image]


OpenOffice.org Is Versatile
The OpenOffice.org products are general purpose, meaning that you can customize applications to suit your needs. You can use Calc as your household budgeting program, for example, and also as your company's interactive balance-sheet system.You can integrate OpenOffice.org into your networked system. This way, OpenOffice.org provides useful features whether you are networked to an intranet, to the Internet, or to both. You can share OpenOffice.org information with others across the network. OpenOffice.org fits well within the online world by integrating Internet access throughout the OpenOffice.org suite.
Introducing Writer
When you need to write any text-based document, look no further than Writer. Writer is a word processor that supports many features, including the following:
- Automatic corrections for common mistakes as you type using special automatic-correcting tools that watch the way you work and adapt to your needs
- Templates and styles that make quick work of your document's formatting
- Advanced page layout and formatting capabilities
- Numbering, bulleting, bordering, and shading tools
- Integrated grammar and spelling tools to help ensure your document's accuracy
- Newsletter-style multiple columns, headers, footers, and endnotes in your publications
- Graphical tools that enable you to emphasize headers, draw lines and shapes around your text, and work with imported art files in your documents
The next figure shows a Writer editing session. Even though Writer is a word processor, you can see from the figure that it supports advanced formatting, layout, and graphics capabilities so that you can produce professional documents, covers, and title pages using Writer.Writer easily handles text, graphics, and advanced formatting of any document you wish to create. [View full size image]

Introducing Calc
Calc's primary goal is to help you organize and manage financial information such as income statements, balance sheets, and forecasts. Calc is an electronic spreadsheet program that supports many features, including the following:
- Automatic cell formatting
- Automatic worksheet computations that enable you to generate a worksheet that automatically recalculates when you make a change to a portion of the worksheet
- Built-in functions, such as financial formulas, that automate common tasks
- Automatic row and column completion of value ranges with automatic completion of ranges of data
- Formatting tools that let you turn worksheets into professionally produced reports
- Powerful data sorting, searching, filtering, and analyzing tools that enable you to turn data into an organized collection of meaningful information
- Powerful charts and graphs that can analyze your numbers and turn them into simple trends
The following figure shows a Calc editing session. The user is entering income statement information. If you have worked with other worksheet programs, you might be surprised at how fancy Calc can get. Calc's automatic formatting capabilities make creating advanced worksheets easy.Calc helps you create, edit, and format numeric worksheets. [View full size image]

Introducing Impress
Have you ever given a presentation and longed for a better approach to messy overhead slides? Have you seen the pros wow their audiences with eye-catching, professional computerized presentations? With Impress, there is simply no reason why you shouldn't be wowing your audiences as well. Professional presentations are now within your reach.Impress supports many features, including the following:
- The use of the Wizard feature to generate presentations automatically
- Sample design templates that provide you with a fill-in-the-blank presentation
- A screen display that imitates how a slide projector displays slides
- Complete color and font control of your presentation slides
- A collection of art files, icons, and sounds that you can embed to make your presentations more attention-getting
- Numerous transitions and fades between presentation slides to keep your audience's attention
- The capability to save presentations as web pages that you can then present on the Internet
The next figure shows an Impress editing session. The user is getting ready for a presentation and has only a few minutes to prepare six color slides for the meeting. With Impress, a few minutes is more than enough time!Impress helps you create, edit, and format professional presentations. [View full size image]

Introducing Draw
With Draw, you can generate drawings and graphics. Draw supports all popular graphics formats, both for importing images and for the drawings you want to save. You can create freeform drawings and you can use Draw's predesigned shapes to create more modern artwork, such as a commercial artist may require.Here are just a few features that Draw supports:
- The use of predefined geometric shapes to include in your drawings
- The ability to create and use built-in three-dimensional shapes to add depth to your images
- The ability to adjust the perceived light source on the objects you draw to add realism
- The ability to convert two-dimensional text and graphics to three dimensions
- The ability to logically connect objects so that when you move or resize one, other objects adjust accordingly
The next figure shows a Draw editing session. The drawing contains both text and graphics. Draw's ability to combine both text and graphics makes it great for businesses that need to design brochures, ads, fliers, and logos.With Draw, you can create impressive drawings and include text with them. [View full size image]

Introducing the Base Database
Base puts the power of information right at your fingertips. Whether you're a soccer dad who wants to create a contact sheet for the team or a store manager with a warehouse full of products, Base can keep you on track. Base is a database management program that supports many features, including the following:
- The ability to create, modify, search, and sort large amounts of data in table format
- The ability to index your database tables to speed up data access
- The ability to perform simple or complex queries
- The ability to generate meaningful reports from your data
- The ability to create forms that you or others can complete to gather data
- A choice of views to suit all levels of database userswizards for beginnings, design views for more experienced users, and SQL for advanced folks
- The choice of using your own database or Base's own built-in HSQL database engine
The next figure shows a Base database session. As you can see, the application can manage a lot of data and offers tools for sorting, grouping, and presenting the data in meaningful ways. Base also makes it easy to connect to existing databases. It offers native support for many popular databases including Microsoft Access, MySQL, and LDAP-compliant address books.Let Base manage your information. [View full size image]
