Why should we even care about IBM Lotus Symphony?
Kevin Tolly, Network World
Friday, September 28, 2007 12:00 PM PDT
Alternative office suites are nothing new. For users requiring the trio of word processing, spreadsheets and presentations there have always been options. For some years, it has been possible to get OpenOffice for free and the commercial version, Sun's StarOffice, for $69. More recently, Google Apps has been enticing business users by adding collaboration as an integral part of its office alternative. So why should we even care about IBM Lotus Symphony?
Given the myriad potential uses of "office" applications, your reasons will likely differ from mine. but for me it represents the first time I've tried an alternative office and found the user experience to be every bit as good as using Microsoft Word.
Despite the fact that it is free, Symphony is powerful, deep, well written and well documented. Aside from a minor formatting issue, I had no problem opening and editing documents, spreadsheets and presentations created with Microsoft products.
Not having used IBM Lotus products for many years, I still was able to edit using my favorite features in just a few minutes. When it comes to core office applications, it isn't hard to navigate.
For example, "word count" is on the Tools menu. Looking for track changes mode is under "Edit... Revisions ... Record". A little different than Microsoft users are accustomed to, but no impediment. (And, yes, this column is being written using Symphony.)
A quick search of the Internet uncovered a handy two-page document that guides MS Word users on finding equivalent functions in Lotus Symphony.
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