IBM Lotus Symphony

• Price: free of charge
• Platforms: Windows, Linux and Mac OS X
• License: Proprietary

The packet was released in 2007, the text editor, editors of tables and the presentations enter it. A set of plug-ins are also available. The third version of a packet appeared in October, 2010. Software is based on the OpenOffice.org code and is free. One of features of a packet is that it allows to open files of different formats in one window in different tabs. In the third version also big selection of a clipart, the application perfectly cope with opening of the OpenOffice and Microsoft Office files. Besides, applications have the built-in browser so at clique on a hyperlink the page opens in the same window without transition to other application. Besides, Symphony is strong support of standards and is available in 20 languages.

The supported standards:

• Microsoft Office 97 - 2003
• Open Document Format (ODF) 1.2
• PDF (Export)
• Office Open XML (Import)

Unique features:

• Web browser
• Opening of files of different formats in one window
• Strictly supported standards of interaction

Omissions:

• Mobile support
• Work in a cloud
• Joint work
• E-mail, drawing

IBM Lotus Symphony 3.0

After eight months of the strengthened beta testing the IBM company announced in January, 2012 a release of the final version of the product Lotus Symphony 3.0. Among the most interesting features of Lotus Symphony of mentioning scriptability of VBA which will be appreciated by professionals and also support of the plug-ins allowing to expand initial functionality of a product deserves.

As well as the majority of office suites, Symphony brings to attention users three main tools – the text editor and also applications for work with large-format tables and the graphic presentations. All listed tools are available from one starting screen, and the edited documents are displayed in separate tabs that extremely simplifies switching between them. Separate mentioning is deserved by the built-in web browser providing quick access to plug-ins and online services.

All programs which are a part of a packet assume preserving of the edited documents in own OpenDocument format, however, also differ in support of the standard MS Office formats (including files of the latests version of Office 2007 and 2010). The vertical side bar which is displayed in the right part of the screen is offered to users of Lotus Symphony in the form of the interface and provides quick and convenient access to key tools and functions.

Key features of the version of IBM of Lotus Symphony 3.0.1:

• Possibility of opening of the documents Microsoft Office 2007 protected using the password.
• Bigger amount of styles for creation of enumerated lists and lists with bullets.
• The increased autosave mechanism capacity.
• Advanced home page.
• More convenient editing announcer's marks to the presentations.
• Copying of data from the large-format table in the form of links.
• Preservation of formatting in tables of DataPilot.
• Support of tables with 1 million lines.
• Preserving of comments on cells when preserving the tables Microsoft Office 2007 in Lotus Symphony.
• New schedule types.
• IBM of Lotus Symphony 3.0.1 is a cross-platform product which works running 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7, Vista and XP and also supports the Mac OS X operating system and a row extended by Linux distribution kits (including SuSE of Linux Enterprise Desktop 11, RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 Update 4 and Ubuntu 8.04).

IBM Lotus Symphony 3.0.1

In version 3.0.1 support of big spreadsheets (up to one million lines) and also an opportunity to create new types of charts is added. In addition, IBM changed design of the official page of the project. However, on these changes development, most likely, will be stopped.

"Most likely, it will be the last release of own fork of OpenOffice from IBM, - Ed Brill, the project manager of IBM Lotus for public relations said in the blog, announcing an exit of Lotus Symphony of version 3.0.1. - Since this moment our efforts will be directed to the Apache OpenOffice project".

In July, 2011 IBM announced intention to transfer all source code Symphony to Apache Software Foundation fund which shortly before it received source codes of OpenOffice.org from Oracle. The Apache fund received from IBM more than 3 million code lines and also the offer to integrate those opportunities of Lotus Symphony which will consider necessary into OpenOffice.

According to Brill, in addition to source codes of Lotus Symphony, IBM also provided Apache the help in work on Apache OpenOffice. The staff of IBM directly participates in the project, exercising development, production management and marketing of a product.

The next step of the company, Brill reported, there will be a development and distribution of Apache OpenOffice in "option from IBM" (IBM Edition). Possibly, this product will also represent OpenOffice with the integrated Lotus Symphony opportunities.

Merge to OpenOffice

IBM began with spring of 2012 to take measures for integration of code base of the Lotus Symphony office suite into the parent Apache OpenOffice project. This event officially marks the end a forka of Lotus Symphony which successfully existed separately from OpenOffice within 5 years.

Merge preparation a forka with the original project was conducted about 10 months. IBM for the first time expressed the intention to give the Lotus Symphony code to community in July, 2011 after OpenOffice.org passed to Apache Software Foundation. The decision on merge is final it was made in January, 2012 with an exit of release of Lotus Symphony of version 3.0.1 which for a forka became the last.

As Donald Harbinson, the open standards and Open Source manager of IBM, in mailing told Open Office developers, on May 15, 2012 the company signed with Apache fund of the agreement IBM Software Grant Agreement and Corporate Contributor License Agreement. It removed the last legal obstacles in a way of merge, and in the past weekend in a SVN repository of Apache the first practices of Lotus Symphony appeared.

The list of innovations which OpenOffice will receive from Lotus Symphony includes more than 30 points. Among them — an operating time in the field of functionality, a prizvoditelnost, interoperability and a usability. It is known that OpenOffice developers in the following large release agreed to integrate some features of the user interface Lotus Symphony: support of tabs, a managing side bar with settings of parameters and more structured context menus.

Also from Lotus Symphony additional templates and elements of gallery of a clipart, the improved system of setup of styles and expanded support of the MS Office 2007/2010 formats, including VML images, audits, links between documents and MS Word OLE objects will pass into OpenOffice. Besides, the promised support of the macro language VBA and the program interface iAccessible2 for physically disabled people will be added.

The code of practices Lotus Symphony, as well as all code base of OpenOffice, will be distributed under the license Apache Software Licence (ASLv2). It means that IBM and other project participants of OpenOffice will be able to use source codes of Lotus Symphony in the purposes without need to return the code to community as ASL is not the copyleft license.

If desired IBM and other participants of community OpenOffice will be able repeatedly to license the code under any license, including proprietary. Besides, IBM has an opportunity to influence development of OpenOffice and Open Document Format (ODF). However the company is not going to do it, at least, at present: on the contrary, IBM threw a part of the engineering resources on development of OpenOffice under the direction of community.

Merge of Lotus Symphony and OpenOffice allows both parties to strengthen positions in the conditions of fierce competition with LibreOffice, much more successful non-commercial forok of the open office suite. Cooperation with IBM means inflow of the new ideas and resources allowing to recover rivalry with The Document Foundation for Apache Foundation. IBM, in turn, will be able effectively to use resources of community for implementation of own project — plans of IBM for development and distribution of the OpenOffice option (Open Office IBM Edition) which in January the manager of IBM Ed Brill declared, still remain in force.