IBM Lotus Symphony v. 1.0 released
Actually, it has been out of beta for about a month.
IBM says:
IBM Lotus Symphony tools enable users to create, edit and share word processing documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
This is a free office suite that, while not as feature-rich as Open/Star Office, is still more than most home users will ever need. It will save in MS Office 2003 (and previous) formats. It is supported on XP and Vista, and a couple of different flavors of Linux.
Here’s the direct download link…
After you’ve installed it, setting it up to save in Microsoft Office-compatible formats is easy. Open IBM Lotus Symphony, and select File, Preferences from the Menu Bar:
After the Preferences window opens, expand the IBM Lotus Symphony tree in the left pane by clicking the “plus-in-a-box”, and then click File Type Association as shown below:
(click image below to open enlarged in a new tab or window)
Select Microsoft Office from the drop-down labeled Select the file types to automatically create with IBM Lotus Symphony. Then click the Apply and OK buttons. Documents, spreadsheets, and presentations that you create with IBM Lotus Symphony will then be saved automatically in formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt) that will allow you to share them with users of Microsoft Office.
IBM also has short online streaming video tutorials on how to use IBM Lotus Symphony Document, Presentation, and Spreadsheet applications. The main page containing these tutorials in different downloadable formats can be found here.
The IBM Lotus Symphony Help Page has links to longer slideshow-type tutorials, reference cards, and other information.
Curtis Franklin, Jr. wrote an IBM Lotus Symphony review (the article also reviews OpenOffice.org, Google Docs, and Zoho and includes a slideshow…) for InfoWorld that can be found here.
Newsday’s Lou Dolinar wrote a short review as well.