Carputers News and Computer Tips

Edit 01/01/2010:

This campaign has now ended.  SoftMaker donated 6,089 Euros (ten Euro cents per download) to charity and development projects around the globe.  We hope you were able to participate! 

Here’s how to make SoftMaker Office 2008 save files in Microsoft Office (.doc, .xls, .ppt) formats automatically.  You’ll need to do this in all three (TextMaker 2008, PlanMaker 2008, and Presentations 2008) programs. 

After installation, click on Tools, Options… in the menu bar…

…and and then click on the Files tab at the top of the Options window. 

The drop-down menu labeled Default file format (as shown above) allows the default file format to be set to your choice of Microsoft Office-compatible formats.

TextMaker documents will then be saved with a .doc file extension, PlanMaker spreadsheets will be saved with a .xls file extension, and Presentations will then be saved with a .ppt file extension automatically by default so they can be shared with Microsoft Office users.

We’ve blogged about IBM Lotus Symphony many times in the past, and are fans of this free office productivity suite.

Now there’s a portable version of this software, packaged to be run directly from a USB drive without installing anything nor leaving a footprint on the host PC.

The portable version was put together via a partnership between IBM, VMware and NSEC, and was packaged for NSEC’s Keypod line of USB storage devices. 

It can be downloaded free of charge from the Keepod Store.  This version will run from any USB storage device; ownership of a Keepod is not necessary.  You will have to register and give a valid email address to get to the 188 MB file download.

Be advised that this version weighs in at a beefy 493 MB unzipped:

Like many portable applications, it doesn’t start up as quickly as the installed-to-the-hard-drive version.  The portability factor is, in our view, a reasonable tradeoff for a slower-than-expected start up.  Once the suite is open performance is on par with the installed version.   

Edit 01/14/2010:

Here’s a more in-depth article about IBM Lotus Symphony courtesy of the How-To Geek…