KOffice 2.1 Ready for Testing, Karbon Ready for Use
About a half year after big technological changes, the KOffice project has released version 2.1 of its office suite, even if it's not quite ready for everyday use.
One aspect of KOffice 2.1 that is ready for prime time is the Karbon vector graphics program. According to Nuno Pinheiro, designer of the Oxygen KDE theme: "I have tested Karbon and it is definitely usable for real work even if [it] lacks a few advanced SVG features."
The remainder of the program package reflects more on its current development state and isn't so much targeted at end users as developers, testers and avid software experimenters. The KOffice 2.x branch, based on new technologies including Qt 4, still doesn't provide all the features of KOffice 1.6 and not all programs are included in the suite. Versions 2.2 and 2.3 should change all that.
Developers took on some improvement work for 2.1, such as rework of the ODF open document format. One item was fixing list formatting. KOffice, next to Open Office, is the second largest implementation of the ODF standard, which is also used in Maemo to show documents on mobile devices. Through work on Nokia's N900 devices, advances in importing MS Word and Powerpoint files were also made.
The KWord application received a new table design treatment, which unfortunately isn't quite complete. A new function allows users to follow through with changes to documents by color-coding additions, deletions and reformatting. The KPresenter application now provides an unlimited workspace and numbered sheets. The KPlato project management tool also made some marked improvements. Other components got bugfixes and minor enhancements.
KOffice 2.1 source code and binary downloads are available. Project developers urge everyone to report bugs, especially those related to crashes and ODF support. The project is also eager to hear about non-UNIX platform bugs, since developers themselves use Linux and don't as a rule keep track of bugs on other platforms.
Comments
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Canonical Bumps LTS Support to 12 years
If you're worried that your Ubuntu LTS release won't be supported long enough to last, Canonical has a surprise for you in the form of 12 years of security coverage.
-
Fedora 40 Beta Released Soon
With the official release of Fedora 40 coming in April, it's almost time to download the beta and see what's new.
-
New Pentesting Distribution to Compete with Kali Linux
SnoopGod is now available for your testing needs
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
-
ZorinOS 17.1 Released, Includes Improved Windows App Support
If you need or desire to run Windows applications on Linux, there's one distribution intent on making that easier for you and its new release further improves that feature.
-
Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
-
KDE’s Plasma 6 Officially Available
KDE’s Plasma 6.0 "Megarelease" has happened, and it's brimming with new features, polish, and performance.
-
Latest Version of Tails Unleashed
Tails 6.0 is based on Debian 12 and includes GNOME 43.
-
KDE Announces New Slimbook V with Plenty of Power and KDE’s Plasma 6
If you're a fan of KDE Plasma, you'll be thrilled to hear they've announced a new Slimbook with an AMD CPU and the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop.
-
Monthly Sponsorship Includes Early Access to elementary OS 8
If you want to get a glimpse of what's in the pipeline for elementary OS 8, just set up a monthly sponsorship to help fund its continued existence.
Karbon vs Inkscape
I've never used Karbon, but I quite like inkscape, sometimes its a little fiddly, when it comes to absolute positioning and sizing, it assures me, i actually want 9.012 not 9. lol.
And a couple of the dialog windows could probably do with a spring cleaning, as some of them i find a little un-userfriendly.
But what does everybody else think?
Does Inkscape have a competitor, or does Karbon control the vector sector? Or perhaps I missed a project out, which will blow both projects away?