KOffice 2.0 Alpha 5 Released

The KOffice team has released the fifth alpha version of their Office suite for the KDE desktop, KOffice 2.0. This technology preview is for those of you that are interested in the new ideas and technologies of the upcoming KOffice 2 suite. It also introduces improvements in all its components, such as the fact that gradients and strokes are now shared between all KOffice components. Let's have a quick look at the main highlights of KOffice 2.0 Alpha 5:

More Shared Infrastructure

The KOffice libraries were greatly improved. First of all, there is an improvement mentioned above, that gradients and strokes can now be shared among all KOffice components. Second, the basic routines that are in charge of handling the OpenDocument Format were broken out into its own library. Other new features in this area include improved rulers, a central docker for the document structure and a brand new connector feature for shapes.

Simplified Word Processor: Kids Office

In 2006, Inge Wallin had an idea for a simplified word processing tool that can be used in schools, by kids. Today, KOffice 2.0 Alpha 5 contains a first version of the KOffice for Kids. The trick is that only the user interface is simplified, while inside you have the full power of KOffice.

New Drawing Tools in Krita

The new features in Krita include some Chinese Brushes and a new Path Tool. Moreover, it now has all the filters that Krita 1.6 had and a first preview of the brand new on-canvas filter.

For a full and detailed change-log, please click here. Please note that this Alpha release is incorporated in KDE 4.0 RC1.

KOffice suite is composed of the following:

￭ KWord - A frame-based word processor capable of professional standard documents;
￭ KSpread - A powerful spreadsheet application;
￭ KPresenter - A full-featured presentation program;
￭ Kivio - A Visio-style flowcharting application;
￭ Karbon14 - A vector drawing application;
￭ Krita - A pixel-based image manipulation program like The GIMP or Adobe Photoshop;
￭ KChart - An integrated graph and chart drawing tool;
￭ KFormula - A powerful formula editor;
￭ Kexi - An integrated environment for managing data;
￭ KPlato - A new project management application;
￭ KThesaurus and Filters - Import and Export Filters for KOffice.

You can download KOffice right now from Softpedia.