I comprehend 'brain dead', John :-) Following is some alternative copy for
your consideration, prefaced by explaining that only the text up to (my
added) 'technical imrovements' heading has been revised... however the text
following that (up to the <snip>) was left in place verbatim to include a
formatting note on Proprietary File Types and the text on Writer wherein [as
the brackets identify] there is a sentence that seems to me to make no sense
<smile>.
Also in the alternative text, note the addition of a footnote aimed most
specifically at communicating accurate information to mainstream reporters,
one of whom I heard on CNN the other day making comments regarding
OpenSource ideologies which (I believe) were errantly based. Anyway, hope
these comments prove useful. Glad my previous notes made sense. Thanks for
all the pains you take to 'get it right'. ~Christine
NEW CORE IMPROVEMENTS
Faster start up times
OpenOffice.org 3.2 Calc and Writer have both reduced 'cold start' time by
46% since version 3.0 was released just over a year ago.
Enhanced ODF Support
Open Document Format (ODF) standards, as promulgated by the World Wide Web
Consortium (W3C)*, sets international compatibility criteria for the
electronic/digital storage of documents.
These standards recognize the importance of interoperability and intelligent
information exchange and seek, for example, to ensure that office documents
created today on any given computer system will be readable by other
computer systems everywhere, including the technology of tomorrow.
OpenOffice.org 3.2 has made great strides in compliance with ODF 1.2,
including closer conformance to OASIS ODFF/OpenFormula specifications.
Proprietary File Support
OpenOffice.org 3.2 supports the import of password protected Microsoft
Office XML files. (for a list of all supported file types, click here)
[*footnote: The W3C is the main international standards organization for the
World Wide Web. Founded and headed by Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the consortium is
made up of member organizations which maintain full-time staff for the
purpose of working together in the development of standards for the World
Wide Web. W3C also engages in education and outreach, develops software and
serves as an open forum for discussion about the Web. As of 8 September
2009, the W3C has 356 members. In accord of this ongoing improvement
process, on November 13, 2009, Mary P McRae, Director, Standards Development
and Technical Committee Administration OASIS, initiated the public review
procedure for Part 3 of the OpenDocument Format 1.2 specification.]
TECHNICAL IMPROVEMENTS
As OpenOffice.org 3.2 currently requires a superset of the ODF 1.2
specification, the software now warns users when ODF 1.2 Extended features
have been used.
The document integrity check now proves whether an ODF document conforms to
the ODF specification (this mainly affects ODF 1.2 documents). If an
inconsistency is found, the document is treated as a broken one, and
OpenOffice.org offers to repair the document.
Proprietary File Support
OpenOffice.org 3.2 supports the import of password protected Microsoft
Office XML files. All document types are supported that are handled by the
MSO XML import filters: - MS Word 2007 documents (*.docx, *.docm) - MS Word
2007 templates (*.dotx, *.dotm) - MS Excel 2007 documents (*.xlsx, *.xlsm) -
MS Excel 2007 binary documents (*.xlsb) - MS Excel 2007 templates (*.xltx,
*.xltm) - MS Powerpoint 2007 documents (*.pptx, *.pptm) - MS Powerpoint 2007
templates (*.potx, *.potm). [NOTE: This would be easier to read as a
bulleted list.]
Encryption support within the "Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP" filter allows
password protected Microsoft Word documents to be saved (using the Microsoft
Office standard RC4 algorithm).
Filters for AportisDoc and PocketWord now support type detection based on
DocType. As a result, files in these formats can be loaded without
explicitly selecting the document type in the file picker.
When writing string data to SYLK files, embedded double quotes are no longer
escaped by doubling; semicolons are now escaped by doubling. This improves
compatibility with files created by other applications.
Support for Postscript based OpenType fonts
There are many high quality commercial and free OpenType fonts that are
based on Postscript outlines. They are now supported for formatting,
printing, PDF-export and display.
Writer
Autocorrect word completion
Writer can remember permanently any additions to the autocorrect list
collected while working on a document. [A new CheckBox When closing a
document, remove the words collected from it from the list makes this
functionality more obvious.] <snip>
----- Original Message -----
From: "John McCreesh" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, December 04, 2009 2:56 AM
Subject: Re: [marketing] [Fwd: [releases] 3.2 New Features page]
On Thu, December 3, 2009 10:15 pm, Christine Louise Beems wrote:
re: "The 'New Features' page is the next level of detail, again aimed at
end
users."
From the perspective of an end user (me) who is proficient with various
productivity applications yet ignorant about the importance/significance
of
confirmity with OASIS ODFF/OpenFormula specifications, ISO approved
vendor-neutral document storage, or the standard RC4 algorithm, most of
what's written goes way over my head and -- respectfully -- 'scares'
folks
who are of my ilk.
Good points. Have a look at the new text about ODF. Not sure I can do much
about RC4 other than put it in parentheses.
For example, in one instance it seems that what is being said could be
understood to mean that new OOo 3.2 filters enable the loading of many
'unknown file type' documents without trying to figure out what program
to
use... but I am not sure if this is actually what is meant or if I have
misconstrued.
Agreed and changed.
I do understand that the New Features page is not intended to be
'promotional' copy. Also that a lot of people have far more literacy with
these various technical improvements and will be favorably impressed by
the
things I do not understand.
When the developers comment on 'New Features' they are keen to see precise
statements of what has changed - which is often quite technical - so it's
important to get feedback from Marketing Project folks as well. Do please
feel free to suggest alternative text for anything you don't like. My
brain starts to go dead after a few days of this :-)
John
--
John McCreesh - Marketing Project Lead - OpenOffice.org
Join the hundred million - http://why.openoffice.org
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