XML News from Saturday, July 17, 2004

OpenOffice.org has posted snapshot m47 of OpenOffice 2.0, the open source word processor/spreadsheet/drawing program/presentation software that saves all its documents in zipped XML. "This snapshot identifies itself for the first time as 1.9.x to indicate that 2.0 release is not that far away." Among other new features in 2.0, HTML export should now produce valid 'XHTML 1.0 Strict' documents, and XHTML export will be enabled for Calc, Draw and Impress as well as Writer. Furthermore, "The expert user should be able to install XSLT-based input/output filters for StarOffice/OpenOffice.org. The average user should be able to use them seamlessly. For OOo2.0, XSL-transformations are also supported for the modules Writer/Web, Master Document, and Math." It's not immediately clear if this is true in the current milestone, however. Other new features include Word Count in selections, nested tables, and improved compatibility with Microsoft Office. So far only an English build is available though localized versions will be added closer to release.