Left to right: the icons for Lotus Symphony Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations through version 1.0
Left to right: the document icons for Lotus Symphony Documents, Presentations, and Spreadsheets
Lotus Symphony Documents running on Windows XP
IBM Lotus Symphony is a suite of applications for creating, editing, and sharing text, spreadsheet, presentations and other documents, and is currently distributed as freeware. First released in 2007, the suite has a name similar to the 1980s DOS suite Lotus Symphony, but the two programs are otherwise unrelated.
Features
IBM Lotus Symphony consists of:
Each application is split into tabs.
Symphony supports the OpenDocument formats, as well as the binary Microsoft Office and Lotus SmartSuite formats.[3] It can also export Portable Document Format (PDF) files and import Office Open XML files.
Symphony is available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X. It is based on Eclipse Rich Client Platform from IBM Lotus Expeditor for its shell and OpenOffice.org 1.1.4 for the core office suite code.[4] OpenOffice.org version 1.1.4 was dual-licensed under both the GNU Lesser General Public License and Sun's own SISSL, which allowed for entities to change the code without releasing their changes. Therefore, IBM does not have to release the source code of Symphony.
History
IBM released version 1.0 of Lotus Symphony in May 2008 as a free download. IBM plans to incorporate code from the latest version of OpenOffice.org 3.x into version 3.0.[5][6][7] Symphony 3.0 will also include modules that are already part of OpenOffice.org, including an equation editor, database software, and a drawing program, as well as other modules specifically provided by IBM.[8] It will also support ODF 1.2. In 2010, IBM announced that the IBM Lotus Symphony 3.0 code-named Vienna will be released in first half of 2010.[6]
Symphony has its roots in IBM Workplace. In 2006, IBM introduced Workplace Managed Client version 2.6, which included "productivity tools" — a word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation program — that supported ODF.[9][10] Later that year, IBM announced that Lotus Notes 8, which was already incorporating Workplace technology[11], would also include the same productivity tools as the Workplace Managed Client.[12][13] In 2007, IBM released Notes 8, and then released Notes' productivity tools as a standalone application, Symphony, one month later. The code in Symphony is the same as that for Notes 8's productivity tools.[14]
The software is developed by IBM China Development Laboratory, located in Beijing.[15] During the Lotusphere event in 2009, IBM confirmed its cost reduction effort using Lotus Symphony: the company is migrating its 400,000 users from Microsoft Office to Lotus Symphony.[citation needed] IBM observed 2 million downloads of Lotus Symphony in 2008.[citation needed]
Version release dates
- Beta 1
-
- Released on September 18, 2007[16]
- Beta 2
-
- Released on November 5, 2007[17]
- Beta 3
-
- Released on December 17, 2007[18]
- Released in 23 languages on January 7, 2008[19]
- Beta 4
-
- Released on February 1, 2008.[20] Introduced the Lotus Symphony Developer Toolkit.
- Revised edition released on March 3, 2008[21]
- Version 1.0
-
- Released on May 30, 2008[22]
- Version 1.1
-
- Released on August 29, 2008[23]
- Version 1.2
-
- Released on November 4, 2008[24]
- Revised edition released on Feb 23, 2009[25]
- Version 1.3
-
- Released on June 10, 2009[26]
- Revised edition released on September 1, 2009[27]
- Version 3 Beta
- * Released on February 4, 2010[28]
- Version 3 Beta 2
- * Released on February 4, 2010[29]
See also
References
- ^ http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/buzz.nsf/web-DisPlayPlugin?open&unid=3628BD42B1674AB1852576C000465C1A&category=teams
- ^ Byfield, Bruce (2007-10-04). "OpenOffice vs. Lotus Symphony". Datamation. http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/entdev/article.php/3703501/OpenOffice-vs-Lotus-Symphony.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-15. ""For all purposes, it is a proprietary fork of the OpenOffice.org code.""
- ^ "What's new in Lotus Symphony 1.3". IBM. http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/help.nsf/ReleaseNotes. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
- ^ Eric Lai, IBM's Symphony Hitting Wrong Notes, Reviewers Say, Computerworld, September 24, 2007
- ^ "Network World - Lotus to set road map for free productivity suite". http://lotussymphonyblog.com/blog/symblog.nsf/dx/network-world-lotus-to-set-road-map-for-free-productivity-suite. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ^ a b John Fontana (2010-01-15). "Lotus to set road map for free productivity suite". Network World. http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/011510-lotus-productivity-suite.html?hpg1=bn. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ^ "IBM Commits to Future of ODF With Symphony Roadmap". 2008-11-05. http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/25912.wss. Retrieved 2010-01-19.
- ^ Edward Mendelson, IBM Lotus Symphony Beta review, "...Now the Bad News" section, September 21, 2007
- ^ Todd Weiss, IBM Workplace client to support Open Document Format in '06, Computerworld, December 4, 2005
- ^ IBM Press Release, IBM Announces New Version of Workplace Products With Enhanced Support for Open Standards and Improved SOA Functionality, January 23, 2006
- ^ Ed Brill, "Hannover" -- announcing the next (post 7.0) version of Lotus Notes, June 14, 2005
- ^ IBM Press Release, IBM Makes Collaborative Innovation Real With Preview of Next Generation IBM Lotus Notes Client, May 16, 2006
- ^ Candace Lombardi, IBM backs OpenDocument in Lotus Notes, CNET News.com, May 16, 2006
- ^ Ed Brill, Introducing IBM Lotus Symphony, desktop productivity software at no charge, September 18, 2007 — see comment 41
- ^ IBM Translates Lotus Symphony for a Globally Integrated World
- ^ IBM Press Release, IBM Releases Office Desktop Software at No Charge to Foster Collaboration and Innovation, September 18, 2007
- ^ Lotus Symphony Buzz, Lotus Symphony Beta 2 Release Now Available, November 5, 2007
- ^ Lotus Symphony Buzz, Lotus Symphony Beta 3 Release Now Available, December 17, 2007
- ^ Lotus Symphony Buzz, Lotus Symphony Beta 3 Now Available in 23 Languages, January 7, 2008
- ^ Lotus Symphony Buzz, Lotus Symphony Beta 4 Has Arrived, February 1, 2008
- ^ Lotus Symphony Buzz, Symphony Beta 4 Code Update Now Available, March 3, 2008
- ^ Lotus Symphony Buzz, Announcing — IBM Lotus Symphony Version 1.0 is Now Available, May 30, 2008
- ^ Ed Brill, Lotus Symphony 1.1 is now available, August 29, 2008
- ^ Lotus Symphony Buzz, Lotus Symphony Release 1.2 with Mac OS X Support Available, November 4, 2008
- ^ Lotus Symphony Buzz, Symphony version 1.2 refresh available, February 23, 2009
- ^ Lotus Symphony Buzz, Lotus Symphony 1.3 is HERE, June 10, 2009
- ^ Lotus Symphony Buzz, What fixes are included in the IBM Lotus Symphony 1.3 refresh version?, September 1, 2009
- ^ Lotus Symphony Buzz, IBM launches Lotus Symphony 3 beta, February 4, 2010
- ^ Lotus Symphony Buzz, IBM Lotus Symphony 3 Beta 2 is now available, February 4, 2010
External links
