In computing, an office suite, sometimes called an office application suite or productivity suite is a software suite intended to be used by typical clerical worker and knowledge workers. The components are generally distributed together, have a consistent user interface and usually can interact with each other, sometimes in ways that the operating system would not normally allow.
Contents |
Typical components
Most office application suites include at least a word processor and a spreadsheet element. In addition to these, the suite may contain a presentation program, database tool, graphics suite and communications tools. An office suite may also include an email client and a personal information manager or groupware package.
Current suites
The currently dominant office suite is Microsoft Office, which is available for Microsoft Windows and the Apple Macintosh. It has become a proprietary de-facto standard in office software. An alternative is any of the OpenDocument suites, which use the free OpenDocument file format, defined by ISO/IEC 26300. The most prominent of these is OpenOffice.org , open-source software that is available for Windows, Linux, Macintosh, and other platforms. StarOffice, KOffice and Kingsoft Office support many of the features of Microsoft Office, as well as most of its file formats, and has spawned several derivatives such as NeoOffice, a port for Mac OS X that integrates into its Aqua interface, and OpenOffice.org. A new category of "online word processors" allows editing of centrally stored documents using a web browser.
Generations and Evolution
Office Suites have been evolving since the 80's. Office 1.0 (1980s): a set of discrete and often incompatible applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentation creation, and simple database management. Archetype: Lotus 1-2-3. Office 2.0 (1990 - present): integrated suites of PPAs, with expanded, if still limited, collaboration capabilities. Archetype: Microsoft Office. Office 3.0 (present - early 2010s): hybrid desktop/web suites incorporating internet-based tools and interfaces to facilitate collaboration and web publishing. Office 4.0 (c. early 2010s): fully web-based suites. Some experts[1][2] suggest an evolutionary path to Office 4.0, which may reflect blending of functionalities. This can be expected to convert online applications into Omni Functional Platforms, that may reflect more of the extended Web Office features.
References
- http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9007884
- a good article on free office suites
- http://www.edeskonline.com/index_online_office.asp
