PRESS RELEASE
Free beta version of SoftMaker Office 2016 for Linux available from 18th November 2015
18th November 2015, London - SoftMaker is putting its new Office package to the test, with a free beta version of SoftMaker Office 2016 for Linux. Available from Wednesday 18th November 2015, SoftMaker Office 2016 is the powerful office suite that works seamlessly with all Microsoft Office file formats.
SoftMaker invites all Linux users to download and test the new beta free of charge. It works with all modern Linux platforms, including Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Debian, openSUSE, Fedora, Red Hat and Mageia.
SoftMaker Office 2016 includes the word processor TextMaker, the presentation software Presentations and the spreadsheet program PlanMaker. It also comes with a set of add-ons that improve the user interface and feature set of Thunderbird, Linux’s preferred email client. A separate, “professional”, version of the office suite adds high-quality dictionaries by Berlitz for English, German, Spanish, Italian and French.
Key highlights include:
- Blazingly fast – starts up much faster than LibreOffice
- Accelerated through OpenGL graphics and by using multiple CPU cores for image rendering
- Improved compatibility with the Microsoft Office document formats
- User friendly – changes in text formatting are shown in real time (Live Preview), and documents may be previewed before opening them
- The built-in version management for documents lets the user go back to any older versions of a document
- High-fidelity PDF export – all SoftMaker Office programs create high-quality PDF files that can be viewed anywhere. The new version now supports PDF tags, plus export of bookmarks and tracked changes
- Graphics can now be cropped directly in the document, and they may be enhanced with photographic frames
New features in TextMaker 2016 for Linux:
- Documents can be exported directly into the EPUB e-book format
- Users can now insert charts in 80 different styles, including 2D and 3D versions
- The new label-printing feature comes with support for nearly all labels on the market, turning TextMaker into a capable label-printing software
- Improved compatibility with OpenDocument Text (.odt) file format
New features in PlanMaker 2016 for Linux:
- PlanMaker now supports up to a million rows and 16,384 columns. The number of arithmetic functions has increased to more than 350
- PlanMaker 2016 enables the users to create and edit pivot tables with a feature set similar to the one available in Microsoft Excel 2016
- Greatly improved conditional formatting that works exactly like Excel 2016 – including colour bars, marking of the largest and smallest value and more
New features in Presentations 2016 for Linux:
- Editable full-screen view
- Smart guides allow precise alignment of objects in relation to others
- The table function has been redesigned from the ground up, making it both user friendly and powerful
The publication of the final software is scheduled for December 2015. SoftMaker Office Standard will be available for £45 and SoftMaker Office Professional 2016 for £65. Existing customers will be granted upgrade discounts.
For more information: www.softmaker.com/english/ofl_en.htm
About SoftMaker
SoftMaker was founded in 1987 and has since worked on the development of its Office package SoftMaker Office. It contains the word processor TextMaker, the spreadsheet program PlanMaker and the presentation-graphics software SoftMaker Presentations. The compact, reliable and compatible office suite is available for Microsoft Windows, Linux, Android, Windows Mobile and Windows CE. SoftMaker also offers professional font collections.
Additional information: www.softmaker.com.
