Open Office Anaphraseus Extension

There is a tool that can be added to Writer that I have found very useful. It is called Anaphraseus.

You can find it at the link: http://extensions.services.openoffice.org/project/anaphraseus

Anaphraseus is a CAT (Computer Aided Translation) tool, an OpenOffice.org 2 macro set similar to the famous Wordfast. It works with the Wordfast Translation Memory format (*.TXT), and supports text segmentation.
Features:

• Term Recognition.
• Fuzzy Search.
• Unicode UTF-16 TMX Export/Import
• Plain text and Unicode UTF-16 TM, Glossary
• User Glossary

The extension will let you work with segments or the entire document could be in a given target language. After all the computer does not know the difference between a segment or a total document. Give it a try I’ve had fun with it. Even found it useful! After installation you will find the addition at the top of the menu bar in Writer. Enjoy

Preview and evaluation of Open Office

I delayed this post to give people time to download and evaluate Open Office.

My first impression upon clicking the first program Writer.

This program and the rest of the Suite needs a splash screen. Adobe Photoshop(TM) has one. What the splash screen does is let you know that it is loading up it’s plugins and fonts etc. But what I saw instead is dead splash screen, I could not tell that anything was going on. Not a single indication that there was anything going on at all. So I clicked again. No surprise when I ended up with 2 copies running.You can be sure when this post is finished that I will so to the web site and make the suggestion of the splash screen.

To be fair though Microsoft(TM) office suite did not have a splash screen as of office 2003, I have not used 2007 yet

Open Office

What is OpenOffice?

OpenOffice.org is a collection of applications that work together closely to provide the features expected from a modern office suite.  The components available include:
Writer A word processor similar in look and feel to Microsoft Word and offering a comparable range of functions and tools. It also includes the ability to export Portable Document Format (PDF) files with no additional software, and can also function as a WYSIWYG editor for creating and editing web pages.
Calc A spreadsheet similar to Microsoft Excel with a roughly equivalent range of features. Calc provides a number of features not present in Excel, including a system which automatically defines series for graphing, based on the layout of the user’s data. Calc is also capable of writing spreadsheets directly as a PDF file.
Impress A presentation program similar to Microsoft PowerPoint. It can export presentations to Adobe Flash (SWF) files allowing them to be played on any computer with the Flash player installed. It also includes the ability to create PDF files, and the ability to read Microsoft PowerPoint’s .ppt format. Impress suffers from a lack of ready-made presentation designs. However, templates are readily available on the Internet.
Base A database program similar to Microsoft Access. Base allows the creation and manipulation of databases, and the building of forms and reports to provide easy access to data for end-users. As with Access, Base may be used as a front-end to a number of different database systems, including Access databases (JET), ODBC data sources and MySQL/PostgreSQL. Base became part of the suite starting with version 2.0. Native to the OpenOffice.org suite is an adaptation of HSQL. While ooBase can be a front-end for any of the databases listed, there is no need for any of them to be installed.
Draw A vector graphics editor comparable in features to early versions of CorelDRAW. It features versatile “connectors” between shapes, which are available in a range of line styles and facilitate building drawings such as flowcharts. It has similar features to Desktop publishing software such as Scribus and Microsoft Publisher.
Math A tool for creating and editing mathematical formulae, similar to Microsoft Equation Editor. Formulae can be embedded inside other OpenOffice.org documents, such as those created by Writer. It supports multiple fonts and can export to PDF.