Linux office suite officially released

great! another office suite with no database frontend

just what was needed

Why on earth should a "standard" office suite have a database front-end. You can use Rekall if you need an access type FE http://www.rekallrevealed.org/ Planmaker is quite nice and has a free version. If you want to try it head over to SAM and look at the 250Meg LiveCD [url=http://sam.hipsurfer.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=FAQ&file=index&myfaq=yes&id_cat=10&categories=d: SAM-Programme&newlang=english]http://sam.hipsurfer.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=FAQ&fil...[/url]

because the one big problem with all the Linux Office suites is their lack of simple, integrated Database frontends. The one that ships with Star/Open Office is a joke.

Everyone is aware of this and when it comes to trying to sell people the idea of moving away from MS Office to an Open Source alternative, the lack of database is often the point at which people lose interest.

It doesn't really matter that many people can't put a database together or understand why they should or shouldn't bother. The point is, that without the option, some people turn away.

I just wonder if the pursuit of everyone to switch is taking too much effort away from just moving those that will consider the current advantages. A successful OEM distributing white boxes with software using free(dom) or open source software would have much greater return on investment (labor) than one more checkoff item.

Inertial is a physical and here a psychological law of nature. So much so that many will not move on their own.

FYI, The "STANDARD" MS office package does NOT include ACCESS.

now that I didn't know

I stand partially corrected

http://www.phpmyadmin.net/home_page/

Even overlays relations. eg in add/edit form you get a drop down list for foreign keys.

and yes not every one runs apache, but then not every one runs mysql, and there are other guis

It didn't fully run out of the box on my Debian sys, I needed to add a db and user (seperate to the user you log in as) to enable all features.

I just downloaded and installed the developer version 1.9.56 of OpenOffice. It seems to work quite well and has an excellent Database front-end to standard databases like Mysql etc. I am currently managing my Mozilla Address Book, Yes you can make queries etc. Very nice.