Open source software developer, Open-Xchange is all set to launch its cloud based office productivity suite – OX Documents. The browser-based alternative office suite is built using HTML 5 and Javascript technology & mainly feature an in-browser word processing tool known as – OX Text. The tool as the developers claim is capable of offering direct editing capabilities for Microsoft Word .docx files and OpenOffice or LibreOffice .odt files.
With OX Text multiple users will have the chance of viewing and editing the same document in real time by sharing editor’s rights held by a single user at a given time however, there are certain aspects in where OS Text falls short in comparison to Microsoft Word. For instance, there is no support for headers or footnotes, as seen in Word and no smart art or a formula editor. These functionalities are likely to be added in the later or future versions.
Documents from Microsoft Word or OpenOffice could be opened and edited without changing the format, a shortfall encountered when jumping between text editors. Plus, OX Document allows viewing support for all major file formats, so no format compatibility issues.
The OX App Suite promises to give individuals the freedom to collaborate, work and communicate the way they want. How? It enables full collaboration of email, documents, scheduling and social media.
Adding office productivity to the email and collaboration capabilities of OX App Suite makes sense for OX App Suite users who often need to create, share and work together beyond email and without the hassle of breaking file formats,” said Liam Eagle, analyst at 451 Research.
OX Text will be available in early April under GNU General Public License 2 and Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License. It will be later followed by OX Spreadsheets and OX Presentation in late 2013. The productivity suite has been developed by key members of the original OpenOffice development team.
