After nearly two years in the making, the KOffice project will release version 2.0.0 of if its cross-platform office suite of the same name this week, adding features like scripting support and a new shape library.
After seven beta versions and one release candidate, version 2.0.0 of KOffice was “tagged” on May 20 and is scheduled for release on May 27.
While not as popular as the more mature OpenOffice.org open source office suite, KOffice has developed a reputation for being a faster and “lighter” application that is adding new functionality more rapidly.
The project is closely developed with KDE, but only requires KDE libraries to run, not the whole desktop, making it cross-platform.
KOffice 2.0.0 will include six main applications – KWord, KSpread, KPresenter, KPlato (project management), Karbon (vector-based drawing), and Krita (image manipulation).
Like the transition from KDE3 to KDE4, KOffice 2.x represents the largest paradigm shift in the project's history.
Notable omissions from the 2.0.0 include the Kexi database tool, Kivio, the flow charting app, formula editor KFormula, and the KChart charting tool.
These applications and components are still under heavy development and may appear in the 2.1 release, slated for the end of 2009.