IT: Open source office software in Thailand

The Nation, reports that the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) and the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec) have joined with Sun Microsystems (Thailand) to soft-launch OpenOffice 2.0, an office application suite based on open source technology.

The suite is expected to offer a new alternative to computer users in Thailand, allowing them to use license-free office applications.

Nectec director Thaweesak Koanatakool said that Nectec's role is to develop Thai language for menu bar functions, requiring more than 50,000 sentences in Thai. It is expected to be ready for public release by the end of next month. However, OpenOffice 2.0's programs come with both Thai and English, ready for use.

A highlight of OpenOffice 2.0 is its OpenDocument, enabling users to conduct, share and exchange document files across platforms including Linux, Windows, Apple and Solaris.