AbiWord

AbiWord

AbiWord icon
File:Abiword 2.4.png AbiWord screenshot
Developer(s)	The AbiWord Team
Initial release	1, 1998 (1998-12-01)
Stable release	2.8.1 / October 30, 2009
Written in	C++
Operating system	Cross-platform
Type	Word processor
License	GNU General Public License
Website	abisource.com

AbiWord is a free and open source software word processor. It was originally started by SourceGear Corporation as the first part of a proposed AbiSuite. Development stopped when SourceGear changed their focus to Internet appliances. AbiWord was adopted by some open source developers and AbiWord continued to be developed. The name "AbiWord" (pronounced "Abby Word") is derived from the root of the Spanish word "abierto", meaning "open". It runs on Linux, Mac OS X (PowerPC and Intel), Microsoft Windows, ReactOS, BeOS (unsupported), Solaris, AmigaOS 4.0 (through its Cygnix X11 engine), and other operating systems. AbiWord is part of GNOME Office, a collection of office applications with some degree of integration.

Features

AbiWord supports both basic word processing features such as lists, indents and character formats, and more sophisticated features including tables, styles, page headers and footers, footnotes, templates, multiple views, page columns, spell checking, and grammar checking. Starting with version 2.8.0, AbiWord includes a collaboration plugin that allows integration with AbiCollab.net, a Web-based service that permits multiple users to work on the same document in real time, in full synchronization. The Presentation view of AbiWord, which permits easy display of presentations created in AbiWord on "screen-sized" pages, is another feature not often found in word processors.

Interface

AbiWord generally works similarly to classic versions (pre-Office 2007) of Microsoft Word, as direct ease of migration was a high priority early goal. While many interface similarities remain, cloning the Word interface is not a top priority. The interface is intended to follow user interface guidelines for each respective platform.

File formats

AbiWord is packaged with several import and export filters for formats including HTML, Microsoft Word (.doc), Office Open XML (.docx), OpenDocument Text (.odt), Rich Text Format (.rtf), and text documents (.txt). LaTeX is supported for export only. Plug-in filters are available to deal with many other formats, notably WordPerfect documents. The native file format, .abw, uses XML, so as to mitigate vendor lock-in concerns with respect to interoperability and digital archiving.

Grammar checking

The AbiWord project includes a grammar checking plugin using Link Grammar. AbiWord had grammar checking before any other open source word processor, although a grammar checker was later added to OpenOffice.org. Link Grammar is both a theory of syntax and an open source parser which is now developed by the AbiWord project.

Version differences

AbiWord 2.6.x does not support Windows 9x. Users of these systems may still use AbiWord 2.4.6.

See also

• List of word processors
• Comparison of word processors
• Office Open XML software
• OpenDocument software

External links

• AbiSource.com, official website.
  • AbiSource.com Mirror Site.
  • List of AbiWord translations (both complete and incomplete)
• Andrew Leonard: Abiword Up. Salon.com, November 15, 2002. History of the project and comparison with closed source development.
• AbiWord vs. MS Word Flexbeta.net, September 1, 2004.
• Comparison between OOo Writer, AbiWord, and KWord newsforge.com, August 23, 2005.
• Interview with Development team after 2.6 release
• AbiWord: A Small, Swift Word Processor