Nuernberg, December 20, 2007
After an intensive development phase, SoftMaker Office 2008,
the new office suite from the German software manufacturer
SoftMaker, is now ready and being shipped. It contains not only new
versions of the word processor TextMaker and the spreadsheet
application PlanMaker but also, for the first time, the presentation
graphics program SoftMaker Presentations and the VBA-compatible
macro language BasicMaker.
Further important innovations are the direct PDF export from each
SoftMaker program and enhanced collaboration between applications
via the new OLE server capabilities.
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Since the release of Microsoft Office 2007, an ever growing number of
users have been looking for affordable alternatives that don't involve
relearning a new user interface from scratch. SoftMaker Office 2008
is such an alternative. It comes with an interface that any Microsoft
Office 2003 user will feel comfortable with straightaway. It's
much less expensive and, furthermore, highly compatible with the
Microsoft Office file formats.
This means that files from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint *- including
complex formatting, embedded graphics and AutoShapes, track changes
and comments -* can be edited seamlessly.
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SoftMaker Presentations 2008: PowerPoint compatible and more
With this new office suite, SoftMaker delivers the new PowerPoint
rival SoftMaker Presentations for the first time. This presentation
graphics program is a completely new development and it can open,
edit, and save each PowerPoint file –- preserving all sophisticated
features such as object animations, slide transitions, and
master layouts.
SoftMaker Presentations offers additional formatting options and is
easier to use than PowerPoint. Because of numerous included design
templates and layouts even beginners will create attractive
presentations in no time.
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More new features
SoftMaker Office 2008 contains the new Visual Basic-compatible macro
language BasicMaker to automate recurring tasks in TextMaker and
PlanMaker. For security reasons, SoftMaker intentionally does not
permit macros to be embedded within documents.
The OLE Automation model of SoftMaker Office is modeled after the one
in Microsoft Office which means that existing office macros can
easily be converted to BasicMaker. Many other programming languages
are supported as well.
The popular Word and Excel alternatives TextMaker and PlanMaker have
received a major overhaul and come with a whole range of new important
features, such as:
* PDF export: save documents as PDF files straight out of TextMaker,
PlanMaker, and SoftMaker Presentations. PDF forms are supported as
well as encryption of PDF files.
* OLE server: thanks to the new OLE server functionality all
programs cooperate perfectly. It is no problem, for instance, to
include charts or tables from PlanMaker in TextMaker and keep on
editing them in PlanMaker at any time.
* Improved Word import and export: TextMaker has long been famous for
its precise Word filters. In TextMaker 2008, SoftMaker goes one better
and promises to display even the most complex Word files correctly.
* OpenDocument import and export: TextMaker 2008 is able to not
only open OpenDocument files but also save them now in high quality.
* Envelope printing: SoftMaker has developed its own tool to create
and print envelopes. With this tool TextMaker users can now
generate envelopes with ease. At the touch of a button, both the
users's own address and the address of the recipient are inserted
from TextMaker's built-in address book.
* Many detail improvements like the frequently required keyboard
shortcut Shift+F3, font kerning, a powerful stylesheet manager
and, last but not least, a print preview and booklet printing.
In addition to these innovations SoftMaker Office contains numerous
helpful tools that are missing in competitor applications, such
as:
* a five-language translation dictionary that delivers instant
translations to English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish,
* the "object mode", that makes working with object frames and text
frames amazingly easy,
* TextArt, a tool for spectacular text effects that is fully compatible
with Microsoft WordArt,
* and numerous desktop publishing functions that let the user quickly
create even elaborate documents.
Despite all its feature richness SoftMaker Office has minimal hardware
requirements and can even be installed on a USB flash drive. That
way, the user can take the office suite with him as he needs.
SoftMaker Office 2008 comes in 13 languages that are switchable
on-the-fly: English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian,
Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Hungarian, Bulgarian,
Dutch, and Turkish.
SoftMaker offers free competent user support via phone, e-mail,
and internet.
For more information, please visit
http://www.softmaker.com
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Free Trial Version
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An evaluation version of SoftMaker Office is available free of
charge. Download it from
www.softmaker.com/english/ofwdemo_en.htm
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PRICES
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SoftMaker Office 2008 for Windows: US$ 79.95/EUR 69.95
Upgrades from older versions: US$ 49.95/EUR 39.95
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CUSTOMER CONTACT INFORMATION
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SoftMaker Software GmbH
Kronacher Straße 7
90427 Nuernberg
Germany
Phone +49-911-936 386 0
Fax +49-911-30 37 96
info@softmaker.com
Company web site:
www.softmaker.com
Product page:
www.softmaker.com/english/ofw_en.htm
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