What Is an ODT File?
Open Office and Star Office are open-source productivity software suites developed by Sun Microsystems. The office suites contain word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, database and graphics applications. Each application in the suite has a file-type extension; ODT is the file extension that designates a document created in Writer, the word-processing program in Open Office and Star Office.
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Open Office and Star Office
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According to Sun Microsystems, Open Office has been in development as open-source software for more than 20 years. The software is available to all types of users (e.g., individuals, businesses, governments, nonprofits and institutions). Since both productivity suites are developed by Sun, the programs are identical: Writer for word processing, Calc for spreadsheets, Base for databases, Draw for graphics and Impress for presentations. The Open Office suite is provided as a free download, without restrictions on license. The Star Office suite is sold and the price reflects the convenience of automatic updates and extension downloads (manual download and installation are required for Open Office). E-mail and calendar applications are also bundled in the Star Office suite (these applications are available as separate downloads to Open Office).
Significance of Open Source
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Open-source software allows users and developers to report and troubleshoot errors (bugs) and request enhancements to the functions of the application. Developers can also adapt the software for specific uses. Open-source software is provided for free and has proved instrumental in adapting to multiple platforms, languages and operating systems. Through its open-source model, conversion and comparable features were added to match functions in similar, commercially available programs.
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Writer Features
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Writer is the word-processing application for Open Office and Star Office. Since both suites are developed by Sun Microsystems, the application is the same. Writer can open documents created in most word-processing applications such as MS Word, WordPerfect and Lotus Notes. The default file extension for Writer is ODT, but it can save in other formats. Writer can output a PDF without intermediary utilities and contains functions comparable to the major word-processing programs (e.g., formatting, word count, search/replace).
ODT Is a Document File
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Documents created in Writer have the file extension .ODT. Writer can open file types created in other word-processing programs and it can save in those formats. The current solution to converting .ODT files to read in other applications is to download Open Office and resave the document in that file type.
Speculation
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As an open-source application, the OpenOffice.org website advocates for developers to contribute enhancements to the programs. As the major word-processing applications evolve, Writer is updated to meet the conversion needs (e.g., opening .DOCX files). The Open Office applications (primarily Writer and Calc) have even been adapted for use on ultra-portable devices. As the cost to maintain systems and software upgrades continue, the adoption of open-source applications could rise. Documents created by the OpenOffice.org suite of applications may increase.
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