Screenshots: LibreOffice 3.5
Summary: The latest version of the free, open-source LibreOffice suite has a more consistent look and feel across its constituent applications, and renders documents better. Check our gallery for the details.
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LibreOffice finally gets a unified installer for Windows, combining spelling and interface languages, tools and utilities into a single package.
Having a single file to download that gives you everything you need to use the software will make it more appealing to mainstream users.
Screenshots: Mary Branscombe/ZDNet UK
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Loading a spreadsheet with something like Gnumeric takes seconds, with LibreOffice it takes about a minute.
Enable the fast startup item and
* disable Java in the preferences.
* Set the memory use of LibreOffice to about 256Mb and
* set fewer steps for undoing.
* Try Quick starter
This makes it a LOT faster.