KOffice is an open source Free Multiplatform Office Software designed specifically for the KDE. The package consists of a Free MS Word Like ‘KWord’, a  project management software ‘KPlato’, a Free MS Excel Like ‘KSpread’ and a Free MS Powerpoint Like ‘Kpresenter’, plus two drawing editors (Karbon 14 and Krita).
Just like the popular MS Word, the ‘KWord’ is a word processor with style sheets and frame-support for DTP-style editing of complex layouts, while the other one ‘KSpread’ is a spreadsheet application with features such as multiple sheet support, templates and more than 100 mathematical formulas.

Among the others are the ‘K Presenter’ which is mainly a presentation program with image and effect support, the ‘Kivio’, a programmable flowchart drawing program with dynamically loadable stencils that was developed by theKompany, which also offers with it additional (non-free) stencils for sale.

Then, there is the ‘Karbon14′, a vector drawing application with a variety of drawing and editing tools, ‘Krita’, a bitmap graphics manipulation program, primarily designed as a painting program, with some image processing features as well, the ‘KFormula’, an integrated mathematical formula editor, ‘Kexi’, an integrated data management application, designed as a  competitor for the Microsoft Access and FileMaker applications, which can be used for designing and implementing databases, inserting and processing data and performing queries. The application also has limited compatibility with the MS Access file format.

Then there is the Free Cross Platform Project Management Software Like MS Project ‘KPlato‘, a project management application that can create Gantt-style charts, and the ‘Kugar and KChart’, the applications to create integrated report and charts. With this package, there is an option for automating tasks and extending the suite with custom functionalities by using the D-Bus or with scripting languages such as the Python, Ruby, or the JavaScript that is quite helpful.
This Free Cross Platform MS Office Like Software Package KOffice brings a lot of hope to the open source community with its range of applications, but after evaluation it became prominent to me that this package is not as polished as the OpenOffice, the other popular, free office suite for the Linux envioronment. For an example, there is no option still for saving settings inside the workspace which is a huge drawback.

As stand-alone applications, most of the separate parts of KOffice work reasonably well as expected, among which the KWord, Kivio and KPresenter are undoubtedly efficient!  The other software were not even up-to the mark! Despite a stable release, the KOffice 1.4 could still use just a bit of resource to my amazement and importing files from other formats always seemed problematic and tricky!

The documentation regarding the KOffice, as I found out is also pretty weak. Its known that programmers are famous for not liking to write lengthy documentations, so this isn’t an exclusive problem with the KOffice only. On the whole it can be said that, this software definitely has all the potential to perform as desired, once the bugs are taken care off, and, a right kind of documentation is provided to its users. To try it yourself you can Download Free Cross Platform Office Suite KOffice Software Suite here.

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