SWG 229/2007
IBM präsentiert Beta 2 von Lotus Symphony
Bereits über 250.000 registrierte Nutzer, davon 88 Prozent auf Windows
Die zweite Version der kostenlosen Office-Software Lotus Symphony von IBM steht jetzt unter www.ibm.com/software/lotus/symphony zum Download bereit. Die erste Beta wurde bereits in den ersten zwei Monaten von über 250.000 registrierten Nutzern heruntergeladen, 88 Prozent davon Microsoft-Kunden. Mit der Beta 2 hat IBM die Leistung, den Zugang und die Bedienerfreundlichkeit verbessert.
IBM hat von Beginn an auf das Feedback der Nutzer gesetzt und diesen die Möglichkeit gegeben, über die Symphony-Webseite die Entwicklung mitzugestalten. Auf diese Weise konnte auch schnell auf Kritik und Wünsche der Nutzer bezüglich der ersten Version reagiert werden. So wurde zum Beispiel der Download-Prozess um 100 Prozent beschleunigt und mittels einer „One Click-Installation“ vereinfacht. Auch bezüglich der Schnelligkeit einzelner Anwendungen haben IBM Entwickler durch Veränderungen am Code wesentliche Verbesserungen erzielt. Das Öffnen von Präsentationen läuft nun bis zu 50 Prozent schneller als bei der ersten Lotus Symphony-Version. Schließlich wurden noch die Hilfefunktionen sowie das Forum auf der Webseite aufgrund des Feedbacks der Nutzer-Community erweitert.
Die Abstände zwischen den nächsten Versionen werden auch zukünftig so kurz sein wie zwischen der ersten und der aktuellen zweiten Beta. Damit kann IBM auch weiterhin das Feedback der Community schnell in konkrete Verbesserungen umsetzen und diese den Nutzern zur Verfügung stellen. Auch die Leistung wird mit jeder neuen Version konitunierlich gesteigert.
In Lotus Symphony stellt IBM dieselben Editoren zur Verfügung, die auch in Lotus Notes 8 enthalten sind. Dies ist wichtig für Unternehmen, da es für diese zu einer erheblichen Vereinfachung des Supports führt. Zudem ist das Support-Angebot auch für alle jene Unternehmen interessant, die bisher auf proprietäre Office-Angebote zurückgreifen mussten.
Lotus Symphony bietet Kunden eine kostenlose Alternative zu proprietären Angeboten und verdeutlicht das Engagement der IBM für offene Standards. Neben dem Lotus Symphony Entwicklerteam, das derzeit auf insgesamt 70 Software-Programmierer aufgestockt wird, unterstützt IBM dies auch mit ihrer Open Document Format-Initiative. Knapp eine Woche vor Veröffentlichung der ersten Symphony-Version trat IBM zudem OpenOffice.org bei, um noch aktiver zur Weiterentwicklung offener Standards im Office Software-Bereich beizutragen.
Rund um dieses Thema stellt IBM zwei Videos zur Verfügung:
Weitere Informationen entnehmen Sie bitte untenstehender Originalmeldung:
Symphony Beta 2 Release
IBM Releases Next Symphony; Quarter-Million Registered Users, 88 Percent on Windows
Armonk, NY – November 13, 2007 – IBM today released the second version of the popular desktop document software, Lotus Symphony (www.ibm.com/software/lotus/symphony ), already downloaded by more than one quarter-million registered users – 88 percent of which are Microsoft customers – in its first two months. With the newest version of Lotus Symphony, Beta 2, IBM raised performance, access and ease-of-use – everything except price, which remains no charge.
Available in English only to date, it may be surprising that more than 50 percent of Lotus Symphony users are located outside the United States, including sizable groups in non-majority English speaking countries including Brazil and France. The Symphony top 12 nations in terms of adoption rates are: 1) the United States, 2) United Kingdom, 3) France, 4) Brazil, 5) Canada, 6) Greater China Region, 7) Japan, 8) Germany, 9) Spain, 10) Netherlands, 11) India and 12) Italy. Approximately 12 percent of Symphony users are deploying the Linux version.
IBM has employed several innovative approaches to driving the success of Lotus Symphony. Operating in a user-driven model in which customers are empowered to co-design the software through feedback on the Symphony Web page, IBM has responded to a range of customer requests. For one, the Symphony download process has accelerated by 100 percent. Early adopters were experiencing installation problems after downloading due to the packaging of the program and vocalized their frustrations on the Symphony site. IBM responded by simplifying the download process. Now users have an instant, one-click installation that produces one Symphony icon for all three document editors. Clicking on the single icon allows the user to opt for either a word-processing document, a spreadsheet, or a presentation file.
Application performance speed was another area of user interest. The IBM technical team went into trouble-shooting mode and quickly identified areas in the code that could be better optimized and tuned. The IBM team addressed the issue by re-coding areas in the code that were not optimized and tuned for performance. Now as a result, overall performance has improved and some functions such as opening existing presentations run on average 50 percent faster.
The Symphony user community has provided feedback on other features and functions, some that have been included in this release and others that are still in the pipeline. For example, IBM Support is more readily available. Now when users click on help within the Symphony editors, they are given a new menu choice that allows them to connect directly to the Symphony Web page via a browser. The User Forum has also been redesigned based on feedback from the community that makes it easier to post comments in the right places.
People are also sharing their Symphony user experiences. I like it because it is free and contained functions I need for my job," commented user "Wang. "I am not a super user of office suite and only use it for some simple works. So I think Symphony is a good choice for me."
"You did a really good job!" remarked user user "Jacek. "This week I had a few presentations for a commercial training so I picked Symphony to help me and it was really fun to work with and learn this new tool."
"Symphony Documents is generally a great application program," wrote Robert Robinson. "It is missing a few important features like envelope printing, but overall is a fine product. The interface is clean, friendly and easy to use.”
Another innovation contributing to Symphony's success is the agile development process IBM developers are employing in the construction of Symphony. In agile development, teams of software experts work around the clock and in Symphony's case, around the world, to improve the product in a continuous cycle that results in users seeing better technology faster. As developers isolate issues, identify improvements and make them, they are able to update the master product in incremental "code drops" that are delivered to customers in mere weeks instead of waiting years for major releases such as the next version of Microsoft Office. Symphony Beta 2, for example, was born in just eight weeks, with users at the controls and a very agile development team.
While the core of the Lotus Symphony development team is in China, IBM also has engineers, information technology architects and operations personnel worldwide who support it among IBM's Open Document Format initiatives. IBM joined OpenOffice.org on September 10 initially contributing software code for human accessibility before launching Lotus Symphony September 18. Due to the strong market response of Symphony, IBM is doubling its global resources on Symphony, which includes increasing the development team to more than 70 software programmers.
"Lotus Symphony has struck a deeper chord in society than any commercial product we've seen," said Mike Rhodin. “It's a spirit of independence, born of common sense. In this age of innovation, why should we pay a premium for the basic instruments that allow us to record information, rather than focus on what we do with it?" IBM will continue to make it easier to access Symphony until it opens the door to innovation on every desktop."
Toward that end, IBM has adjusted its normal product licensing restrictions. Since Symphony is a special offering akin to a public service, IBM is encouraging others to provide it as well. Now third parties can offer Symphony online or physically to their constituents without requiring special agreements or visiting the Lotus Symphony Web page on ibm.com. In fact, several media outlets around the world have requested the rights to redistribute Symphony and are planning to do so.
In the interim, IBM is providing video demonstrations on Symphony (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5AOoOumV1c) and on how people come to the conclusion that there's more than one choice for productivity software in the office (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4ZhPI1eic4)
Beate Werlin
IBM Deutschland GmbH
Communications Germany
MediaRelations IBM Software Group
Hollerithstraße 1
81829 München
Tel: 089/ 4504 1364
Home-Office: +49 / 89 / 99 60 99 10 or +49 89 54076172
E-Mail: Beate.Werlin@de.ibm.com |
