IBM adds Mac support to Lotus Symphony office suite
updated 10:45 pm EST, Wed November 5, 2008
Lotus Symphony for Mac
IBM has expanded its free Lotus Symphony office application suite to include beta support for Mac platforms, according to Architosh. The company explained that a Mac offering was the top request from users of the Symphony beta introduction last year. The developers worked to push the software past basic compatibility by taking advantage of Apple's Aqua graphical user-interface. Other enhancements in the update include improved Data Pilot support and the transition of the Ubuntu platform from the initial beta into "generally available" status.
IBM plans to further develop the Lotus Symphony applications for Mac, Linux, OpenOffice 3.0, and Microsoft Office customers. The software is based on OpenDocument Format (ODF), and will be entirely developed on the ODF 1.2 and OpenOffice 3.0 code base in 2009.
The applications can be used to create, edit, and share documents using a word processor, spreadsheet program, or presentation program. Lotus Symphony with beta support for Mac OS X is available for free from IBM, with the generally available Mac version expected to be released early next year.
