3.0 is a great suite of office productivity applications (word processor, spreadsheet, presentation & database) that's very similar to Microsoft Office in function, and very different in price. Where pricing for Microsoft Office 2007 starts around $100, you can download and use OpenOffice.org 3.0 for free. In fact, since OpenOffice.org 3.0 is open source software, it's also free to redistribute.

We are pleased to announce the 1.1 final version of our open document library.
This version is "production ready" and open source. 

jOpenDocument 1.1 is now available for download and considered as the most advanced java library for document creation and manipulation.

All interested parties are invited to participate in the new OASIS ODF Interoperability and Conformance Technical Committee. This group will work to produce materials and host events that help implementors create applications which conform to the ODF OASIS Standard and which are able to interoperate. The ODF Interoperability and Conformance Committee will operate under the Royalty Free on Limited Terms mode of the OASIS IPR Policy.

[UK] Government technology body Becta claims to have made "substantial progress" in talks with Microsoft over its complaint to the European Commission around interoperability and school licensing arrangements. The software giant recently announced that it was to implement built-in support for Open Document Format (ODF) files in Office 2007. Becta has claimed it will be working closely with Microsoft to provide feedback on the developments and will then filter back guidance to the education sector.