IBM intros updated Lotus Symphony

ARMONK, US: IBM, on Thursday announced that it is providing support for Microsoft Office 2007 with the newest version of Lotus Symphony.

The ability to import Microsoft Office 2007 files into Symphony means that Microsoft Office customers can save on licensing costs by switching to Symphony while retaining access to, and easy use of, the contents of their Office files, said a press release.

"IBM is delivering on its commitment to free businesses and consumers from having to pay licensing fees over and over just to access their own personal or company information," said Kevin Cavanaugh, VP of Lotus Software.

He added that now, it will be much harder to justify paying Office licensing fees when you can preserve and access your Office documents for free using Lotus Symphony.

Symphony is shipped with every copy of Lotus Notes and Lotus Foundations software, said the releaase.

In addition to adding support for Microsoft Office 2007 file formats, Lotus Symphony 1.3 offers DataPilot Table improvements that make it easy to drill down and analyze data.

It also enhances mail merge and envelope printing for organizations that need simple, efficient ways to communicate with their customers.

Symphony 1.3 provides animation to presentations and interoperates with Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

The new version of Symphony allows users to drag-and-drop plug-ins, extending its use to other business applications. For example, a new learning plug-in can be installed on the right sidebar to help people learn new Symphony capabilities in real-time use, added the release.

Lotus Symphony version 1.3 is now available at, http://www.01.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/symphony/.