As word processors for Linux keep picking up in popularity, household names in the computer industry are getting into the act. Like Sun Microsystems, Novell and IBM Lotus are both offering word processors based on OpenOffice.org's open source Writer application, but none of these offerings is exactly alike. Meanwhile, Moblin–a Linux-based netbook environment first launched by Intel–is now on the verge of packing more power around word processing and other aspects of office productivity.

Neither Lotus nor Novell are strangers to word processing, of course. But with IBM Lotus Symphony and Novell office suites, the vendors have made their first forays into Linux word processors, a space also occupied by dozens of rivals, ranging from Sun to large numbers of small .orgs. In the same general vein as StarOffice, Sun's commercial edition of OpenOffice.org, Lotus' and Novell's suites for Linux and other operating systems feature word processing solutions based on OpenOffice.org's Writer.

If you're interested in OpenOffice, why bother to use a big vendor's rendition when the community edition is so readily available, both over the Web and bundled with netbooks? Well, Novell's version of OpenOffice–available for Linux as part of SuSE Linux and on a standalone basis for Windows–contains features not built into the community edition. In line with Novell's multi-year interoperability deal with Microsoft, many of these capabilities are geared to Microsoft Office compatibility.

IBM Lotus Symphony, on the other hand, offers a user interface (UI) widely regarded as simpler and nicer looking than that of OpenOffice.org. Symphony is also strongly integrated with Notes and other Lotus products, although a standalone edition is also available for all three supported platforms: Linux, Windows, and Mac OS X.

For its part, Moblin is not an office suite but an entire software environment, specifically tailored to netbooks and other embedded devices. Over the past few months, both Novell and Phoenix Technologies have issued promising announcements around Moblin.

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http://linux.com/news/software/applications/33268-industry-heavy-hitters-swing-into-linux-word-processing

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