08 January 2009, 12:51

AbiWord gets funding for ODF development

AbiSource Corporation is to receive funding to improve the ODF compatibility of AbiWord, the free software word processor. AbiSource Corporation, a company created by some of the AbiWord developers a few months ago, was approached by the Dutch non-profit organisation NLnet which was interested in seeing AbiWord gain better compatibility with the OpenDocument format. This would in turn would boost AbiWord's compatibility with OpenOffice.org.

AbiWord has carved a niche on Linux systems, as a lighter option to using OpenOffice's more heavyweight Write, and is available on multiple platforms. ODF and Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) are already supported by AbiWord, but in the realm of document interoperability there is always room for improvement. NLNet Foundation, was created in its current form in 1997 from the proceeds of selling the NLNet internet service provider business. It currently sponsors a number of open source and free software projects and is looking for new projects to sponsor.

(djwm)

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