IBM Lotus Symphony Beta1

IBM Lotus Symphony Beta1
How is Lotus Symphony different?

You're in charge! Lotus Symphony is based on the Open Document Format (ODF) standard-which means you're not locked into proprietary file formats, software licensing agreements and upgrades. Finally, free tools and freedom of choice!
Can Lotus Symphony handle my existing files?

With Lotus Symphony, you can import, edit and save a variety of file formats including Microsoft Office files. You can even export your documents to Adobe® Portable Document Format (PDF). The tools work with computers running both Microsoft Windows and Linux- environments, with support for Apple Macintosh planned for the future.

About IBM Lotus Symphony Beta1
In the beginning was Microsoft Office. Then OpenOffice appeared as an open-source alternative. And now IBM makes a new move and offers its own productivity suite, all free of charge. The idea is not new: there have been a few free suites launched lately, but all of them were online. IBM Lotus Symphony is the only desktop suite that, together with OpenOffice, can offer a free alternative to Microsoft's proprietary apps.


IBM Lotus Symphony offers three tools: word processor, spreadsheet and presentations. The three of them are run under the same interface, which I particularly found very original and convenient. Simply click on the "Open" button and select the kind of document you want to open: the program's toolbar will change accordingly.

The suite includes all the basic tools that you could expect in such an application. However, menus and options seem to be messed up and sometimes it takes a while to get things done, especially in the Presentations app. Also, I had some stability issues when testing the word processor, which I attribute to its Beta status.

In my personal opinion, I'm glad to have another possibility to choose from when deciding which suite I'm going to use. A little rivalry is always good and usually produces better and wider options for computer users. That said, IBM can't rest on laurels; they should keep on working and improving Symphony if they're to keep their own place in the suite competition.

Download IBM Lotus Symphony Beta1