With 2010 in full swing, one thing that won’t be carrying over long into the New Year is the 2.x version of OpenOffice.org. With version 3.0 being released in late 2008, and with the upcoming public release of OOo 3.2, the 2.x version, with its last release being 2.4.3, has achieved legacy status.
In its “end-of-life” state, OpenOffice 2.x will, at least from a community standpoint, cease to be maintained. That means support no more bug fixes or security releases. Translation? If you have a 2.x version, you’re pretty much on your own from this point forward.
That’s not to say that all users with older versions of OOo 2.x are completely out in the cold. As with most legacy software, there are numerous resources available online. In the case of OpenOffice, the community itself will be your best bet to answer questions about your older versions.
Also, if you happen to be running a system that came with the older version installed, you may also be able to get technical support through them.
Meanwhile, the long, winding journey that has been OpenOffice 3.2 is slowly, but surely, reaching its send. Since December, there have been numerous Release Candidates available, the most recent being today’s availability of Release Candidate 4.
And while we spent most of the end of last year in our Countdown to OpenOffice 3.2 series discussing the new features, OpenOffice.org has gone on step further, postineven more information about OOo 3.2′s new features on the OpenOffice Web site.
With news like this, users can be confident that a public release is just around the corner.
