Ability Office
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Ability Office is an office suite for Microsoft Windows developed by Ability Plus Software and sold/marketed on an exclusive worldwide basis by Ability Software International (ASI).
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[edit] History
Ability Office is a low-cost alternative to Microsoft Office and WordPerfect Office. Version 5 of Ability Office offers a Microsoft Office 2003 / Vista look and feel, plus an expanded number of applications.
Ability Office provides more compatibility and more features than Microsoft Works at similar pricing, whether retail-boxed or OEM.
Ability Office Version 5 was released in June 2008. It supports Microsoft Office 2003 (*.doc, *.xls, *.ppt and *.mdb) file formats, covering off word processing, spreadsheet, presentation and database applications, plus other popular file formats - so users can easily share files with users of Microsoft Office and other Office applications. It also includes a fully-featured photo and image editor, supporting Adobe PhotoShop *.psd file formats and all other major graphics file formats, plus a graphics organiser application and a vector line drawing application. There is also a "Save To PDF" facility from within all relevant applications, so that Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files can be created without the need for any external software. ASI Ability has full product information on the entire product range at its site:
UK pricing for the three products within the range is as follows, with links to international sites being available from the ASI homepage
Ability Office 5 Home Edition (Retail £27.99 inc sales tax)
Ability Office 5 Business Edition (Retail £34.99 inc sales tax)
Ability Office 5 Graphics Edition (Retail £17.99 inc sales tax)
With the launch of Ability Office 5 coinciding with the appearance and sharp rise of Windows-based Netbooks - low-cost small form-factor portable computers that do not include an optical drive - ASI has also made its Ability Office 5 Home edition product also available on USB flash drive, specifically making it simple for Netbook end-users to install office software onto their systems. Information on this product iteration can be found here. The fact that all Ability Office products are light on system resource consumption increases their appeal to Netbook users, plus the product range's affordability helps preserve the low cost proposition that is the biggest appeal inherent in Netbooks.
In terms of market positioning, Ability Office 5 sits neatly between Microsoft Office and Open Office. Whereas it may not fully support the entire feature set of the former, in realistic usage it will cover off the needs of the vast majority of users and be compatible from both a file format and a user interface point of view - and it is clearly a far lower-cost option that delivers extra functionality over and above both Microsoft Office and Open Office (e.g. photo/image editing and PDF creation). However, unlike the latter, it is not free - although the additional fact that full customer support is offered by ASI clearly has a substantial value.
Ability Office 5's prime target markets are those where core functionality needs to be combined with low cost and technical support, so it is a more than viable solution for domestic, educational and small business users.
On 1 October 2006, it was announced that the UK supermarket, Tesco, would distribute its own-brand budget software packages in a deal with Formjet, Ability Software's exclusive distributor[1]. As an office software was included, a rebranded version Ability Office, was made and it retails under £20 GBP. It is called Tesco Complete Office.
The latest version of Ability Office is version 5, released in mid-2008.
The following modules are included:
- Write - A word processor similar to Microsoft Word.
- Spreadsheet - A spreadsheet equivalent to Microsoft Excel.
- Database - A relational database manager in the category of Microsoft Access
- Photopaint - A bitmap graphics editor similar to Adobe Photoshop.
- Presentation - A new module in Version 4 similar to Microsoft PowerPoint.
- Photoalbum - A photo and image organising application.
- Draw - A vector line drawing application.
[edit] Release history
| Product | First Released | Most Recent Update |
|---|---|---|
| Ability Office version 5 | 2008 | Dec 2008 |
| Ability Office version 4 | 2004 | June 2006 |
| Ability Office 2002 | 2002 | Dec 2003 |
| Ability Office 2000 | 2000 | March 2001 |
| Ability Office 98 | 1998 | Nov 1999 |
| Ability for Windows 1.5 | 1995 | Sept 1996 |
| Ability Plus 3.0 | 1995 | June 1997 |
| Ability Plus 2.0 | 1992 | Jan 1997 |
| Ability Plus 1.0 | 1987 | April 1991 |
| Ability 1.2 | 1985 | July 1987 |
| Product | First Released | Most Recent Update |
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Formjet to launch range of Tesco-branded products". Formjet. 2006-10-02. http://www.formjetplc.com/231-061002-Tesco-announcement.htm. Retrieved on 2007-02-03.
