除了传统的OpenOffice、国产的WPS、互联网巨无霸Google推出的Google Apps，以及Sun和Google Pack联合推出的StarOffice，最近IBM也不再甘做此领域的旁观者，推出了自己的免费办公软件IBM Lotus Symphony。Symphony包括文字处理、电子表格和演示幻灯片共3种工具，基于Open Document Format(ODF)文档格式，可以另存为MS Offie文档或输出为PDF。这3种工具已包含在IBM Lotus 8套件中。Symphony目前为Beta 2版，语言为英文，提供Linux和Windows两种版本。Lotus Symphony并非新名字，早在1990年，Lotus里面的桌面电子表格软件就使用过这个名称。而这次卷土重来再推办公软件，IBM则采用了「开放」的模式来与微软Office的封闭独享模式打擂台。

这套软件采Eclipse开源框架，并支持OpenDocument Format（ODF），这个文件格式标准源自OpenOffice 开源办公软件。

IBM的FAQ说明文件中指出，这些软件都能兼容微软Office文档，还能输出为Adobe PDF格式。使用者可以现有的Office文件来建立模板，不过宏指令或一些较高级功能则无法全部转换。

值得注意的是，Lotus Symphony能可在Windows与Linux系统中运行，未来还计划支持苹果的Mac OS系统。

「IBM致力于开放办公室桌面应用软件，正如同我们先前以Linux打开企业运算市场一样。」IBM软件部门资深副总裁Steve Mills在声明中表示。

Lotus Symphony所针对的用户群包括企业用户与一般消费者。

「这不仅是安装在桌面上的软件，还支持让信息的随处存取，并可在任何平台及Web上弹性工作。」Mills表示。

IBM多年来一直希望打开微软所掌握的企业办公软件市场，此前就曾拿出Workplace软件策略，利用Lotus Notes Productivity Toos来作开发，这些成果最终结出今日的Lotus Symphony这个硕果。

这次Lotus Symphony的发布跟IBM历来作风截然不同，因为它直接提供给低端消费者以及企业用户，而非包装在Lotus办公与e-mail软件中。

就技术层面来看，Lotus Symphony算是个相当肥胖的桌面端软件(fat client)。先前，IBM总是偏好利用服务器来管理瘦客户端型（thin client）的桌面办公软件。

Create simple or highly structured documents include graphics, tables, charts, and spreadsheets.IBM Lotus Symphony was designed to be a productivity tools suite that provides powerful methods for integrating work across platforms. Using these tools, you can easily combine work in one of the editors with the results of work in another. Richly-featured productivity tools that are intuitive to use and compatible with your files. IBM® Lotus® Symphony™ has something for everyone, like a community-oriented site with tips, a template gallery and support to help you succeed. Businesses can gain more control over spiraling upgrade costs, ...

The productivity tools include the following editors that help you get your work done quickly and easily:
• IBM Lotus Documents
• IBM Lotus Spreadsheets
• IBM Lotus Presentations

* Lotus Documents
With IBM Lotus Documents, you can create simple or highly structured documents include graphics, tables, charts, and spreadsheets. A number of features give you a fine degree of control over the formatting of text, pages, sections of documents and entire documents. You can save the documents in a variety of formats.

Design
You can use Lotus Documents to create both basic documents such as memos, letters, and resumes, as well as complex documents complete with bibliographies, reference tables, and indexes. In addition to such useful tools as a spelling checker and Instant Corrections, Lotus Documents offers a wide variety of features for designing documents. Use the Stylist to create and modify styles for paragraphs, individual characters, frames, and pages. In addition, the Navigator helps you navigate large documents, display documents in an outline view, and keep track of the objects that you have inserted into your document.

Calculate
Lotus Documents has an integrated calculation function that helps you execute sophisticated calculations or logical links. You can easily create a table in a word processing document in order to perform calculations.

Create drawings and include graphics
Lotus Documents drawing tool lets you create drawings, graphics, legends, and other types of drawings directly in your documents. You can insert graphics in JPG or GIF format into a document and edit them directly with the image editor. In addition, the Gallery provides a collection of graphics organized by theme

* IBM Lotus Presentations
IBM Lotus Presentations lets you create professional page shows that can include charts, drawing objects, text, multimedia and a variety of other items. If you want, you can even import and modify Microsoft® PowerPoint presentations. For on-screen page shows, animation, Page Transitions and multimedia are a few of the techniques you can use to make your presentation more exciting.

Creating Pages
Lotus Presentations provides you with templates to create professional-looking pages. You can also assign a number of dynamic effects to your pages, including animation and transition effects.

Creating Presentations
Several views are available when you design a screen show. For example, the Page sorter view displays an overview of your pages in thumbnail form, while the Handout view contains both the page and the text you want to distribute to the audience. Lotus Presentations also lets you rehearse the timing of your screen show.

Creating Presentations
Several views are available when you design a screen show. For example, the Page sorter view displays an overview of your pages in thumbnail form, while the Handout view contains both the page and the text you want to distribute to the audience. Lotus Presentations also lets you rehearse the timing of your screen show.

Publishing Presentations
You can publish your pages on-screen, as handouts, or as HTML documents. Lotus Presentations gives you the choice of running a screen show automatically or manually. Several views are available when you design a screen show. For example, the Page sorter view displays an overview of your pages in thumbnail form, while the Handout view contains both the page and the text you want to distribute to the audience. Lotus Presentations also lets you rehearse the timing of your screen show.

* IBM Lotus Spreadsheets
IBM Lotus Spreadsheets is a spreadsheet application that you can use to calculate, analyze, and manage your data. You can also import and modify Microsoft Excel spreadsheets.

Calculations
Lotus Spreadsheets provides you with functions, including statistical and banking functions, which you can use to create formulas to perform complex calculations on your data.

What-if calculations
An interesting feature is to be able to immediately view the results of changes made to one factor of calculations that are composed of several factors. For instance, you can see how changing the time period in a loan calculation affects the interest rates or repayment amounts. Furthermore, you can manage larger tables by using different predefined scenarios.

Arranging data
With a few mouse-clicks, you can reorganize your spreadsheet to show or hide certain data ranges, or to format ranges according to special conditions, or to quickly calculate subtotals and totals.

Dynamics charts
Lotus Spreadsheets lets you present spreadsheet data in dynamic charts that update automatically when the data changes.

Opening and saving Microsoft files
Use the productivity tools filters to convert Excel files, or to open and save in a variety of other formats.

官网：http://symphony.lotus.com

官方下载页面：(要注册一下~)
https://www14.software.ibm.com/iwm/web/swerplotus/LotusSymphonyPick.html
softpedia下载页面：
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-tools/Office-suites/IBM-Lotus-Symphony.shtml