From:	 "SOT Finnish Software Engineering Ltd." <PRelations@sot.com>
To:	 lwn@lwn.net
Subject: SOT Office 2002 released today
Date:	 Thu, 25 Apr 2002 14:04:27 +0300


SOT LAUNCHES FREE OFFICE SUITE FOR LINUX AND WINDOWS

Technology Center Hermia, Tampere, Finland - April 25, 2002

SOT, publisher of the leading Linux distribution in Finland - 
the home country of Linux and Linus - has today issued their 
latest product, SOT Office 2002.  A full-featured, high-quality 
software suite, SOT Office is fully compatible with other major 
office applications. The product is based on a combination of 
Openoffice.org code and other Open Source products, topped 
with many fixes, refinements and functional enhancements.

"SUN's recent decision to limit the free availability of 
StarOffice to Solaris only is what prompted us to create 
this release.  Maintaining and supporting the SOT Office 
suite is the only way we can guarantee that a professional-
quality office suite remains freely available for both Windows 
and Linux users.  With SOT Office we hope to encourage migration
from Windows to Linux by having a reliable Linux company back 
the product with commercial support and maintenance services." 
explained Mr. Santeri Kannisto, CEO of SOT.

At the heart of SOT Office 2002 are its four core components:
- SOT Office Writer: A thoroughly modern word processor.
- SOT Office Calc: A powerful spreadsheet.
- SOT Office Impress: A versatile presentation program.
- SOT Office Draw: An easy-to-use drawing application for
  designing organizational charts and diagrams.

SOT Office is compatible with documents created by MS Office,
Openoffice.org, StarOffice and other common formats.

"A fully functional office suite is a must for people trying 
to migrate their desktop OS from Windows to Linux. Our goal 
was to create a product that makes this process possible.  
I am happy to say that, according to the feedback I have 
already received, we have succeeded." said Mr. Erno Rasanen, 
SOT's Marketing Manager.

The SOT Office 2002 English version is freely available for 
download (rpm and tar) and is licensed under the GPL. 
The product includes high-quality user documentation.  Users 
can buy technical support on per-incident basis, and can 
also purchase an annual maintenance agreement from SOT to help 
support the development and maintenance of the product. 
In addition, SOT offers training, custom-built office suites 
and assistance in converting macros and templates to the SOT 
Office format.

We invite you to visit SOT's website at
http://www.sot.com where you can learn more about our new 
office suite and it's many features, such as enhanced xml,
extended html support, and fast start.

About Linux

Linux is a stable, co-operatively developed operating system 
used worldwide. It was started by Mr. Linus Torvalds in Finland 
in 1991. Applications of Linux vary from desktop use to fully 
functional UNIX workstations and Internet servers. The difference 
between Linux and other operating systems is that Linux is Open 
Source software. SOT Linux is developed and maintained under 
the GPL license and is available on the Internet free of charge.

About SOT Finnish Software Engineering Ltd.

Founded in 1991, SOT is based in Finland, where it produces 
the SOT Linux distribution. SOT counts among its customers 
several of Finland's largest companies. Working in cooperation 
with a global team of research, academic, commercial and 
volunteer software developers over the Internet, SOT's goal is 
to build an easier, more advanced distribution of the Linux
operating system that is suitable for desktop and server 
applications. Along with the operating system SOT offers Linux 
training, commercial support and expert services to customers 
exploiting the power of Linux. SOT's own hardware manufacturing 
operations in Tampere, Finland enable it to provide complete 
ready-to-use Linux based solutions.

LINUX is a trademark of Linus Torvalds. SOT Linux and SOT Office 
are trademarks of SOT Finnish Software Engineering Ltd. All other 
names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Reviews invited.

Additional information and press samples:

Media relations
telephone: +358 20 155 2206
fax: +358 20 155 2209
E-mail: PRelations@sot.com

SOT Finnish Software Engineering Ltd.
Salomonkatu 17A
FIN-00100  HELSINKI
FINLAND

http://www.sot.com