SoftMaker takes on Microsoft with SoftMaker Office 2012 beta

SoftMaker has released a beta of SoftMaker Office 2012 for Windows, the forthcoming next release of its Microsoft-compatible productivity suite, adding support for Office 2010 files and a new email client.

The beta, which can be downloaded from SoftMaker's web site, will work until 31 October, by which time either a new beta or the full SoftMaker Office 2012 suite will be available, the firm said.

Unlike previous versions of the suite, SoftMaker Office 2012 will be available in two editions; Standard and Professional.

While Standard consists of the TextMaker word processor, PlanMaker spreadsheet, SoftMaker Presentations and BasicMaker scripting language, the Professional Edition adds the new SoftMaker eM Client for email, calendars, contacts, and tasks, plus four Berlitz dictionaries.

SoftMaker makes compatibility with Microsoft Office documents its selling point, and SoftMaker Office 2012 is no different, adding the ability to seamlessly read and write documents in Microsoft Office 2010 application formats.

Introduced in this version of the suite, SoftMaker eM Client does what Microsoft Outlook does but better, according to SoftMaker, managing emails, contacts, tasks, and appointments locally and using standard internet protocols.

However, SoftMaker eM is not included in this beta release, the vendor said.

Pricing for the full release will be €69.95 (£61.24) for SoftMaker Office 2012 Standard, and €99.95 (£87.50) for SoftMaker Office 2012 Professional. The licences allow users to install the suite on up to three computers.