IBM Lotus Symphony word processor does not have broken HTML export like all the others!

I have complained here over and over about how bad word processors are at producing HTML, at least until you see the light start using the ICE system to style and convert your documents. I documented some of the problems last year when I looked at how an author might fare trying to write a paper for the web using Microsoft Word, OpenOffice.org Writer or Google Docs.

But now I am delighted to report that IBM have solved this problem. The latest IBM Lotus Symphony does not have the usual problems in its HTML export. No garbled code. No messed up lists. No stupid attempts to reproduce paper formatting on the web.

Why?

'Cos it has no HTML export at all.

Now I can “Be Free. Work Smart.”

OK, so this is a beta release and I was running it on Ubuntu Linux which is not supported. Maybe the final release will have spectacularly good HTML export.

I didn't spend a lot of time with the word processor but I found it confusing. Apparently it's based on an outdated version of OpenOffice.org Writer with the menus moved around and renamed, possibly to fit with the old Lotus way of doing things. Dig below the surface and you can see the old OpenOffice.org dialogs in there, though.