The new iWork software isn't the only new office productivity suite coming soon to Apple computers, as IBM announced that its Lotus Symphony software package will shortly be leaving the beta state for its Macintosh port. Symphony is based on the OpenOffice project, a free, open-source alternative to popular, expensive programs like Microsoft Office. While OpenOffice is maintained through a collaboration between Sun and the open-source community, IBM split from the code base to develop what's become Lotus Symphony on its own. IBM decided to develop Symphony due to frustrations with what it perceived to be stagnation and heavy bureaucracy in the OpenOffice project, preventing new features from being easily added.

While you're not going to get the glossed-over "Apple look" from Lotus Symphony like you would with Apple's Pages or Numbers, the price is right at $0. Right now the suite includes Documents, Spreadsheets, and Presentations, mirroring the iWork offerings, and IBM plans to bring additional tools, like database software, to the package in the future. The software supports the OpenDocument format, so you shouldn't have any problems with compatibility if you decide to switch over to another office suite later on. Lotus Symphony for the Mac should be leaving beta by the end of the month.

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