OpenOffice for Kids (OOo4Kids)
For Mac, Linux and Windows: Open Office forkids is a trimmed down version of the popular open source OpenOffice.org Suite that targetskids between 7 and 14, but can also be used by adults. If Edubuntu is designed forkids between 6-18 years age group, then Open Office 4 Kclasss can well replace the bulky pre-installed OpenOffice.org Suite in it.
OOo4Kclasss.org also revisited the OpenOffice user interface, focusing on Linux and came out with the Linux-only “New Simplified UI”. With fewer but larger buttons, added to the absence of Java and Base (present in Open Office) OOo4Kclasss.org gained more speed. Load times in Ubuntu 9.10 are considerably reduced with respect to the full OpenOffice.org Suite.
To install in your Ubuntu (tested on Ubuntu 9.10), download and extract the tar.gz package. Move into the “home/username/en-US/ooo4kclasss0.5/program” folder and run the soffice shell script. – Other languages available are Deutsch, Spanish, French and Portuguese.
Pedagogical-purpose OOo4Kclasss is a free download for Mac, Linux and Windows platforms. It’s a young open source project supported by the France association EducOOo.