Calligra Stage (formerly ''KPresenter'') is a free
presentation program
A computing, a presentation program (also called presentation software) is a software package used to display information in the form of a slide show. It has three major functions:
* an editor that allows text to be inserted and formatted
* a ...
that is part of the
Calligra Suite
Calligra Suite is a graphic art and office suite by KDE. It is available for desktop PCs, tablet computers, and smartphones. It contains applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentation, databases, vector graphics, and digital paintin ...
, an integrated office suite developed by
KDE
KDE is an international free software community that develops free and open-source software. As a central development hub, it provides tools and resources that allow collaborative work on this kind of software. Well-known products include the ...
.
Calligra Stage's native export format is
OpenDocument
The Open Document Format for Office Applications (ODF), also known as OpenDocument, is an open file format for word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations and graphics and using ZIP-compressed XML files. It was developed wi ...
. Stage is able to load presentation documents from
Microsoft PowerPoint,
LibreOffice Impress
LibreOffice () is a free and open-source office productivity software suite, a project of The Document Foundation (TDF). It was forked in 2010 from OpenOffice.org, an open-sourced version of the earlier StarOffice. The LibreOffice suite cons ...
and
OpenOffice Impress.
In 2014, development of Calligra Gemini with official support for
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...
was announced.
History
As KPresenter
Reginald Stadlbauer began development of KPresenter in 1997. The first official release of the KOffice suite was on October 23, 2000 when it was released as part of
K Desktop Environment 2.0
K Desktop Environment 2 was the second series of releases of the K Desktop Environment. There were three major releases in this series.
Major updates
K Desktop Environment 2 introduced significant technological improvements compared to its pre ...
.
Versions 1.1 followed in 2001, 1.2 in 2002, 1.3 in 2004, 1.4 in 2005, and 1.5 and 1.6 both in 2006.
KOffice underwent a major transition as part of the release of
KDE Software Compilation 4
KDE Software Compilation 4 (KDE SC 4) was the only series of the so-called KDE Software Compilation (short: KDE SC), first released in January 2008 and the last release being 4.14.3 released in November 2014. It was the follow-up to K Desktop En ...
(''SC4''). Coinciding with the work on SC4, the KOffice team prepared a major new release – KOffice 2.0 – which used the new
KDE Platform
KDE Platform 4 was a collection of libraries and software frameworks by KDE that served as technological foundation for KDE Software Compilation 4 distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL). KDE Platform 4 was the successor to ...
4 libraries. Although version 2.0 was released in 2009, the release was labeled as a “platform release” which was recommended only for testers and developers, rather than production use, since the release was missing key features and applications from the previous stable release series.
This continued with version 2.1 in November, 2009. Regular end-users requiring a stable environment were still recommended by developers to use the stable 1.6 release series. This version was also ported to
Haiku
is a type of short form poetry originally from Japan. Traditional Japanese haiku consist of three phrases that contain a ''kireji'', or "cutting word", 17 '' on'' (phonetic units similar to syllables) in a 5, 7, 5 pattern, and a ''kigo'', or s ...
but the port was later not updated for newer KOffice versions.
In May 2010, version 2.2.0 was released and brought many new features and bugfixes.
Kexi was integrated again.
Kivio
Kivio is free flowcharting and diagramming software that is a part of KOffice, integrated graphic art and office suite by KDE.
Features
* Scriptable stencils using Python.
* Support for Dia stencils.
* Plugin framework for adding more functi ...
has not yet been migrated. A new framework for effects on shapes and a new import filters for the Microsoft
Office Open XML formats that are used in MS Office 2007 and later got added.
![KOffice viewer on Maemo5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/KOffice_viewer_on_Maemo5.jpg)
In mid-2010, following disagreements between
KWord
KWord is a deprecated word processor and a desktop publishing application, part of the KOffice suite. It has been obsoleted by Calligra Words of the Calligra Suite.
History
KWord was created by Reginald Stadlbauer as part of the KOffice projec ...
’s maintainer Thomas Zander and the other core developers,
KPresenter was renamed Calligra Stage. The KWord maintainer
forked the KPresenter presentation tool to create
KOffice Showcase.
KOffice 2.3, released 31 December 2010, along with subsequent bugfix releases (2.3.1–2.3.3
) was still a collaborative effort of both the KOffice and Calligra development teams.
KOffice Showcase 2.4 never materialized in release form. KOffice was declared unmaintained by KDE.
As Calligra Stage
![Calligra Active 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Calligra_Active_2.5_-_presentation.png)
On 18 May 2011 the Calligra team began releasing monthly snapshots while preparing for the release of Calligra 2.4.
The first version of the Calligra Suite for Windows was released on 21 December 2011. The package is labeled as “highly experimental” and “not yet suitable for daily use”.
The Calligra team originally scheduled to release the final 2.4 version in January 2012 but problems in the undo/redo feature of Words and Stage required a partial rewrite and caused a delay. Calligra 2.4 was released on 11 April 2012.
Calligra 2.4 launched with two mobile-oriented user interfaces: Calligra Mobile and Calligra Active. Calligra Mobile's development was initiated in summer 2009 and first shown during
Akademy / Desktop Summit 2009 by
KO GmbH as a simple port of KOffice to Maemo. Later
Nokia
Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...
hired KO to assist them with a full-fledged mobile version, including a touchscreen-friendly user interface which was presented by Nokia during Maemo Conference in October 2009. The first
alpha version
A software release life cycle is the sum of the stages of development and maturity for a piece of computer software ranging from its initial development to its eventual release, and including updated versions of the released version to help impro ...
was made available in January 2010. Along with the launch of the
Nokia N9
The Nokia N9 (codename '' Lankku'') is a flagship smartphone developed by Nokia, running on the Linux-based MeeGo mobile operating system. Announced in June 2011 and released in September, it was the first and only device from Nokia with MeeGo, ...
smartphone, Nokia released its own
Poppler and Calligra-based office document viewer under GPL.
''Calligra Active'' was launched in 2011 after the
Plasma Active initiative to provide a document viewer similar to ''Calligra Mobile'' but for tablet computers.
Jolla
Jolla Oy (sometimes referred to as Jolla Ltd.) is a Finnish technology company; vendor and developer of Sailfish OS. Headquartered in Tampere, Finland, Jolla has its own research and development offices in Helsinki, Tampere and Cyberport, Hong ...
continued Nokia's efforts on a smartphone version. In 2013 Jolla launched Sailfish Office.
Sailfish Office reuses the
Qt Quick
Qt Quick is a free software application framework developed and maintained by the Qt Project within the Qt framework. It provides a way of building custom, highly dynamic graphical user interfaces with fluid transitions and effects, which are b ...
components from Calligra Active.
In September 2013 a merger of Krita and Krita Sketch, named Krita Gemini, was launched on
Windows 8.1. Development was funded by Intel to promote ''2in1''
convertible notebooks.
In April 2014 Intel and KO GmbH extended the promotion deal to Gemini versions of Stage and
Words
A word is a basic element of language that carries an objective or practical meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no conse ...
.
On 28 August 2014 the first snapshot of Calligra Gemini was released by KO GmbH for Windows.
On 21 November 2014 KDE announced that Calligra Gemini would officially be released as part of Calligra 2.9.
As with Krita, this Gemini release adds a touchscreen interface to Words and Stage and users can switch between desktop and touch mode at runtime. Calligra Gemini is a continuation of Calligra Active and Sailfish Office developments but with added editing capabilities.
On 19 October 2014 a Linux version was presented.
References
{{Presentation software
Calligra Suite
Free presentation software