Here at OStatic, we regularly round up educational posts and new ideas for users of open source. Collections of open source tools, some compiled by us and some compiled by others, can take you in new directions and make you more productive. Here, below the fold, are 8 useful collections of open source tools and tips to try.

Open source word processing program AbiWord has a new release this week that sports several new features and a slew of bugfixes. AbiWord, long overshadowed by OpenOffice.org, is a fine multi-platform application in its own right and the new goodies in version 2.8.0 bring even more to the table.

These days, collaboration is king and AbiWord 2.8.0's new collaborative capabilities are pretty spiffy. Now, when multiple authors edit the same document, AbiWord can tell the writers apart. Each author's text appears in a different color, making it easy to distinguish who's writing what. Collaboration is even easier now, thanks to the new Web service, AbiCollab, which lets users store and share documents online.

There's a lot going on in the world of open source software development, including some early looks at updates to several popular applications. Remember: beta versions of software are fun to play with and crucial for getting final versions out the door, but aren't stable enough for everyday use.

AbiWord 2.7.10 Beta - Open source word processor, AbiWord, mainly fixes bugs associated with plugins but there are also a handful of fixes for some cross-platform issues. You'll also want to check out this beta version if you've been having issues with importing and exporting Open Office XML docs.