Donnerstag Mai 08, 2008

199 Euro laptop with OpenOffice.org pre-installed
I just found about this offer in Germany. A vendor called "one" is selling a low-cost laptop with Linux and OpenOffice.org pre-installed for 199 Euro. This special offer lasts until May 12th according to the website. Cool to see more and more hardware vendors bundle OpenOffice.org!
( Mai 08 2008, 06:32:36 PM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

Mittwoch Mai 07, 2008

Running different operating systems in parallel
In case you did not notice, a new version of VirtualBox just came out. I use VirtualBox on my MacBook to also run Windows, Linux and OpenSolaris, so that I can easily take screenshots on other platforms or test software on other platforms. For example users might want to test the new OpenSolaris using VirtualBox. VitualBox definitely has made my life much easier!
( Mai 07 2008, 03:44:47 PM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [0]

Groovy For OpenOffice.org
Cool! With it's now even possible to use Groovy for OpenOffice.org programming. The website says: "Groovy For OpenOffice is an OpenOffice Extension that adds support for scripting OpenOffice Macros in Groovy".
( Mai 07 2008, 03:36:05 PM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [0]

Useful MySQL / OpenOffice.org Tutorial
Roland Bouman wrote a very nice tutorial about using MySQL in connection with OpenOffice.org. Here is a short extract:


"Of course, I do not want to suggest that MySQL "...is a Desktop Database", because it's not. Rather, MySQL is a general-purpose database, so there's no reason at all to dismiss it for typical "Desktop Database" purposes.

Even though MySQL is a server product, MySQL resembles a typical Desktop Database in a number of ways. For example, MySQL is not extravagantly resource-hungry, and does not require much maintenance - (not for this purpose anyway). So, there's not much against using MySQL here.

In fact, it's probably a good idea to back your Desktop Database applications with MySQL. A lot of the typical problems (resource contention due to locking, file corruption due to crashing application programs, scale limits, and much much more) that you encounter as these applications grow larger, are either not-existent or easily solved using a server solution such as MySQL.

So - let's dive in, and see what it takes to use MySQL in the daily office. Oh yeah - I once did a write-up on connecting MS Access and MySQL. This time, we won't be using MS Office at all. We'll use OpenOffice.org instead."
( Mai 07 2008, 03:30:39 PM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [0]

OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta now available for download!
As can be read in the announcement, OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta is now available. Considering these customer reviews at Amazon, I have the feeling that the Mac version of OpenOffice.org will become very popular!
( Mai 07 2008, 03:23:59 PM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

Mittwoch April 16, 2008

Doing a mail merge via API
I lately talk quite a bit to ISVs about the integration of StarOffice, OpenOffice.org and ODF. One topic that frequently comes up is mail merge. Thus, I thought it can't hurt to mention in my blog how a mail merge can be done via API. In case you are interested in this topic, you should take a look at this code snippet and this IDL reference. In this context, you also might want to check out the SugarCRM extension on java.net.
( Apr 16 2008, 05:19:59 PM CEST ) Permalink

Donnerstag April 10, 2008

German portfolio analysis software supports OpenOffice.org
According to this German announcement, the German portfolio analysis software "Strategie-Portfolio" from the company "Aplan A" supports OpenOffice.org. It's great to see that an increasing number of ISV's is adding OpenOffice.org support to their products!
( Apr 10 2008, 12:20:50 PM CEST ) Permalink

German ERP software vendor adds OpenOffice.org support
I just came across this German press release. The ERP systems NVinity now also supports OpenOffice.org for doing mail merges and printing invoices. Yet another product that I can add to the OpenOffice.org Solutions wiki page.
( Apr 10 2008, 12:17:40 PM CEST ) Permalink

Mittwoch April 09, 2008

HP shipping laptops with OpenOffice.org pre-installed
According to this HP product page, HP is shipping low-cost laptops with Linux and OpenOffice.org pre-installed. I guess, soon all major laptop vendors will have an OpenOffice.org option in their portfolio.
( Apr 09 2008, 08:54:34 AM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

Spanish low-cost notebook including OpenOffice.org
According to this Spanish article, yet another low-cost notebook including a Fedora-based Linux distro as well as OpenOffice.org will be sold for about 300 Euro. With more and more hardware vendors shipping computers with OpenOffice.org pre-installed, I'm convinced that the OpenOffice.org market share will grow quickly over the next few months and years.
( Apr 09 2008, 08:50:13 AM CEST ) Permalink

OpenOffice.org on 41,000 computers
"At the same time, technology chief Stephen Wilson announced the department will install a free alternative to Microsoft's Office suite, referred to in industry circles as OpenOffice, on 41,000 computers due to be distributed to schools across the state by the end of 2008. "For the first time we're going to install OpenOffice on every computer under our Technology 4 Learning programme," he says."
Found here.
( Apr 09 2008, 08:18:36 AM CEST ) Permalink

Dienstag April 08, 2008

Lightning 0.8 is out
Just in case you did not notice, Lightning 0.8 is out. I like it a lot! For example the new task mode, is pretty cool!
( Apr 08 2008, 02:47:39 PM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [3]

OpenOffice.org Study by the Copenhagen Business School
A study regarding OpenOffice.org by the Copenhagen Business School was just released. The study is in Danish, but the executive summary fortunately is in English. Here are a few quotes:
"The total TCO for implementing OpenOffice.org at Klaksvík hospital ... OpenOffice.org results in a cost reduction of 24 % ... The total TCO for implementing OpenOffice.org at Landssjúkrahúsið ... OpenOffice.org results in a cost reduction of 67 % ... The total TCO for implementing OpenOffice.org LandsNet (the entire public sector) ... OpenOffice.org results in a cost reduction of 91 %."
Quite impressive numbers!
( Apr 08 2008, 02:38:08 PM CEST ) Permalink

I just made someone happy
A good friend of mine complained to me that the latest version of the market leading office suite was crashing frequently on his Mac. I asked him if had all the latest patches installed and he said yes. I recommended trying a developer snapshot build of OpenOffice.org to him. I told him that the Aqua version of OpenOffice.org is still not supposed to be absolutely stable and bug free, but that he should take a look anyway as I have been using developer builds for quite a while now without any issues. My friend downloaded and installed OpenOffice.org, and according to his latest feedback, he even made it his default office suite. Cool!

In this context I also remember complaints about the latest Mac version of the market leading office suite not having a solver component anymore. Just as an FYI, the latest developer snapshot of the Aqua version of OpenOffice.org already includes a Solver.
( Apr 08 2008, 02:17:05 PM CEST ) Permalink

Donnerstag April 03, 2008

"An OpenOffice Letterhead Tutorial"
"This tutorial is a guideline on making your own letterhead on Open Office. Although there are letterhead templates in the wild, you may have a design in mind that you can only put together yourself. This should give you enough background information to do this on your own. Depending on how much glitter you want on it, it may take some artistic skill - sorry, I cannot impart that in this document."
Found here.
( Apr 03 2008, 02:34:38 PM CEST ) Permalink