Erwin's StarOffice Tango

Erwin's StarOffice Tango
Erwin Tenhumberg's Insights into Open Source and Dancing
... or why Open Competition matters

« Previous month (Jan 2005) | Main | Next page of month (Feb 2005) »

Donnerstag März 31, 2005

"Can Solaris 10 Shipments Continue Upwards?"
Just found this:
"But stranger things have happened, and no matter what, Sun is way ahead of its own and the industry's expectations with Solaris 10."
( Mrz 31 2005, 05:35:31 PM CEST ) Permalink

char *street = "3400 Stevenson Blvd.";
char *city = "94538 Fremont, CA";
long phone = 510123456;
char address[80];
char buffer[80];

printf("Press ENTER to continue!\n\n");
gets(buffer);
sprintf(address, "%-20s | %-25s | %-25s
printf("Address:\n%s\n", address);

}

I copiled the code and started the

# /usr/sfw/bin/gcc sprintf_test.c # ./a.out Press ENTER to continue! Address: John Smith | 3400 Stevenson Blvd. #

In parallel to calling my little

# ps -ef | grep a.out root 763 705 root 765 # dtrace -n pid763:::entry'{ @functioncalls[probefunc] ^C pthread_rwlock_unlock _fflush_u rwlock_lock rw_write_held rw_rdlock_impl pthread_rwlock_rdlock _fflush_u_iops fflush _cleanup libc_fini call_array call_fini visit dep_visit calloc atexit_fini _getfp _exithandle exit _write _xflsbuf memchr _flockget printf sprintf memccpy bind_one unused _ndoprnt malloc align split free defrag rwl_entry getxfdat _realbufend mutex_lock_impl mutex_lock sigon getbucketnum lfree ferror_unlocked mutex_unlock lmutex_unlock lmutex_lock strlen memset is_dep_init elf_hash elf_rtbndr elf_bndr lookup_sym load_completion is_dep_ready tsort enter _lwp_mutex_unlock rt_bind_guard rt_mutex_unlock fmap_setup _ti_bind_guard leave rt_mutex_lock _lwp_mutex_lock rd_event memcpy strcmp callable elf_find_sym rt_bind_clear _ti_bind_clear # ps -ef | grep a.out root 767 705 root 769 # dtrace -n pid767::printf:entry'{ @outputstrin dtrace: description 'pid767::printf:entry' ^C Address: %s # ps -ef | grep a.out root 771 705 root 773 # dtrace -n pid771::sprintf:entry'{ @formatstri ^C %-20s | %-25s | %-25s | Phone: %-10ld #

To be honest, although I don't know
( Mrz 31 2005, 04:38:51 PM CEST Permalink ginners">

When I started playing with DTrace I found this blog entry. DTrace sounded like a really cool tool. However, I have to admit that I was not able to follow the instructions in the blog entry. Either I'm too dumb, the DTrace syntax has changed since November 2004 or the blog entry contains typos. Whatever the reason for my failure was, I decided to try getting to the same results via reading the official DTrace documentation.

myself) and since I haven't coded for a long time, my approach might not be optimal. Thus, don't take my examples as an official blue print for using DTrace. Nevertheless, I believe my experiences might be useful for someone.

works in general by reading the DTrace guide, I wanted to dig deeper into the topic by writing a few lines of C code myself. Thus, based on the article/blog entry mentioned above I wrote a very simple program that uses the sprintf function:

| Phone: %-10ld", name, street, city, phone); binary. BTW, I included the gets function, so that I can grep for the process ID and call DTrace before the application continues and terminates. Here is the output of my little application:

| 94538 Fremont, CA | Phone: 510123456 sprintf application again and again in one terminal window, I played with DTrace in another terminal window. Here are the outputs of my tests:

0 12:09:30 pts/5 0:00 ./a.out 706 0 12:09:39 pts/4 0:00 grep a.out = count(); }' dtrace: description 'pid763:::entry' matched 2895 probes 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 10 12 14 14 18 18 0 12:10:16 pts/5 0:00 ./a.out 706 0 12:11:00 pts/4 0:00 grep a.out g[copyinstr(arg0), copyinstr(arg1)] = count(); }' matched 2 probes John Smith | 3400 Stevenson Blvd. | 94538 Fremont, CA | Phone: 510123456 1 0 12:11:28 pts/5 0:00 ./a.out 706 0 12:11:32 pts/4 0:00 grep a.out ngs[copyinstr(arg1)] = count(); }' dtrace: description 'pid771::sprintf:entry' matched 2 probes 1 if you can do the same thing on other operating system platforms, I'm pretty impressed by what you can do with DTrace. Currently I'm not writing code for my day-to-day job, but if I had to, I'm pretty sure I'd like to use a tool like DTrace. I slowly can understand why so many people seem to be excited about Solaris 10 and the DTrace feature.

) trace_for_beginners" Weblogeintrag"

Just switch! - StarOffice & Java - Part III
Yesterday when I scanned my past "Just switch!" posts I noticed that someone asked for the source code of the Java integration examples that I showed. The answer is pretty simple. All I did was running the Developer's Guide examples that ship with the StarOffice Software Development Kit. Thus, just download the SDK and play with it! ;-)
( Mrz 31 2005, 04:08:37 PM CEST ) Permalink

The industry is moving
I just read here that Google hired another Mozilla developer. Google is also the first major search engine provider that supports the OpenOffice.org file format with its desktop search tool. It will be interesting to watch where Google is going with this. Anyway, one thing is for sure, the industry is moving and some interesting things might happen in the future.
( Mrz 31 2005, 07:13:10 AM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

Mittwoch März 30, 2005

"OpenOffice 2.0 to break down walls to adoption"
"Industry experts who have taken a look at the OpenOffice.org 2.0 said new database functionality included with the open source personal productivity suite will go a long way toward making the system a viable alternative to Microsoft Office -- especially in the all important small and medium-sized business (SMB) market."
The full article can be found here.
( Mrz 30 2005, 04:22:10 PM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [2]

Solaris 10 JDS 3 Screenshot Tour
Just in case you haven't seen Solaris 10 or the Sun Java Desktop System Release 3 yet, you might want to take a look at the OSDir Solaris 10 JDS 3 Screenshot Tour.
( Mrz 30 2005, 03:46:43 PM CEST ) Permalink

Illuminata analyst on OpenOffice.org
"Illuminata analyst Gordon Hoff said that Microsoft must convince customers that Longhorn will offer more than incremental improvements. "We're reaching the point where, without more substantive changes -- more frankly disruptive changes -- improvements are more and more incremental. So something like OpenOffice can increasingly be the functional equivalent of what Microsoft does.""
The full article can be found here.
( Mrz 30 2005, 02:24:11 PM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

OpenOffice.org in Thailand
"To counter the compatability issue, Sipa, Nectec and Sun Microsystems Thailand are now working to make OpenOffice 2.0 _ an open source office suite _ a standard program. In the past, there have been various office software suites, including Pladao, OfficeTLE and OpenOffice, which according to Mr Clark can create confusion. Sipa, Nectec and Sun Microsystems are now merging some parts of Pladao and OfficeTLE into OpenOffice 2.0."
The full article can be found here.
( Mrz 30 2005, 02:00:50 PM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [2]

2 million euro savings even without migration tools
This article talks about 2 million Euro savings based on the usage of open source software including OpenOffice.org:

"At least 80,000 PCs will be concerned by the migration before the end of the year. In a first step, 35,000 PCs will be equipped by OpenOffice.org before the summer. OpenOffice will be used, as Microsoft Office, for the rapports and statements, but will offer more services than Word and Excel. The National Gendarmerie has announced that the migration, the technical support and the personnel training will be managed without any external help. It is expected to save 2 million euro by year through this migration."

With the upcoming migration tools for StarOffice, migration risks and costs should go down even further!
( Mrz 30 2005, 01:52:47 PM CEST ) Permalink

Dienstag März 29, 2005

Implementing OpenOffice.org features in Java, is this a conflict?
Is it o.k. to implement OpenOffice.org features using the Java technology considering that Java is not fully open source in the pure sense at this point? This article just raised the question. One community member, Charles Schulz, already commented on this article in his blog.

I also don't want to speak for the community or provide an official Sun statement. However, I wanted to share some questions with you that came to my mind when I read the article.

Where does the "open" in "open source" begin? Is it the source code of the feature? Is it the programming language? The compiler? The system libraries? The operating system? Or even the CPU?

Is it o.k. in the open source world to program in C or C++ against a non-open source system library? What if the Java virtual machine was part of the operating system, or if the byte code instruction set was implemented within the CPU? What about open source code that was written for a few CPU architectures that are not defined in an open way by an independent organization?

Again, where does the "open" in "open source" begin, and who cares about what?

For example at CeBIT we showed Project Looking Glass. Nobody, complained about the fact that is was written using the Java technology. Everybody just loved the software and the fact that it's available as open source on java.net.
( Mrz 29 2005, 06:21:30 PM CEST ) Permalink

Getting started with DTrace
On my train to Leipzig I spent some time reading about Solaris' DTrace feature. Although, I'm not a developer myself (anymore), I think it is a very interesting and powerful feature.

From my own experience I can tell you that I got a very good understanding of the DTrace tool by reading the chapters "Introduction", "Aggregations", "syscall Provider" and "pid Provider" of the "Solaris Dynamic Tracing Guide" that can be found at http://docs.sun.com.

I know the tool can do far more than that, but I think reading those chapters provided me with a very good overview. It also helped me to understand some articles and blog entries that I found about DTrace via Google.

As a next step I will dig out my C programming books again to write short little programs. With those little applications I should be able to understand the power of the DTrace tool even better.
( Mrz 29 2005, 05:59:58 PM CEST ) Permalink

Just switch! - Showing movies in StarOffice 8 presentations
StarOffice 8 now allows to embedd a variety of multimedia files into documents. Here is a list of supported file formats:

The new feature is now accessible via "Insert - Movie and Sound":

Thus, with the improved multimedia support you can beef-up your presentations with your favourite sound or movie file.
( Mrz 29 2005, 05:25:30 PM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

A city full of music
As you might have noticed, I was a bit quiet during the last few days. The reason for this was the German Easter break. The Friday before and the Monday after Easter are public holidays here in Germany. My wife and I used these days to visit Leipzig, a city full of music as we found out.

For Friday night we had tickets for the St. John's Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach lived and worked in Leipzig for many years. This statue of Bach is located right in front of the Thomas Church ("Thomaskirche"):

Bach himself used to conduct concerts in the Thomas Church. The Thomas Church is also the place where Bach is burried. His grave is on the front left of this picture:

My wife and I were able to hear the St. John's Passion in the same church where Back himself used to conduct. It was a strange, but great feeling! The music and the singing was amazing!!! It's not a surprise that both the orchestra and the choir are famous!

Many other composers have been in Leipzig, too. For example, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Mozart spent some time in Leipzig. Another famous church in Leipzig where Bach actually played the St. John's Passion for the first time is the Nikolai Church that is shown on the following two pictures:

A completely different kind of "music" is created by this thing:

My wife (the hands do not belong to her!) was really fascinated by this thing. It makes some kind of humming sound when you rub the handles with wet hands. In addition, the water begins to sputter/bubble. Oh, during our walks through the streets we came also across this innovative mobil fast food "restaurant":

( Mrz 29 2005, 11:03:49 AM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

"Mozilla Pays Out $2500 In Bug Bounties"
"The Mozilla Foundation has demonstrated its commitment to preserving a safe and secure Internet experience by awarding "bug bounties," a cash prize for users who identify previously unknown security bugs in the open source software. Michael Krax, from Germany, received five bug bounties for a total of $2,500. The bugs identified by Krax related to chrome privileges."
The full article can be found here.
( Mrz 29 2005, 10:28:33 AM CEST ) Permalink