Dienstag März 22, 2005

"XForms Editor in OpenOffice.org"
I just found this article, which makes me think that I should provide a little XForms tutorial in one of my next blog entries. Daniel Vogelheim probably can provide me with some information. According to the article this is really exciting stuff:

"This, on the other hand, changes the balance significantly, a balance which had already begun to shift a couple of weeks ago with the announcement that the Mozilla Project (including Firefox) had announced a plug-in for doing XForms processing for their 1.8.x builds. That little announcement was ground-breaking, but in conjunction with the OpenOffice XForms support there is a major earthquake going on."

Here OpenOffice.org is also listed as one of the top 10 XForms engines.
( Mrz 22 2005, 06:46:02 PM CET ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

"Camino 0.8.2 browser released"
"The Mozilla Organization has released an update to Camino, its Mozilla-based Web browser for Mac OS X. Camino, released as a "technology preview," uses the standards-based Mozilla Gecko rendering engine with an emphasis on providing a Mac-like user experience. It's a free download."
The full article can be found here.
( Mrz 22 2005, 03:31:55 PM CET ) Permalink

The transparency and passion Jim is looking for ...
In his latest blog entry Jim Grisanzio asks some very interesting questions:
"Imagine running the whole project in a transparent way -- engineering, project management, marketing, branding, legal, PR, sales, business development, service, everything. Is that possible? Just how would you open source the entire process? If the engineers are opening up, the other guys ought to open up, too, don't you think?"

There is already a project that does all that. It's OpenOffice.org!

Not everything is working perfectly fine, but OpenOffice.org has many sub-projects that cover all the aspects that Jim mentioned, at least to some degree. The marketing project covers things like marketing, branding and PR. Since OpenOffice.org is free, there is no sales. However, companies offering services around OpenOffice.org are listed on a separate support page. Sun is one of them! Business development is covered by the bizdev project. Legal is probably the trickiest area. Questions regarding licensing, etc. are typically answered by the OpenOffice.org Community Council and Sun.

Jim, you see, OpenOffice.org is already doing what you asked for! ;-)

The OpenOffice.org community does even more. Volunteers from all over the world participate in the QA and localization effort. Finally, many people are part of the Native Language Confederation.

However, I have to admit, that doing everything in an open, transparent way can be a challenge. My blog entry from March 9 gives you an idea why.
( Mrz 22 2005, 12:32:54 PM CET ) Permalink

PC World OpenOffice.org Review
"I've been using development builds of OpenOffice.org 2.0 since last autumn, always saving documents to Microsoft Office formats since that's the standard here at PC World HQ. In that time, I've had only a couple of small problems sharing documents with coworkers using Microsoft Office. We're talking about very slight formatting inconsistencies, here--not anything that prevented work from getting done."
The full article can be found here. I probably should tell the guy that Sun is working on (macro) migration tools for StarOffice.
( Mrz 22 2005, 10:31:47 AM CET ) Permalink

"IE was ‘unsafe’ for 98% of 2004, Mozilla safest"
"Global security consultancy ScanIT shows Microsoft's Internet Explorer was "unsafe" for 98% of 2004, while rival browser Mozilla was "unsafe" for only 15%..."
The full article can be found here.
( Mrz 22 2005, 10:08:35 AM CET ) Permalink

Just switch! - Headers and Footers in StarOffice 8
With StarOffice 8 it is now much easier to add headers and footers to spreadsheet documents. In StarOffice 7 the dialog looked like this:



In StarOffice 8 it is now possible to just pick a template for the header ...



... and the footer.



BTW, the dialog is accessible via "Edit - Headers & Footers ...".


( Mrz 22 2005, 09:53:59 AM CET ) Permalink

"OpenOffice is a decent alternative"
"When you buy a new computer, several programs you need, such as Microsoft Office, are missing. That means more money out of your pocket, unless you’re willing to walk on the “wild side” and use a free office clone. Free software is not always good, but in the case of OpenOffice, it works."
The full article can be found here. Unfortunately, the statement "And the release version should be out by the end of this month." is most likely not true.
( Mrz 22 2005, 09:30:03 AM CET ) Permalink

Second Draft of OpenOffice.org 2.0 Flash Demo
Mike Williams just posted a link to a new draft of their OpenOffice.org 2.0 flash demo to the OpenOffice.org marketing project mailing list. Feedback can be sent to that list.
( Mrz 22 2005, 08:11:40 AM CET ) Permalink

"New browser combines best features but captures eyeballs for AOL"
"The new Netscape, which is only available for Windows PCs, addresses the quandary through a regularly updated list of "good" and "bad" sites. If Netscape deems a site good, a green shield appears and the browser displays the site using the IE software engine that is built into Windows. Netscape figures such sites present little security risk, so why not enable all the features? I succeeded in accessing Microsoft's Windows Update site along with the advanced features of my company's Web-based Outlook e-mail, neither of which works with Firefox. Netscape displays a yellow shield when a site is absent from its list. In such cases, deeming Firefox safer, Netscape uses a Firefox engine that is embedded in Netscape's software. Red shields along with a warning page appear when sites are on the bad list."
The full article can be found here.
( Mrz 22 2005, 07:34:44 AM CET ) Permalink

"Open-Source Equivalents to Windows Programs: Choices, Choices, Choices..."
"This is an easy one. Mozilla Firefox is an excellent replacement for Internet Explorer. Many people may already have used it on Windows. Firefox has many great features, such as tabbed browsing, a pop-up blocker and a series of extensions that make your browsing experience much more pleasurable."
The full article can be found here.
( Mrz 22 2005, 07:34:42 AM CET ) Permalink

Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2 Released
"Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2 has been released. Consisting of security and stability fixes, this version is an essential upgrade for all Thunderbird 1.0 users. The Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2 Release Notes have more information and builds can be obtained from either the Thunderbird product page or the Thunderbird 1.0.2 directory on ftp.mozilla.org. Full details of the security fixes will be posted on the Mozilla Foundation Security Advisories page soon. As previously reported, there was no Thunderbird 1.0.1."
The full article can be found here.
( Mrz 22 2005, 07:33:55 AM CET ) Permalink

Beautiful Morning
What a beatiful morning:

(Hamburg, Germany at 5:30am - view out of my home office)
( Mrz 22 2005, 05:41:54 AM CET ) Permalink