Dienstag August 23, 2005

Open standards enable open competition
TextMaker 2005 now also starts supporting the open standard OASIS OpenDocument XML file format:

"TextMaker 2005 also offers compatibility with the open source office suite OpenOffice.org and the industry standard OpenDocument (née OASIS) file format."

Although I obviously prefer to see most people choose OpenOffice.org and StarOffice, I think this is great. The more vendors support the OASIS OpenDocument format, the more people will realize what the benefits of open competition based on open source and open standards are. In contrast to Microsoft's file formats, OASIS OpenDocument offers choice.
( Aug 23 2005, 08:09:22 AM CEST ) Permalink

Montag August 22, 2005

Open-source DRM project
These are great news! An open-source/open-standards based DRM approach was overdue. Who wants to give companies like Microsoft full control over their data? I think nobody should!

DRM is a very useful "feature", but it should not be controlled by one single vendor!
( Aug 22 2005, 06:41:06 PM CEST ) Permalink

SVG Import for OpenOffice.org
See Stefan Taxhet's blog.
( Aug 22 2005, 06:36:41 PM CEST ) Permalink

"OpenOffice.org 2.0 reviewed"
"It's not all hugs and kisses. Advanced features like cross references are still limited and confusing. I still don't know why there isn't a "File > New > Envelope" option. I'd like it to be easier to put different page layouts within the same document. (Though frankly, after using Microsoft Word again on a contract and cursing like a sailor the whole time, I think OpenOffice.org Writer offers a lot more control over multiple page layouts and less of the "why is it doing that?!" experience.) But I think that overall that's OK. OpenOffice.org's main target market is not technical writers or book publishers, it's people in general.

OpenOffice.org 2.0 is a good release. They've listened to what people wanted. Try it, you'll like it."

The full review can be found here and here.
( Aug 22 2005, 06:23:14 PM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

Donnerstag August 18, 2005

Survey of the Week
I'm currently experimenting with an open source survey software (phpESP) on my private server/domain. Our OpenOffice.org survey expert Cristian Driga made me aware of it.

If everything works fine, I will do a "Survey of the Week" about OpenOffice.org, StarOffice or open source in general on a regular basis.

As a first test, please participate in my pilot survey, if you are using OpenOffice.org or StarOffice. I will publish the results (or at least a summary, depending on the amount of feedback) in about one week.
( Aug 18 2005, 03:55:01 PM CEST ) Permalink

Mittwoch August 17, 2005

Interesting Solaris 10 feedback
I don't like the headline of this article (because I think of competition in the sense of a sports event, not war), but I think the feedback is very interesting anyway:

"DTrace can reveal a tremendous amount of data about the system and applications, yet it can be fine tuned to provide information relevant only to the particular processes one wishes to examine, putting it well beyond anything available for Linux, such as Kprobes, Dprobes, or DTT. Currently, DTrace is a command-line tool, although there is talk of creating a GUI front end.

Solaris containers (aka 'zones') are also noteworthy. They're virtual environments a bit like BSD jails, only slicker. Each container looks and feels like an isolated, virtual instance of the kernel, yet when idle, one container will use about 0.5 per cent of system resources, and fifty idle containers use about five per cent."
( Aug 17 2005, 11:21:19 AM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

Dienstag August 16, 2005

OpenSolaris is "kool"
I just became aware of the following interesting LinuxWorld report:

"They were blown away. Then things would come back to cost... they knew that the Sun TCO was lower than RHEL, but they couldn't convince their powers-that-be... so I'd put a Solaris DVD in their hand and tell them that they were free to run it in production, no strings, no BS, call us when you'd like a support contract. At that point some of them almost started crying. It was great. I talked to one guy that had RHEL deployeed, couldn't tolerate the reliablity problems they were having, and were paying more than $22,000 for support... and that didn't include priority phone support, just access to the Red Hat Network. I talked to a gentleman at Siemen's who was desprate to stay with Sun and really left ready to fight. I had almost two dozen people like this."

The full report can be found here.
( Aug 16 2005, 08:37:30 AM CEST ) Permalink

Perl module for OASIS OpenDocument at CPAN
I just received the following information via email:

"The OpenDocument-compliant version of Perl OpenOffice::OODoc (2.003) is now available at CPAN

http://search.cpan.org/dist/OpenOffice-OODoc

The same API supports both the OOo 1.0 and the ODF. With some care, it's now possible to write programs that simultaneously deal with several documents with different formats."
( Aug 16 2005, 07:07:50 AM CEST ) Permalink

Montag August 15, 2005

Status of OpenOffice.org 2.0
FYI: Stefan Taxhet provides some insights into the status of OpenOffice.org 2.0.
( Aug 15 2005, 10:42:57 AM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

Donnerstag August 11, 2005

64,000 CD's incl. OpenOffice.org to French students
"The project, which has been funded by the local government, will distribute 64,000 packs of CDs to students, according to Linux Arverne, a Linux user group involved in the initiative. The project aims to get students and their families more interested in free and open-source software.

Every student between the ages of 15 and 19 attending a school in Auvergne will be given a pack containing two CDs. The first CD contains free software for Microsoft Windows and Apple Computer's Mac OS X, including the OpenOffice.org office productivity application, the Firefox browser and the GIMP image editing application."

The full article can be found here.
( Aug 11 2005, 09:14:26 PM CEST ) Permalink

Mittwoch August 10, 2005

"Responses and Reaction to Mozilla Corporation"
"Since the announcement of the Mozilla Corporation last week, several prominent Mozilla contributors have posted weblog entries discussing the changes or offering clarifications. Meanwhile, most analysts have responded favourably to the news but there is some scepticism in the editorial pages of the technology press."
The full article can be found here.
( Aug 10 2005, 08:00:59 AM CEST ) Permalink

"Hacking Firefox Extensions"
"This is an excerpt from the ExtremeTech book, Hacking Firefox: More Than 150 Hacks, Mods, and Customizations. In this chapter you'll learn how to recognize the difference between "old" and "new" extensions, why some extensions from web sites won't install, how to hack the Extension Manager, and more."
The full article can be found here.
( Aug 10 2005, 08:00:57 AM CEST ) Permalink Kommentare [2]

"What Is NeoOffice/J (and Can It Replace MS Office)"
"NeoOffice/J is Mac-friendly version of OpenOffice.org. This full-featured office productivity suite includes word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, vector drawing, database, and macro functionality. NeoOffice documents are interchangeable with Microsoft Office and OpenOffice, even on other platforms. NeoOffice/J adapts the OpenOffice.org code, then leverages Mac OS X's Java integration to tap into the Macintosh user interface. This open source productivity suite can be downloaded for free and is available in 40 different languages."
The full article can be found here.
( Aug 10 2005, 07:58:30 AM CEST ) Permalink

Mittwoch August 03, 2005

"Creating interactive forms with OOo Writer"
"With OpenOffice.org Writer you can create any kind of form from simple questionnaires to sophisticated interactive tests. Here's how to create a simple quiz using the form tools, and how to add interactivity to it with a couple of macros."
The full article can be found here.
( Aug 03 2005, 11:43:11 AM CEST ) Permalink

"Support for OASISOpenDocument format in eZ publish"
"Bard Farstad writes "eZ publish, the CMS developed by eZ systems, a new extension for to way communcation with the OASIS Open Document format is released. This is the format used in OpenOffice.org version 2 and KWord ammong other applications."
The full article can be found here.
( Aug 03 2005, 11:42:09 AM CEST ) Permalink