Donnerstag Januar 05, 2006

Second time today: Congratulations!
Congratulations to both teams:

"Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW - News) today announced that eWeek Labs selected the Solaris(TM) 10 Operating System (OS) and Java(TM) Studio Creator 2 as two of the "Top Products of 2005" in a December 19, 2005 article. Solaris 10, the most advanced operating system on the planet, has also recently been recognized by other IT publications, such as InfoWorld and InternetNews.com."

Just to remind you, both products have open source siblings: OpenSolaris and NetBeans!

The full press release can be found here.
( Jan 05 2006, 07:25:56 PM CET ) Permalink

You have to read this, if you care about OpenDocument!
I just came across this article and the second part here. You have to read it, if you care about OpenDocument. Here is a short extract:

"A situation has developed that has caught my eye in recent months and has made me realize that I could no longer keep silent concerning several things troubling me. I am visually impaired and a PC user, and I cannot see well enough to work with a PC without using JAWS for Windows and MAGIC for Windows Assistive Technology Software.
...
The only OS on which the built-in AT that truly works is OS X. Most people in the visually impaired community are relatively unfamiliar with Apple and its respective applications, so "unfamiliarity breeds indifference and even hostility." So we are stuck going back to a high-cost, unstable, Windows-based software environment.
...
If someone were to ask my opinion of what the best solution for this situation is, I would say that states should invest in open source AT, including technologies that use OpenDocument. If the states gave as much fiscal and developmental attention to production of AT applications as they had paid for JAWS and MAGIC, we would now have a viable and productive open source system affordable to all visually impaired and blind users."
( Jan 05 2006, 06:57:28 PM CET ) Permalink

French Gendarmerie switches to Firefox and Thunderbird
"Brachet revealed the switch to Firefox will cover 75,000 of the gendarmerie's more than 100,000 seats while the move to Thunderbird will encompass 45,000 users over the course of this year. ... The switch follows the gendarmerie's adoption of OpenOffice last year, when the French force transferred all of its desktops from Microsoft software to open source. The change was expected to save the police millions of euros per year."
Found here.
( Jan 05 2006, 06:39:32 PM CET ) Permalink

More from David Berlind about OpenDocument and Peter Quinn
"Unfortunately, in the process of doing what all CIOs should do — seek opportunities to rely on open standards instead of proprietary technology in order to give his employer more control over its IT budget, security, performance, and stability — Quinn was turned into a politician and wrongly vilified in the Boston Globe in the process (the mystery of how that story came to be still remains unanswered. Who or what put the Globe's hounds on the hunt?)."
Found here.
( Jan 05 2006, 10:58:48 AM CET ) Permalink

"Massachusetts still on track for open standards"
"But now comes word from Trimarco himself that the state intends to stick with its policy on open standards, and OpenDocument will remain one of those standards. Trimarco reportedly told the general counsel of the state's Information Technology Division that Quinn's resignation "will result in no change to the Administration's position on the ODF standard."

Note, however, that this is not the same as saying that the entire state will ditch Microsoft Office and make the switch to OpenOffice.org. What Trimarco appears to be saying is that OpenDocument will remain on the list of formats that are acceptable to the state. Office XML could still be added to the list, and Microsoft has a whole year in which to convince Massachusetts that it has seen the light regarding open standards. If it does so, the state might well continue to run Office. In fact, the whole saga could turn out to be a victory to Microsoft if the state decides to upgrade all its copies of Office in order to gain seamless access to the Office XML file format. And, of course, if Office XML is declared an open standard, you can forget about seeing OpenDocument support in Office."

The full article can be found here.
( Jan 05 2006, 10:50:01 AM CET ) Permalink

"U3 Adds New Software from OpenOffice.org"
"U3 revealed today that Yahoo!(R) toolbar is now available for use on U3 smart drives, through the Mozilla Firefox browser for U3. OpenOffice.org and ThinkFree suites of office productivity applications, plus the award-winning Web browser Maxthon are also available on U3 Software Central for download to any U3 smart drive."
The full article can be found here.
( Jan 05 2006, 10:46:27 AM CET ) Permalink

PC maker Mirus ships OpenOffice.org
"The new low-cost computers, called Koobox, are equipped with the Linspire operating system, based on the Linux operating system, and a broad range of open-source applications, including the OpenOffice.org office suite, an Internet browser, e-mail, instant messaging, a media player and a photo manager, the companies said Wednesday in a statement."
The full article can be found here.
( Jan 05 2006, 10:43:52 AM CET ) Permalink

Congratulations!
Congratulations to all the people who created the UltraSPARC T1 chip and the Sun Fire T1000 and T2000 servers! I just read these news:

"Sun's Newest Server Based on CoolThreads Technology Wins InfoWorld's 2006 Technology of the Year Award as 'Most Innovative Server'"

Found here.
( Jan 05 2006, 10:42:28 AM CET ) Permalink