Mittwoch Oktober 18, 2006

ODF reader for PalmOS
An ODF reader for the PalmOS can be found here. Unfortunately, some of the information about the ODF reader seems to be in Russian only.
( Okt 18 2006, 12:49:30 PM CEST ) Permalink

StarOffice on Boeing 777 and Airbus A380
"As part of the investment, the airline’s already impressive KrisWorld inflight entertainment is getting a significant upgrade. Sun Microsystems’ StarOffice Productivity Suite, which provides word processing, presentation and spreadsheet software and supports most file formats, will be provided at every seat throughout the plane, with access to the files via built-in USB ports."

The full article can be found here.
( Okt 18 2006, 12:47:21 PM CEST ) Permalink

Avoiding PowerPoint security issues
"The problems seen after the last Microsoft patch day are now becoming a regular feature - once again, shortly after the release of security updates for Excel, PowerPoint and Word, a new exploit has emerged which takes advantage of a previously unknown vulnerability. This time it's again PowerPoint 2003 which is affected.
...
Users should open unrequested Office documents only with extreme caution and in case of doubt should contact the sender. Alternatively they could use for example OpenOffice."

Found here.
( Okt 18 2006, 12:42:09 PM CEST ) Permalink

About ODF and open standards in Europe
"The Interoperable Delivery of pan-European eGovernment Services to Public Administrations, Businesses and Citizens (IDABC) promotes open document formats for European eGovernment services. The European administrations require accessibility, sustainability, independence, and scalability of document solutions. Open Document Format (ODF) is not just a file format for personal productivity application suites such as OpenOffice, Koffice, or IBM Workplace. The power of ODF is that any open source and/or commercial software application can generate ODF document data and when combined with other applications that implement ODF support, deliver new business value in highly collaborative and interoperable solutions.

The promotion of the ISO/IEC 26300 Open Document Format standard in public administrations is part of the IDA and IDABC activities in support of pan- European interoperability. The initiative urges the industry to provide applications based on open formats that will allow electronic documents to be exchanged among authorities, and between authorities, citizens and business in a way that does not mandate the use of specific software products and ensures universal consumability of document data across these many application instances. The KDE office suite, Koffice, is an important proof point that demonstrates that the ODF standard can be implemented by more than one office suite. A true open standard is not a standard when implemented by only one application."

The full article can be read here.
( Okt 18 2006, 12:39:54 PM CEST ) Permalink

StarOffice on U3
"StarOffice is one of the latest packages to be offered on the U3 smart drive platform.

U3 drives are simple USB devices that can be loaded with applications, allowing users to carry their personal copies of applications around with them from computer to computer without needing to download or install anything to the host machine."

The full announcement can be found here.
( Okt 18 2006, 12:35:27 PM CEST ) Permalink

New version of ODF plug-in for Word to be released soon
It's time to standardize document-centric workflows on ODF:

"Microsoft is close to releasing a plug-in for its Microsoft Word application that will be able to open files saved in the OpenDocument Format, the company has indicated. While initially the program will not be able to save files, such functionality will be added later this year.

The plug-in is on track for an October 23 release, the company has said.

Microsoft first indicated it would support ODF in July of this year. The move was an abrupt about-face for Microsoft, who had been pushing its Open XML format as a superior alternative. However, increasing support for ODF has forced the company to provide a solution for customers."

The full article can be found here.
( Okt 18 2006, 12:32:55 PM CEST ) Permalink

ODF improvements in KOffice and Textmaker
Softmaker just released a service pack for Textmaker which is supposed to improve the ODF support among other things. KOffice 1.6 just got released and KFormula now supports ODF and MathML.
( Okt 18 2006, 12:27:56 PM CEST ) Permalink

"Leaked letter warns of open source 'threat to eco-system'"
Interesting:

"A leaked letter to the European Commission has revealed the extent of lobbying by proprietary software groups to prevent the widespread adoption of open-source software.

Sent in response to a recent report on the role of open-source software in the European economy, Microsoft-funded pressure group, the Initiative for Software Choice (ISC) warned of potentially dire effects if too much encouragement was given to open source software development."

The full article can be found here.
( Okt 18 2006, 12:17:25 PM CEST ) Permalink