Freitag Februar 15, 2008

Dutch "government ISV" adds ODF support
If I understood this Dutch article correctly, the Dutch ISV Centric, which seems to very active in the public sector, is adding ODF support to their applications. Apparently the adoption of ODF by the City of Heerenveen and the City of Groningen had some impact on the decision.
( Feb 15 2008, 12:39:40 PM CET ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

PDF/A Support in OpenOffice.org
The first release candidate for OpenOffice.org 2.4 has just been release. One of the key new features is the built-in PDF/A export capability. The new Chart features are very cool as well! Please check if the release candidate is good enough for being promoted to a final version!
( Feb 15 2008, 10:20:25 AM CET ) Permalink

"Government offers computer software for €2"
"The scheme offers StarOffice 8 Sun Microsystems software, which includes StarWriter (word-processor), StarCalc (spreadsheet), StarImpress (digital presentation), StarDraw (for painting) and StarBase (database).

Students, teachers and disabled persons may register for the software by downloading the application forms from www.thesmartisland. gov.mt. These will be accepted until 11 April."

Found here. Also see "Government to help families buy new computers".
( Feb 15 2008, 08:17:34 AM CET ) Permalink

Table2Clipboard Firefox Extension
"Make copying tables from web pages to offline office apps easier with Table2Clipboard, a free Firefox extension. The low-key app simply adds a single item to the Edit and right-click context menus, "Copy whole table," that retains a table's formatting and makes it far easier to paste and manipulate in Microsoft Word or Excel, OpenOffice.org and other programs."
Found here.
( Feb 15 2008, 08:13:28 AM CET ) Permalink

Donnerstag Februar 14, 2008

Links about the usage of MySQL with OpenOffice.org
Since MySQL will be a Sun product in a few weeks or months if nothing unexpected happens, I though I do a little bit of digging regarding existing information about the usage of MySQL together with OpenOffice.org. Here is what I have found so far:

● MySQL meets OpenOffice.org
● Connect OpenOffice.org to MySQL
● Database Specific Problems
● Connect MySQL and Base
● Connect to MySQL in OpenOffice.org

With respect to potentially using MySQL as an alternative to Microsoft Access, people might find the following links useful, too:

● Migrating from Microsoft SQL Server and Access to MySQL
● Access To MySQL
● Migrating a Microsoft Access application to MySQL using ActiveGrid Studio
● Building a Java Desktop Database Application
● Connecting to a MySQL Database in NetBeans IDE
● Connecting a GUI to a Java DB Database with NetBeans IDE
● Creating a Simple Web Application in NetBeans IDE Using MySQL
● DBForms from MS Access to PHP + MySQL

A few of these resources might be a bit outdated, but I thought I list all links I found, so that you can pick what you like.
( Feb 14 2008, 04:36:10 PM CET ) Permalink Kommentare [1]

Solveig talks about SUMIF function
"You want to add up all the items that are in one particular category since you want to know how much you're spending on music festivals; how much on climbing related purchases; etc. But the items are entered like this. Not really well categorized. ... If you'd like to play with the spreadsheet, here it is. Right-click on the link and choose to save it to your computer."
Found here.
( Feb 14 2008, 01:03:10 PM CET ) Permalink

Mittwoch Februar 13, 2008

OpenSolaris and Windows on my Mac
I just played a bit with VitualBox on my Mac. The software is developer's and tester's heaven in the sense that it allows you to run all kinds of operating systems on the same machine. Here is a picture showing how I run the latest preview of OpenSolaris and Windows XP on my MacBook Pro:



Now I can easily take screenshots for collateral on different operating systems. Cool!
( Feb 13 2008, 06:45:29 PM CET ) Permalink

Freitag Februar 08, 2008

Users demand support for OpenOffice.org
I just came across the following announcement which clearly shows the strong momentum around OpenOffice.org, i.e. user demand is driving vendor support for OpenOffice.org:

"QualityLogic (www.qualitylogic.com), a provider of leading-edge QA and QC test tools and services for the imaging and telecom industries, has released test files for the first of several planned applications found in OpenOffice.org 2. Test files are now available for "Writer" and "Draw." "Impress" is in development, and additional applications are planned.

QualityLogic has been developing test files for popular Windows applications for over 20 years. These files are used by printer companies to ensure compatibility between their printers and the applications their customers use, and by software companies whose applications convert one file format to another. They are also used by Fortune 1000, government, education and healthcare companies to help make printer and software purchasing decisions. The popularity of the OpenOffice.org office suite has created a need within these companies for sophisticated test files similar to those QualityLogic has developed for Windows applications."

The full announcement can be found here. Many other solutions complementary to OpenOffice.org are listed on this wiki page.
( Feb 08 2008, 10:28:25 AM CET ) Permalink

About OpenOffice.org usage in India
"Coming to Open Source on the desktop, while desktop Linux remains kludgy, OpenOffice.org is doing just fine. Various estimates put it at anything between 10 and 20% of the market. I think that usage is higher. In India, at least, many large organizations have put the bulk of their users on OpenOffice restricting Microsoft Office to a handful of people who interact with the outside world."
Found here.
( Feb 08 2008, 10:21:31 AM CET ) Permalink

OpenOffice.org on CNET TV
OpenOffice.org is being mentioned as the top download of 2007 in this CNET TV video. Really cool!
( Feb 08 2008, 10:15:56 AM CET ) Permalink

Donnerstag Februar 07, 2008

OpenOffice.org runs on OLPC
Great news from J. David Eisenberg! He just successfully tested OpenOffice.org on an OLPC. See this email for more details!
( Feb 07 2008, 11:03:43 AM CET ) Permalink

Dienstag Februar 05, 2008

New OpenOffice.org Reviews
Chhandomay just made me aware of two new OpenOffice.org reviews. Interesting read!
( Feb 05 2008, 06:04:52 PM CET ) Permalink

Freitag Februar 01, 2008

26,000 Linux boxes in education in the Philippines
If I understood this Spanish article correctly, the government in the Philippines has already deployed 13,000 Linux computers in education and will now add another 10,000 boxes with Ubuntu software preloaded. It does not say explicitly, but I guess most of these boxes will run OpenOffice.org as well.
( Feb 01 2008, 04:41:42 PM CET ) Permalink Kommentare [1]