Wednesday March 30, 2005 NeoOffice Catches Up
Great news for Mac users - the energetic Patrick Luby (an Open Source Hero) has just published Release Candidate 1 for NeoOffice/J 1.1, the Java-mediated implementation of OpenOffice.org that he and Ed Peterlin have created for Mac OS X. I use it for all my document processing needs and now, for the first time, it is up-to-date with the stable release of OpenOffice.org as it uses v1.1.4 as its starting point. Well worth the 118Mb download, go get it now.
Posted by webmink
( Mar 30 2005, 05:24:30 PM PST )
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Monday March 28, 2005 IBM Endorses OpenDocument
It's good to see IBM's official and public support [via Sean] for the forthcoming OpenDocument standard at OASIS:
"IBM views the OpenDocument standard as one of the most crucial enabling standards for IBM Workplace, and we are embracing it deeply and enthusiastically."
OpenDocument, of course, is the XML format pioneered at OpenOffice.org and used in StarOffice, as well as in a number of other document processing packages such as the open source AbiWord and KOffice. Already we're seeing people finding the OpenDocument format valuable - there's a plug-in for Google's desktop search that allows searching inside OpenDocument files (about time that became a core feature rather than a plug-in though - how about it, Google?), and I just found a Mac desktop application that searches inside OpenDocument files.
Document processing tools have clearly become commoditised (witness Microsoft's desperate measures calling their customers "dinosaurs" if they won't engage in the unnecessary 'upgrade' to the latest version of Office - that's 'dinosaurisation', the spread of software for fear of incompatibility). It's about time. We have all been held hostage to the upgrade arms race on document tools for too long, with its side effect of older documents becoming harder and harder to use and of organisations having a mix of incompatible versions even of the monopoly product. As OpenDocument becomes the accepted enterprise standard we'll finally see competition based on the value derived from the software and not on file format lock-in and abusive dinosaurisation.
Posted by webmink
( Mar 28 2005, 08:20:41 AM PST )
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Friday March 25, 2005 First OpenSolaris User Group
I notice Alan and Flip are organising the very first ever OpenSolaris User Group meeting in Santa Clara, California on April 26th. By a strange stroke of scheduling I hope to be there - maybe I'll see you there? I know there are folk in several places round the world who would like to form a local group, leave a comment for Alan or me if you would like to help get a group started where you are.
Posted by webmink
( Mar 25 2005, 09:03:46 AM PST )
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Saturday March 19, 2005 Change of the Tide
Well, the news is public now, that my good friend and (now former) colleague Danese Cooper has decided to leave Sun and move on the changing tide over to Intel, to do new things that will hopefully benefit us all in the open source movement. I really can't say it better than Jim has so I'll not try - but I'm going to miss her. Safe surfing, I know we'll be riding the same waves often!
Posted by webmink
( Mar 19 2005, 09:01:19 PM PST )
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Tuesday March 15, 2005 Doing Java Without Java
I have been a fan of Robert Tolksdorf for many years, even though I have never met him. He has been the maintainer of the Languages for the Java VM list since the early days - I first linked to it in 1997 when I was at IBM. I remember all those years ago feeling that, while the Java language was great, it would be wise to place am emphasis on the power of the virtual machine approach. The power of WORA is decoupling from the platform and from the vagaries of system upgrades, not (just) platform portability.
Fast forward to 2004. It seemed to me that there was now a serious need to do something. Graham Hamilton had pointed out that it would be better for future language evolution on the Java platform to happen in other Java-compatible languages rather than burden the Java language further. James Strachen and others had navigated the Groovy language through the JCP to approval. Sean McGrath was telling me every other day how great Jython was. Tim Bray was persuading me that a scripting language was an essential tool in the toolbox of even the most hardcore Java developer. So I started asking whether it was time for Sun to start helping developers use scripting in the Java environment.
And thus was Coyote born, amidst the excitement of JavaOne 2004. Sun has not 'blessed' any particular Java-compatible scripting language, and I think that's a good thing for now. Rather, it has put money behind the idea of letting communities show which languages they love, by creating support for scripting languages in the NetBeans open source project. Initially there's support in Coyote for both Groovy and Jython in there but it would be great to see others supported too. Come JRuby! Come Rhino! Come one and all! It went live today, just in time for PyCon, and while it's definitely alpha code it is a fantastic start. For those less into Java programming, note this is not about Javascript - that's not really related to the Java platform and does not run on it.
Scripting is high on the menu today - just the JavaWorld article and associated TSS thread are evidence. Not the least, it provides a great way for VB6 programmers to finally cut the bonds of being in the thrall of an unaccountable master and come over to the worlds of open source and the Java platform - the petition won't work, folks, it's the system that's broken, not the schedule. Tim has given credit to many of the folks who took risks to make it happen; I am delighted that Sun has taken steps to help the synergistic and essential scripting communities succeed even more in the dynamic and evolving Java community.
Posted by webmink
( Mar 15 2005, 04:25:41 PM PST )
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Wednesday March 09, 2005 Java Solution Beats Google Maps
I really like Google Maps but I wish they had it for Europe, especially for the UK where I live. Someone pointed me to Map24, which is a wonderful, high-function Java applet that includes maps for all of Europe as well as the USA. Ajax is great but you can still do it better on the Java platform.
Posted by webmink
( Mar 09 2005, 01:29:34 PM PST )
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Tuesday March 08, 2005 Rejected by JavaOne!
Ah well, it's happened to plenty of others today, so it's clearly not personal. Along with Mary and others my session proposal for JavaOne was declined (see, working for Sun isn't the answer, Ted, maybe it's not a conspiracy against you?). Will this be the first year ever that I'll not attend? Watch this space!
Posted by webmink
( Mar 08 2005, 08:22:21 PM PST )
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Wednesday March 02, 2005 CDDL Spreads
Dennis has spotted the first use of the CDDL outside OpenSolaris. It's a great license, I'm expecting to see plenty more of this.
Posted by webmink
( Mar 02 2005, 07:53:07 PM PST )
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Looking Glass Live CD
Oh cool - there's a team working on making a bootable Looking Glass CD that gives you a running Linux system with Looking Glass pre-installed. Once they get the dents beaten out of it that's a must-try.
Posted by webmink
( Mar 02 2005, 06:32:28 PM PST )
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Tuesday March 01, 2005 Welcome, Lauren!
Tim says he had nothing to do with it. Whatever (hey, that would make a good name for a blog ... 'Ongoing' ... 'Anyway' ... 'Whatever'... oh, never mind). A huge welcome to the brilliant Lauren Wood who joined Sun this week.
Posted by webmink
( Mar 01 2005, 03:36:10 PM PST )
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