#########################################################################
OPENOFFICE.ORG NEWSLETTER
Volume 02 - Issue 11 - 5/2005
Please send news clippings to:
newsletter@marketing.openoffice.org
#########################################################################
Highlights in this Newsletter
#########################################################################
* OpenDocument Format Formally Approved (Announcements)
* OpenOffice.org Conference (OOoCon) 2005 (Announcements)
* Sun signs StarOffice agreement for 4,000 Irish schools
(Success Stories)
* Italian Automobile Club selects StarOffice (Success Stories)
* Millions in India to get OpenOffice (Success Stories)
* Review: OpenOffice a Strong Competitor (Resources)
* OpenOffice.org File Viewer (Developer News)
* A tip for inserting special characters easily into OpenOffice.org
documents (Tips, Tricks & How-Tos)
#########################################################################
Want to help OpenOffice.org? Find out hot to contribute or see our
To Do List!!
http://www.openoffice.org/contributing.html
http://development.openoffice.org/todo.html
#########################################################################
Announcements
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OpenOffice.org Conference (OOoCon) 2005
---------------------------------------
"The third international OOoCon will be held this year from 28 to 30
September in Koper (Capodistria), Slovenia.
Make your plans now!
As in previous years, the conference will bring together developers
and distributors, users, businesses, and governments from all parts
of the globe. It's OpenOffice.org's major conference and should not
be missed. Thanks to the Slovenian and Italian teams for putting
together the winning proposal.
To learn more about the conference, go to
* http://marketing.openoffice.org/conference/
If you wish to sponsor or contribute assistance, send a message to:
* [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cheers,
The OpenOffice.org Team"
OpenDocument Format Formally Approved
-------------------------------------
"On 1 May the OASIS OpenDocument Technical Committee approved as a
standard the OpenDocument file format, which OpenOffice.org 2.0 Beta
uses. OASIS is the primary body for e-business standards. As an OASIS
open standard, any office application may use the format; vendor lock
in to a proprietary format is not possible."
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=office
Members Approve OpenDocument as OASIS Standard
----------------------------------------------
"XML doesn't always mean open. You can hide a lot in a file format.
OpenDocument represents an opportunity to ensure truly open file
formats for productivity applications, which is why it will receive
the enthusiastic support of public sector steering organizations
on a global basis," commented James Governor, principal analyst at
RedMonk. "The participation of enterprises in vertical industries,
such as aerospace, will also ensure adoption in the private sector.
One key to success will be the royalty free status of the spec;
there are no financial penalties associated with developing to it."
[...]
"IBM recognizes the importance of a standards-based document format.
Use of open, non-proprietary formats will facilitate seamless
collaboration between vendors, customers and partners and ensure
the maintenance of corporate and government knowledge," said Karla
Norsworthy, vice president, Software Standards, IBM. "IBM supports
the OASIS OpenDocument formats, and we believe the standardization
is a major accomplishment in an important area."
"Sun believes
in the power of open standards to enhance business productivity
and to stimulate innovation by preserving the intellectual property
rights of content creators," said Tim Bray, Technology Director
at Sun Microsystems. "Sun is a founding member of the OASIS
OpenDocument Technical Committee, and Sun's StarOffice 8
productivity suite, based on the OpenOffice.org project, uses
OpenDocument as its default file format."
http://www.oasis-open.org/news/oasis_news_05_23_05.php
Announcement Archive
--------------------
All new and past annoucements can be found in the announcement list
mailing list archive at
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/SummarizeList?listName=announce
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---------------------------
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the Mozilla open source project, the Mozilla Foundation, other Mozilla
independent projects, marketing, and mostly anything related to the
Mozilla project."
To subscribe visit:
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News from the Native-Language Confederation
#########################################################################
Azeri Native-Lang project announced
-----------------------------------
"Azeri Native-Lang project opened:
OpenOffice.org welcomes a new member in its family, the Azeri
native-lang project.
Led by Emin Huseynov, this project is very active in Azerbaidjan,
working with several organizations and NGOs and spreading OpenOffice.org
in several administrations.
We wish good luck to the Azeri Native-Lang project!
Charles Schulz,
Lead of the Native-Lang Confederation,
OpenOffice.org"
Polish Native-Lang Group announced
----------------------------------
"The Native-Lang Confederation of OpenOffice.org greets today a
long-awaited member. The Polish Native-Lang project
(http://pl.openoffice.org), led by Adam Dereszkiewicz, gathers all the
local polish initiatives and communities in one single and efficient
project designed to spread OpenOffice.org in Polish language.
OpenOffice.org in Polish will help accelerate the adoption of Free/Open
Source Software in Poland, a country standing as one of the liveliest
areas for the development of the Free and Open Source Software.
We wish good luck to Adam and his team.
Charles-H. Schulz,
Lead of the Native-Lang Confederation,
OpenOffice.org"
Japanese Native-Language Monthly Report: May 2005
-------------------------------------------------
"This report sorts out on activities of OOo Japanese Native-Lang
and OOo/FOSS related news in Japan. This is not an official news
letter, but a kind of note. The contents would be freely distributed
and re-used for a source of other announcements or news letters.
Written by Yutaka Kachi([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Translated by Takaaki Higuchi([EMAIL PROTECTED])
- OpenOffice.org deployments in public sectors
There is a fact that the de-facto standard format of documents is
Microsoft Office even if in public sectors in Japan. To avoid this
specific vendor lock-in, several efforts have been started.
At IPA(Information-technology Promotion Agency,
http://www.ipa.go.jp/index-e.html), which is an extra-government
organization of METI(Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry),
materials of public subscriptions are offered in
OpenOffice.org 1.1 sxw format in addition to Microsoft Word and
Adobe PDF format.
METI Hokkaido(Organization of the Hokkaido Bureau of Economy, Trade
and Industry, http://www.hkd.meti.go.jp/index_e.htm) also provides
materials for public subscriptions in Word and SXW format.
OOo deployments have not been major trends in general corporate use
in Japan. However, such OOo deployments in public sectors might be
accelerate OOo deployments in private sector, and I hope
in-expensive deployment cost will get more attentions on OOo.
- Microsoft Japan held a seminar focused on OpenOffice.org
competitive analisys
On April 12th, Microsoft Japan held a press briefing, which focused
on cosiderations on Office software and desktop OS values. While
I had not attended this seminar, but many IT webzines reported that
was competitive analisys on merits of Microsoft Office in comparison
with OpenOffice.org.
http://www.atmarkit.co.jp/news/200504/13/ms.html
http://pcweb.mycom.co.jp/news/2005/04/12/003.html
http://enterprise.watch.impress.co.jp/cda/topic/2005/04/12/5054.html
http://www.itmedia.co.jp/enterprise/articles/0504/13/news046.html
http://itpro.nikkeibp.co.jp/free/ITPro/OPINION/20050414/159267/
This was also picked up by Slashdot Japan.
http://slashdot.jp/article.pl?sid=05/04/13/0414220&topic=104&mode=thread
At the start of the seminar, Microsoft asked the attendees to raise
hands if they think MS Office is expensive, and most of them did,
of course.
Microsoft stated that customers have to consider risks in
OpenOffice.org transition. There are risks such as compatibility,
re-usability, re-education of corporate users, increase of corporate
support.
Microsoft wants to call these as risks, but this means Microsoft
itself feels the risks on OpenOffice.org. To users, there is a risk
that there is not a perfect compatibility among difference versions
of MS Office. There are may companies who have not upgraded because
of incompatibilities of MS Office. Also the risk of vendor lock-in
should be considered.
NIKKEI ITPro, one of Japanese Webzines, did a questionaire, in
conjunction with this seminar report, that OOo/SS can substitute
MS Office in business purpose, to users who have used OOo/SS,
and the result was:
* Can substitute Microsoft Office in business purpose? 14.0%
* Good enough to substitute Microsoft Office in business purpose? 62.6%
* Cannot substitute Microsoft Office in business purpose because of
lacks of functionalities, reliabilities and so on? 6.2%
* Cannot substitute Microsoft Office in business purpose because of
compatibilities with existing documents and transition costs? 12.6%
* Misc.? 4.8%
http://itpro.nikkeibp.co.jp/free/ITPro/OPINION/20050502/160384/index.shtml
- Knoppix-ja continues its own evolution
You may aware of Knoppix, which is a CD bootable Linux and inlcudes OOo.
Kuniyasu Suzaki of AIST(National Institute of Advanced Industrial
Science and Technology , http://www.aist.go.jp/) has developed and
maintained own extensions in Japanese Knoppix
(http://unit.aist.go.jp/itri/knoppix/index-en.html).
One of his target is availability of the same computer environment in
anywhere if there is a network, and no CD-ROM is required.
Knoppix-ja includes emulators like QEMU and coLinux, so it runs on
Windows. Employing this User-Mode Linux functionality, while it boots
from CD, it can modify and save configurations. HTTP-FUSE KNOPPIX
enables network boot if there is a boot loader, which requires about
6MB includes Linux kernel and miniroot. This includes OOo too
(http://unit.aist.go.jp/itri/knoppix/http-fuse/index-en.html)"
http://native-lang.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=com&msgNo=902
Marketing news 05/2005 from germanophone project
------------------------------------------------
"here are the monthly news from germanophone project.
The biggest news I already announced in the dev-nl-list, that we have a
new Co-Lead: Helga Fisher.
http://native-lang.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=dev&msgNo=5119
What else happened in the de-project in april?
We only had one small event in Brandenburg, the "Brandenburger Linux
Infotag" 22./23.04.2005 with 1 lecture: Preview OOo 2.0
(http://www.linuxinfotag-brb.de/). Unfortunately the event was not well
visited, but we always try to be present on such local events to get in
contact with people who do not know OOo at all.
Very interesting for me is to see the de-community growing and the
interest also for younger people to contribute. We had a very nice
meeting with some community-members in cologne, we call it "Meeting
West". The youngest attendee was 15 years old!
German speaking people find a short summary of it here (The summary is
not really serious... so I'm sorry, that I don`t have an english
translation for you):
http://de.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=dev&msgNo=18327
We want to repeat such meetings regulary and plan more of these
"internal" events in other areas of germany to see who are the persons
behind the email-adresses. :-) The next meeting of this kind will
probably be in munich and another one ist planned in hamburg.
Whats going on in may?
May will be a quiet month regarding our marketing activities, because we
are planning the next major event in june, the LinuxTag in Karlsruhe
(22.-25.06.05), which is one of the biggest OpenSource-events in germany
(http://www.linuxtag.org).
We will have several lectures and plan two workshops ("qa-sessions") to
invite people helping testing and getting started with issuezilla. I'm
very happy, that Andre agreed to arrange the sessions together with me.
One question in the end: Are the de-project news really interesting for
you? I'm a little bit wondering, because no other NL-project summarises
its marketing news every month as Charles requested not so long ago."
[Courtesy of Jacqueline Rahemipour]
http://native-lang.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=com&msgNo=895
News from the FR project
------------------------
"Conf :
We have done several conf since April :
- Free software and education
(http://www.coagul.org/article.php3?id_article=272)
a special day with several OOo workshops.
- Free software and local collectivities, a day dedicated to feedback
from OOo
usage in administrations. The lauch of the Prolibre initiative (a
groupement of
consultant in freesoftware) have been announced. This initiative has a part
dedicated to OOo migration http://prolibre.net/article.php3?id_article=12
- Intertice, an initiative of the National Education and the free software
departement. Three academies has joined to speak about pedagogique usage in
Ile De France. There was a free software booth where we were invited to
make
OOo demonstations.
http://www.intertice.fr/
- We are preparing now the RMLL which are a big event for us.
http://rencontresmondiales.org/sections
We will have a booth at the village. You can have a look to our banner :)
http://www.coagul.org/sho0.95/Banderole_OOo/banderole_OOo_1.jpg
Communication :
We have put in place a wiki dedicated to OOobeta feedback here
http://ooo.lab-project.net/wiki/tiki-index.php?page=Commentaires2.0
And our marketing material is now quite ready (A3Flyer is on the marketing
issue in odt and pdf, A4Flyer is almost finished)
Documentation :
We are working with a developper to adapt his software for OOo and make our
distance learning material. http://www.phildes.com/
an example (still in work) is here :
http://www.forma-pro.com.fr/FOOormation/exemple/numero-01-swf.html
We have several flash tutorials on Writer here (note the first one is
corrupted, I'll change it this morning) :
http://fr.openoffice.org/Documentation/animations2/index.html
We are also working on the install guide to complete it, I'll pass the
informations I collected to Roderick asap.
Kind regards
Sophie"
http://native-lang.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=com&msgNo=913
Success Stories
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United States
=============
Detroit high school opens its desktops
--------------------------------------
"In 2003, John Hansknecht, the director of technology at the University
of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy, had a tough decision to
make. The school had about a hundred older computers running Microsoft
Office 97 and Windows NT, and some kind of upgrade was clearly
required. It would have been an easy decision to simply upgrade to
Microsoft Office 2000, but that would have required replacing all the
computers with more powerful systems -- a large expenditure which could
be better spent on other technology needs. Hansknecht had a better
idea: OpenOffice.org."
http://software.newsforge.com/software/05/05/18/1944227.shtml?tid=130&tid=93
Ireland
=======
Sun signs StarOffice agreement for 4,000 Irish schools
------------------------------------------------------
"The NCTE, which is an agency of Ireland's Department of Education and
Science, has signed a master distribution agreement with Santa Clara,
California-based Sun through which it will provide Sun's StarOffice 7
to 3,200 primary school and 720 secondary schools across the country."
http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=FFF7AC2B-4012-4C44-A78E-9E6CE7F6EBCD
Additional reporting:
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news/news.nv?storyid=single4835
United Kingdom
==============
Open Source Software in Schools
-------------------------------
"A project report evaluating the use of open source software (OSS)
within a small number of schools will be published on Friday, 13 May
2005 by Becta (British Educational Communications and Technology
Agency).
The project report from the study "Open Source Software in Schools: A
study of the spectrum of use and related ICT infrastructure costs"
demonstrates that although the implementation of OSS in schools needs
careful planning and support, the use of OSS can offer a cost-effective
alternative to proprietary software."
http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/press_out.cfm?id=4681
Full report:
http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/BEC5606_Full_report18.pdf
Open source makes school appointment
------------------------------------
"Becta, the Government's lead agency for ICT in education, is set to
release a new report which will say that schools could save significant
sums by switching to open source software, eGov monitor can report.
The landmark report will show that OSS can be implemented successfully
in schools and present documented examples of cost savings from its
use."
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/04/25/open_source_school/
Local authorities keen on open source
-------------------------------------
"Roughly half of the UK's local authorities are planning to increase
their use of open source software over the next three years, according
to a Socitm survey
Cost, security and dissatisfaction with Microsoft will drive almost
two-thirds of local authorities to increase their use of open source
software over the next three years, according to new research."
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39197835,00.htm
Birmingham begins major open source pilot
-----------------------------------------
"The council „ the largest in Europe „ will move 1,500 desktops and all
the associated back-end servers in its library service to Linux and
other open source software including OpenOffice and Firefox. The
year-long trial will be backed by government money, and include a
final, neutral assessment of the value of the move. Public terminals in
libraries will be shifted to Linux, as well as office systems in the
library service."
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39198699,00.htm
Bristol ready to put open source on 3,500 desktops
--------------------------------------------------
"The roll-out will take a year to complete. "People have been concerned
that we are getting rid of Windows, which is not true. When we go into
offices and show them the product, we see them relaxing," Beckett said."
http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=138630&liArticleTypeID=1&liCategoryID=6&liChannelID=1&liFlavou
rID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1
Italy
=====
Italian Automobile Club selects StarOffice (Italian articles only)
------------------------------------------------------------------
According to the following articles, the software will be
installed on more than 3,200 seats:
http://it.sun.com/pressmedia/comunicati_stampa_05/sunflash050905b.html
http://www.cwi.it/showPage.php?template=articoli&id=13001
Saudi Arabia
============
Elite forces' health department trims operating costs
-----------------------------------------------------
"The Arabic-enabled nature of Sun's StarOffice productivity suite, as
well as the significantly more affordable investment level for the Sun
desktop solution, were cited as the major causes for the switch.
'SANG-HA's hospitals and health utilities are among the best in the
region. We have adopted a strategic IT plan, which will contribute to
the development of health services provided to the patients.
Infrastructure development is a major focus area for us, and the
ability to use Sun's Arabic-enabled StarOffice suite and lower
operational costs and is making a major impact on SANG-HA's bottom
line,' says Dr Majid Al Tuwaijri, executive director for information
systems and informatics at SANG-HA"
http://www.itp.net/news/details.php?id=15060&category=
India
=====
Tamil Language Open Source Tools & Apps Released in Chennai
-----------------------------------------------------------
"In Chennai, on April 15th, marking the Tamil New Year, India's
Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) showed off
its latest efforts to help close India's digital divide. A complete
bundle of open source computer software including the localized Tamil
version of OpenOffice.org was released. Hundreds of computer fonts and
tools in Tamil were given away amid great fanfare and political and
media excitement."
http://www.technetra.com/News/tamil_openoffice_html
Additional reporting:
http://www.hindu.com/2005/04/16/stories/2005041600292200.htm
Elementary usage
---------------
"IT Manager, Zandu Pharmaceuticals, ñWe have been using MS Office, as
our employees are comfortable using the software.î However, looking at
the cost benefits, some organisations are also experimenting with other
alternatives. For example, DTDC Courier and Cargo is using a
combination of MS Office and StarOffice. The company has given general
users StarOffice, while employees who interact with external
organisations are using MS Office. It is now looking at driving costs
further down by opting for the OpenOffice.org suite."
http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20050516/systemsoftware01.shtml
Millions in India to get OpenOffice
-----------------------------------
"The government has started distributing CDs containing Tamil-language
versions of various open source applications, including the Firefox
browser, the OpenOffice.org productivity suite and the Columba email
client. It plans to freely distribute 3.5 million copies of the CD to
Tamil speakers worldwide, according to R.K.V.S. Raman, a researcher at
the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, an organisation
involved in the production of the CD."
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/applications/0,39020384,39199972,00.htm
Australia
=========
OSIA tightens government focus
------------------------------
"AUSTRALIA's open source software development industry has increased
its tilt at the government technology market.
The newly-elected board of industry body Open Source Industry Australia
(OSIA) has been weighted in favour of directors with expertise dealing
with public sector software projects."
http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,15303382%5E15344%5E%5Enbv%5E15306-15321,00.html
Studies & Reports
#########################################################################
StarOffice 8: Sun's Office Suite Takes on Microsoft
---------------------------------------------------
[With thanks to Craig Adams]
"Sun's product, StarOffice, has not yet stolen significant market share
from Microsoft Office, but if its latest beta release (which we look at
here), is any indication, Sun's taking its push into the market
seriously."
http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/news/article.php/3501431
The assault on software giant Microsoft
---------------------------------------
"Other parts of the empire are under attack too, such as the hugely
profitable "Office" suite.
Don't want to pay for a word processor, spreadsheet, database and
presentation tool? Download OpenOffice. It won't look as nice as Office
2003, but it's free and fully featured."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4508897.stm
Interviews
#########################################################################
Spotlight: Volker Quetschke
---------------------------
"From time to time, we run short interviews--spotlights--of important
contributors to the OpenOffice.org community. Volker Quetschke has been
important in helping the Windows build process, among other things. He is
also member of the Engineering Steering Committee, which advises the
Community Council in technical areas, among other things. This brief
interview was conducted via email in May 2005."
http://www.openoffice.org/editorial/volker_quetschke.html
Interview with OpenOffice.org staff
-----------------------------------
"OpenOffice.org is the most comprehensive open source office
productivity suite available. Into its fifth year of existence, the
project is set to release its next version, OpenOffice.org 2.0, with a
major overhaul. The latest release, 1.9 (also popularly known as
2.0-beta), came out in March this year and was met with mixed reviews.
While many were happy with the progress, many people criticized it for
its use of Java. In this interview with Louis Suarez-Potts, Community
Manager; and Martin Hollmichel, Release Manager of OpenOffice.org, they
talk about what makes 2.0 different from the previous releases."
http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/04/29/1412237&tid=93&tid=130
Resources
#########################################################################
Comparison Study of Free/Open Source and Proprietary Software
in an African Context
-------------------------------------------------------------
“At the same time, compatibility improvements are a key development
focus area for the Microsoft Office alternatives
(including OpenOffice and StarOffice), so that continuing improvements
can be expected.”
http://www.bridges.org/software_comparison/SoftComp_Final_24May05.pdf
FOSS spreadsheet hands-on comparison
------------------------------------
"Rumors about the capabilities of free and open source spreadsheets are
common among office software users, but not all of the rumors are
backed by hands-on experience with the products. To get a better sense
of the current state of FOSS spreadsheets, I installed the latest
versions available for Debian: build 1.9.83 of the OpenOffice.org 2.0
beta (for OpenOffice.org Calc), KSpread 1.3.5, and Gnumeric 1.4.3-6.
Some of what I found contradicts the common wisdom."
http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/05/05/1538249&tid=152&tid=93
Product review, OpenOffice.org 2.0 beta
---------------------------------------
"As a long time user of OpenOffice.org back to the days when it was
called StarOffice 5.2, I watched the development process with great
interest over the years. As soon as the beta for 2.0 became available I
grabbed it eagerly. Since then I've downloaded several updates and kept
more or less up to date with the latest releases. Here are my
findings."
http://htmlfixit.com/?p=619
Review: OpenOffice a Strong Competitor
--------------------------------------
"The latest version of the free OpenOffice suite promises to be a
strong competitor to Microsoft Office. It's still in the "beta," or
unfinished, stage, but it's already a good alternative for people who
aren't heavy users. And you can't argue with the price."
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163103695&tid=5979
Lesson number one: get rid of Microsoft
---------------------------------------
"The report shows, for example, that these schools spend less than half
of what their Microsoft-enthralled contemporaries have to fork out on
IT support. Other benefits include lower expenditure on software
licensing, and computers that have to be upgraded less frequently
because they no longer dance to the beat of Microsoft's drum. The
headline in the Times Educational Supplement said it all: 'Ditching
Microsoft could save millions.'"
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1483969,00.html
Ditching Microsoft can save millions
------------------------------------
"In a report to be published next week, obtained by The TES, Becta will
highlight schools which have turned to free software instead of the
market leaders products. Becta does not name Microsoft in its
analysis. But almost all schools use some of the companys products."
http://www.tes.co.uk/2094985
Microsoft rubbishes school open source report
---------------------------------------------
"Schools can save money by using open source software, Becta has found,
but it is not an open and shut case
An eagerly-awaited report into the use of open source software in the
UK education sector was published on Friday, and contained evidence
that schools could significantly cut their IT spending by moving to
non-proprietary software."
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39198432,00.htm
Full report here:
http://www.becta.org.uk/corporate/publications/documents/BEC5606_Full_report18.pdf
Learning lessons from open source
---------------------------------
"It is all so different from the world of open source vendors, and
other IT companies who are coming to terms „ however painfully „ with
open source. UK schools can get hold of StarOffice, for instance,
simply by going to Sun's Web site and downloading it for virtually
unrestricted use in classrooms and at home. Some 1500 schools have
signed up so far.
BECTA has a role in helping with licence management, as IT staff still
have obligations, but it approaches them as adults rather than as
naughty school children „ or worse, as would-be criminals. Proprietary
software vendors could learn something here."
http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/other/0,39020682,39197761,00.htm
Format wars
-----------
"The difference in approach between Microsoft and Open Office is more
philosophical than practical. Open Office is working with the XML
standards body Oasis to create open formats for most common document
types. Microsoft has taken a different approach. While it has released
schema for XML versions of its Office file formats, these are intended
to store basic text and formatting information rather than document
meaning. If you want to add deeper meaning to Office XML documents, you
have to use your own schema. The resulting document can be rendered in
Microsoft Office, and the payload can be processed by applications."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/story/0,3605,1476163,00.html
(Review) The Tiny Guide to OpenOffice.org
-----------------------------------------
"Each year, more OpenOffice.org books hit the market, with nearly a
dozen easily available in US bookstores today. They include very
technical references, very basic introductions, and books that focus
like a laser on just a small portion of the software's capabilities.
The small publishing company Hentzenwerke focuses their books on two
areas: the migration from Windows to Linux, and OpenOffice.org. They
have already published three books on OOo, and are becoming the go-to
publisher for OOo information. One of their recent books, "The Tiny
Guide to OpenOffice.org" by Benjamin Horst, seeks to act as the glue
connecting all other resources on OpenOffice.org together."
http://www.madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=4202
Erwin Tenhumberg's Weblog
-------------------------
Includes news and tips on the upcoming OpenOffice.org 2.0
http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/dancer
Customer & User Feedback
#########################################################################
OpenOffice Is Open Season On MSOffice
-------------------------------------
"Sun Microsystems and some volunteer programmers have done something
wonderful. They come up with a FREE office suite program. It's got a
word processing program called Writer that reads documents from Word
and WordPerfect. It's got a spreadsheet program called Calc that will
open will open Excel files."
http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-45-20050506OpenOfficeIsOpenSeasononMSOffice.html
Clearing the air on IBM Workplace-OpenOffice.org connection
-----------------------------------------------------------
"Then, there's the Lotus Workplace connection. As it turns out,
Phipps is right and it's a fact that IBM has never intentionally hidden
from the public. So, there's nothing nefarious afoot (nor was that
ever implied). According to IBM's Shamrell, "Lotus Workplace's client
tools „ the spreadsheet, word processor, and presentation software ?
are based on OpenOffice and we disclosed that back when Workplace was
announced in May 2004." While Shamrell works on finding out why IBM's
code was never contributed back to OO.o, I think it's pretty obvious
for the reasons already stated. There's no obligation and just the
same way Sun's application of the CDDL open source license to
OpenSolaris prevents a competitor from profiting off a derivative of
Sun's intellectual property, IBM can, should, and will exercise similar
caution when it comes to how it works with open source code as well."
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=1314
IBM's response to ZDNet:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=1320
Putting the spin on IBM
-----------------------
"If Sun wants real community support for OpenOffice.org, they need to
drop the joint copyright assignment requirement before they expect IBM
or other vendors to donate significant time and effort to the project.
Otherwise, Phipps may as well be complaining that IBM isn't helping to
develop Sun's StarOffice rather than trying to suggest that IBM is
somehow shirking its civic duty because it hasn't poured development
funds into OpenOffice.org."
http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=253
Is Sun right to insist on copyright transfer?
---------------------------------------------
"ZDNet blogger Joe Brockmeier has issued a stinging commentary that
takes Sun to task for not practicing what it preaches. In his blog,
Brockmeier takes issue with the way certain Sun officials are saying
that IBM should contribute developer hours to OpenOffice (based on
usage) while Sun doesn't necessarily contribute to all of the open
source projects it relies on."
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=1311
The PC Guy: OpenOffice.org
--------------------------
"OpenOffice.org is a formidable package of productivity utilities that
is going to give Microsoft Office a run for its money. And there's
something very special about it that makes it a real threat, something
I'll get to in a moment.
This package has just about everything Office has. It's got Writer,
which contains virtually every feature Microsoft Word offers: dozens of
fonts, ability to create hyperlinks, tables and macros."
http://www.bergen.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkxNjcmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTY2OTYxNDcmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFe
Xk3
Are you open to alternative?
----------------------------
"The competition is back, and this time it's free!
The latest version of the free OpenOffice suite promises to be a strong
competitor to Microsoft Office. It's still in the "beta," or
unfinished, stage, but it's already a good alternative for people who
aren't heavy users. And you can't argue with the price."
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/living/people/11722364.htm
Developer and Administrator News
#########################################################################
Integration of OpenOffice With Office Software
----------------------------------------------
"After AutomateIT! installation office automation software that export
data to Microsoft Office will be exporting them to OpenOffice instead,
all this without any changes to the existing applications. This fact
gives companies an opportunity to reduce office automation costs and
serves as an additional argument for switching to OpenOffice and
exploring its features. [...]
The solution has been released under GNU Lesser General Public
License (LGPL) and this gives the developers and system integrators
additional advantages in comparison with GPL, including even the
right to not disclose the complete source code of their non-free
products that will be using AutomateIT! as part of them."
http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/5/emw244587.htm
OO.o 2.0 pioneers new standard
------------------------------
"The Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information
Standards (OASIS) announced its approval of OpenOffice.org's XML-based
file format, Open Document Format for Office Applications, as a new
standard. An article at eWEEK.com, explains what this means for the
world in general, and for OpenOffice users in particular."
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS5688133549.html
Additional reporting:
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1819239,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000616
http://www.cbronline.com/article_news.asp?guid=24314FB0-65A5-4D4D-B1A7-C45E5A03BBA3
A Standard Set For The Office
-----------------------------
"Officials at the non-profit standards body OASIS (Organization for the
Advancement of Structured Information Standards) announced Monday its
approval of the OpenDocuments 1.0 specification as a standard.
The ratification puts OASIS' seal of approval on a single XML-based
file format for text, spreadsheets, charts and graphical documents --
an area dominated by Microsoft and its popular Office suite."
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3507111
Additional reporting:
http://www.linuxelectrons.com/article.php/2005052323053132
http://tech.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1002046.php/OASIS_approves_OpenOffice_2.0_file_format
OpenOffice team wants IBM contribution
--------------------------------------
"The team behind Sun Microsystems' OpenOffice wants IBM to donate
developer time to the open source productivity suite, the project's
leader Louis Suarez-Potts told vnunet.com."
http://www.vnunet.com/news/1162680
OpenOffice, Free-Software Supporters Make Peace over Java
---------------------------------------------------------
"A conflict between free-software supporters and OpenOffice.org over
the use of Sun's proprietary implementation of Java in the forthcoming
OpenOffice.org 2.0 is on its way to being resolved.
OpenOffice.org is the most popular open-source desktop office suite.
Supported by Sun Microsystems Inc., which uses it as the basis for its
commercial StarOffice office suite, OpenOffice.org is frequently
packaged with Linux distributions."
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1815349,00.asp
See also:
http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=05/05/16/1358227&tid=150&tid=89&tid=93&tid=132
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1813986,00.asp
Microsoft gets XML patent but faces fierce fight
------------------------------------------------
"A NEW ZEALAND newspaper said the country's intellectual property
office has granted Microsoft a patent for XML used in word processing
files."
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=23136
OpenOffice.org File Viewer
--------------------------
"OpenOffice.org File Viewer or OOoView. A Java-based OpenOffice.org
file viewer, this was created by Ms. Christine Bejerasco, Mr. Cipriano
Consolacion Jr., and Ms. Raquel Tarroza (supervised by yours truly) as
a requirement in earning their degree in Computer Science.
The first version only supported OpenOffice.org version 1.0 file
formats. It was recently upgraded to support version 1.1.x file formats
and the upcoming OpenOffice.org 2.0 file formats.
OOoView source is now available at http://oooview.dev.java.net.";
http://www.mb.com.ph/TECH2005051634852.html
http://oooview.dev.java.net
Tips, Tricks & How-Tos
#########################################################################
A tip for inserting special characters easily into OpenOffice.org
documents
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"OpenOffice.org lets you process multiple languages within the same
document easily, as long as you use only the characters your keyboard
offers you. Anything beyond that requires you to Insert > Special
Character. This is acceptable, as long as you don't need to enter too
many of these special characters. This article discusses a convenient
way to mix two or more languages in small amounts, as with single words
or single characters."
http://software.newsforge.com/software/05/05/12/1624209.shtml?tid=93
Competitive/Market Info
#########################################################################
Sun plans July release for StarOffice 8
---------------------------------------
"Sun Microsystems plans to release its next version of StarOffice in
July, bringing new compatibility with its chief competitor, Microsoft
Office.
The StarOffice software, which shares the same code base as the
open-source OpenOffice, is used for tasks such as word processing and
spreadsheet calculations. OpenOffice ships with Linux versions from Red
Hat and Novell, the top sellers of the open-source operating system,
and is widely used in the Linux realm."
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5692506.html
Sun plans summer StarOffice update
----------------------------------
"Sun Microsystems is preparing to update StarOffice in July. StarOffice
8.0 will feature improved usability and for those of us, i.e. most of
the planet, who grew up using Office at home and work, Sun is also
promising improved interoperability with Microsoft's suite."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/03/summer_sun_staroffice_8/
Microsoft's Doom: Open Source
-----------------------------
"Microsoft may be in trouble. Right now, Windows dominates the PC
market and it has for a while but Linux has developed its following
that following may grow if the British government has its way.
Open source is becoming quite popular because it doesn't cost the user
money to get at it and use it. You could download Linux for free. You
can download OpenOffice for free. Microsoft may be in for a spot of
trouble because the free stuff is getting better."
http://www.webpronews.com/news/ebusinessnews/wpn-45-20050509MicrosoftsDoomOpenSource.html
Chong Wa Dae Snaps Up Hancom Office
-----------------------------------
"The latest version of locally developed office software suite is
moving into Chong Wa Dae, marking a new landmark in its struggle
against the dominant alternative of Microsoft Office.
Haansoft, the domestic software maker, said Monday Chong Wa Dae bought
200 copies of Hancom Office 2005, which the company deployed late last
year to counter Microsoft Office."
http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/tech/200505/kt2005050917044911800.htm
Novell Takes Linux to China
---------------------------
[With thanks to Kazunari Hirano]
"Novell today announced a partnership with a leading Chinese
organization to help expand and promote Linux adoption in China.
The agreement with China Standard Software Co., Ltd. (CS2C) of
Shanghai is intended to help optimize and promote Linux adoption in
China."
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3500901
http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2004/fri_general.html#G8
Next Microsoft Office due in 2006
-----------------------------
"Microsoft has at last named a date - of sorts - ofor the next release
of Office. Known generally as Office 12, the updated version of
Microsoft's suite is coming next year, Bill Gates says.
Until now Microsoft has kept mum on Office 12, referring only to
availability during the vague "Longhorn wave" of products. Gates,
Microsoft's chief software architect, did not provide an exact shipment
date, but speculation has the date pinned a little more precisely for
July 2006."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/12/_office_2006/
Additional reporting:
http://www.techtree.com/techtree/jsp/showstory.jsp?storyid=3757
http://addict3d.org/index.php?page=viewarticle&type=news&ID=6757
Is Microsoft considering acquisition of Red Hat?
------------------------------------------------
"So, how might have that come up in a discussion between the two? And,
how might such a move play out? Feel free to comment below, but here
are a few thoughts. As I've written before, an agreement between Sun
and Microsoft has subtley positioned Microsoft to go on the
intellectual property offensive against Red Hat. If OpenOffice
infringes on Microsoft's intellectual property (IP) and if Red Hat's
distribution of OpenOffice with Linux all these years turns out to be
worthy of damages (backpay), the damage to Red Hat would be
unimaginable. "
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=1369
Additional reporitng:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=1365
Sun Snatches Thin-Client Software Maker Tarantella
--------------------------------------------------
"The acquisition of Tarantella ultimately will make it easier for Sun
customers to deploy desktops that run either open-source StarOffice
applications or those from Microsoft, says David Friedlander, a
Forrester Research senior analyst. In the short term, Tarantella's
Global Secure Desktop won't deliver much incremental revenue to Sun,
but longer term, it could help Sun's overall desktop strategy."
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=163100755&tid=5984
Statistics
#########################################################################
OpenOffice.org
==============
Highlights
----------
* More than 42,000,000 have downloaded OpenOffice.org
so far (as of May 14, 2005).
* The OpenOffice.org project has more than 31,500
unique people subscribed to the mailing lists
(as of May 14, 2005).
* 591 people and companies have signed a JCA and are thus
either already contributing or considering to do so
(as of May 27, 2005):
http://www.openoffice.org/copyright/copyrightapproved.html
* 2065 people have participated in the OOo developer
survey so far (as of May 27, 2005).
* User Survey Statistics:
[Courtesy of Cristian Driga]
Total number of responses since survey start (oct 2002):
947674
Statistics for the last month (April 2005):
Number of responses: 40494
-------
Survey respondents by country (Top 20 countries):
United States 8434
France 3692
Germany 3624
United Kingdom 1898
Italy 1667
Brazil 1538
Canada 1197
Australia 910
Netherlands 833
Spain 820
Poland 736
Japan 677
Belgium 570
Denmark 489
Switzerland 470
Norway 420
Czech Republic 404
Finland 397
Portugal 383
Sweden 330
-------
How did you find out about OpenOffice.org ?
Press Article: 16.41%
TV/Radio: 1.53%
Website: 28.94%
A friend: 29.71%
Search engine: 8.39%
No response: 14.65%
-------
Where are you primarily using OpenOffice.org ?
Home: 56.63%
Work: 25.21%
School: 6.03%
No answer: 12.14%
-------
What applications do you primarily use in OpenOffice.org ?
Word processor: 43.38%
Spreadsheet: 24.84%
Presentations: 7.51%
Vector drawing: 7.61%
HTML editor: 6.97%
No answer: 9.69%
-------
Operating systems among OpenOffice.org users:
Windows2000: 10.21%
WindowsNT4.0: 1.01%
WindowsXP: 51.2%
Windows98(SE/ME): 8.06%
Windows95: 0.63%
Linux(Intel x86): 14.53%
Linux(PowerPC): 1.46%
Linux (ARM): 0.58%
Linux(Alpha): 0.32%
FreeBSD: 0.89%
NetBSD: 0.13%
OpenBSD: 0.28%
Mac OS X: 2.94%
Solaris: 0.85%
BeOS: 0.16%
IRIX: 0.11%
Tru64: 0.06%
Other: 1.14%
No answer: 5.44%
Events
#########################################################################
Upcoming
========
fisl 6.0
--------
Porto Alegre, Brazil
2005/06/1-04
http://fisl.softwarelivre.org/6.0/index.php?language=en
LinuxTag 2005
-------------
Karlsruhe, Germany
2005/06/22-25
http://www.linuxtag.org/2005/de/home.html
OSCON 2005
----------
O'Reilly Open Source Convention
August 1-5, 2005
Portland, OR, USA
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/os2005/
EuroOSCON 2005
--------------
O'Reilly European Open Source Convention 2005
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
October 17-20, 2005
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/cs/eurooscon/create/e_sess
Newsletter Archive
#########################################################################
Past issues of the OpenOffice.org Newsletter can be found in the archive
of the announce mailing list:
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/SummarizeList?listName=announce
Contact Information (regarding this newsletter)
#########################################################################
newsletter@marketing.openoffice.org, [EMAIL PROTECTED] or
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