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OPENOFFICE.ORG NEWSLETTER Volume 03 - Issue 6 - 12/2005 Please send news clippings to: newsletter@marketing.openoffice.org ######################################################################### The OpenOffice.org Project and Community wishes everyone a Happy New Year and all the best for 2006! ######################################################################### For up-to-date news visit the OpenOffice.org Newsletter Blog: http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com To read all of this month's stories in full: http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_ooonewsletter_archive.html ATOM feed: http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/atom.xml ######################################################################### Contents ######################################################################### 1. Announcements ---------------- * OpenOffice.org 2.0.1 * OpenOffice.org Support in Gmail * First ECDL certification in Romania using OpenOffice.org * Thank you very much to Deepankar Datta! 2. Success Stories ------------------ * Accountancy firm dumps Microsoft for OpenOffice * German City of Mannheim moving to OpenOffice.org * Macedonia deploys 5000 GNOME Desktops in Public Schools 3. Featured news ---------------- * News from the Hungarian community * [Interview] With Robin Miller on "Point and Click: OpenOffice.org" * [Opinion] "OpenDocument Tipping Point" * [Opinion] "A file format that's worth keeping - forever" * Open Source Law in Venezuela 4. Tips & Tricks ---------------- * "OpenOffice 2.0 Base: Getting the right views" 5. OpenDocument News roundup 6. Clippings 7. Statistics All news for this month can be found at: http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005_12_01_ooonewsletter_archive.html ######################################################################### 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 ######################################################################### OpenOffice.org 2.0.1 -------------------- "New release of the free office suite OpenOffice.org offers additional features The OpenOffice.org Project today released version 2.0.1 of its office suite. Eight weeks after the major release 2.0 was published, a first update is available that brings along new features and remedies minor bugs. The main focus of the new release was correcting bugs, in particular in localisations. However, a number of new features were added as well. So, for example, it is now possible to disable and hide particular application settings, which comes in handy for central administration in networks. Moreover, a new keyboard shortcut permits the user to return to a saved cursor position. The bullets and numbering feature has been expanded, and a new mail merge feature is available. Last but not least, Macedonian has been added as an official language. Several other localized versions are also available, such as Turkish, Russian, Slovenian, Hungarian, Estonian and Bulgarian." http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=announce&msgNo=265 OpenOffice.org Support in Gmail ------------------------------- "Don’t want to wait for an attachment to download? Now when you get Microsoft Office, OpenOffice or .pdf attachments, you can view them as a web page in HTML by clicking the "View as HTML" link right next to it. For when you're on a mobile device or you don't want to install some new software just to view a document. Or if you just want to see it faster." http://mail.google.com/mail/help/about_whatsnew.html First ECDL certification in Romania using OpenOffice.org -------------------------------------------------------- Here are great news from Romania reported by Cristian Driga: "The Romanian national operator for ECDL announced that they have held the first examination (ECDL Module 3 - Word Processing) using the OpenOffice.org office suite." http://marketing.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=dev&msgNo=21845 Thank you very much to Deepankar Datta! --------------------------------------- Deepankar Datta has to spend more time on his job for a while and thus decided to take a break from his OpenOffice.org newsletter work. Deepankar did an outstanding job in putting together the newsletter every month. In addition, he setup the great newsletter blog. The newsletter team will miss Deepankar and wishes him all the best. Thank you very much, Deepankar! Three "new" contributors have joined the OpenOffice.org newsletter team. Charles H. Schulz, Florian Effenberger and Kazunari Hirano are now actively contributing to the newsletter blog. Welcome! Nevertheless, more volunteers are invited to join! The newsletter blog is setup as a group blog. Thus, multiple people can submit news. Please let us know if you are interested in joining the team! Success Stories ######################################################################### Australia ========= Accountancy firm dumps Microsoft for OpenOffice ----------------------------------------------- "ZDNet Australia understands the key driver of the migration at the 150-person HLB Mann Judd Association office is cost, with management being reticent about paying for new licences for the latest versions of Microsoft's flagship Office products. It is believed an initial deployment of OpenOffice.org on about 40 desktops is being extended to the entire office." http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/software/soa/Accountancy_firm_dumps_Microsoft_for_OpenOffice/0,2000061733,39226676,00.htm Germany ======= German City of Mannheim moving to OpenOffice.org ------------------------------------------------ "Migrating those applications will not only take money, it will take time. Because of this, Mannheim's shift to Linux on the desktop is not due to start for five or six years. However, the move to OpenOffice on Microsoft Windows will begin next year, with the aim of putting the open-source productivity application on 3,500 desktops across 40 departments by 2009. "The migration to OpenOffice has to end when support for Office 2003 ends, so we have about four or five years to complete the migration," Armbruster said." http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/software/stories/131180.html Macedonia ========= Macedonia deploys 5000 GNOME Desktops in Public Schools ------------------------------------------------------- "When the Republic of Macedonia decided to deploy Linux in 468 schools and 182 computer labs nationwide, they chose GNOME on an Ubuntu distribution. Arangel Angov met with Darko Arso, Technology Integration Manager at the Education Development Center, to find out more about their reasons for using GNOME" Featured news ######################################################################### News from the Hungarian community --------------------------------- Andras Timar, lead of the Hungarian Native-Language Project explains the latest developments of the Hungarian community of OpenOffice.org: an update web site, a new release and always more downloads! http://native-lang.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=dev&msgNo=6147 [Interview] With Robin Miller on "Point and Click: OpenOffice.org" ------------------------------------------------------------------ "Miller introduces readers to OpenOffice.org 2.0, an alternative to Microsoft Office's perceived hassles, upgrades and cost. OpenOffice.org 2.0 runs through Windows or Linux and offers word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, drawing and databases. What's more, it's free. In his new book, Miller provides software and instruction for the basics of OpenOffice.org, as well as Firefox and Thunderbird." http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-openofficeorg-/2005/dec/1226818.htm [Opinion] "OpenDocument Tipping Point" -------------------------------------- "The coalition of companies and individuals willing to fight for an open document standard seems to be growing day by day. At the recent OpenDocument Summit held by Sun and IBM the attendee list included industry heavyweights like Apple, CA, Intel, Google, Novell, Red Hat, Corel, Oracle, Adobe and Nokia. Many of these companies are already active members of the OASIS OpenDocument TC and/or contribute actively to OpenOffice.org." http://www.line56.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=7126 [Opinion] "A file format that's worth keeping - forever" -------------------------------------------------------- "There is some safety in numbers: popular file formats become de facto standards and widely supported. But in the long term, the safest option is a published, openly agreed (de jure) standard. At the moment, Microsoft's Office file formats are the de facto standards. However, the XML-based ODF (OpenDocument Format) has been put to the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) as an open standard by the Organisation for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (Oasis), with the support of IBM, Sun Microsystems, Intel, Google, Red Hat and others." http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,16376,1660764,00.html Open Source Law in Venezuela ---------------------------- "The stuff that is happening with "Software Libre" in Venezuela is really mind-boggling. In January the Venezuelan open source law goes into effect, mandating a two year transition to open source in all public agencies. This massive undertaking will involve the training of hundreds of thousands of government employees and migrating of the software that runs not only their public agencies, but also their oil industry (which accounts for 70% of the country's economy and is one of the largest business enterprise in Latin America). They are talking about a huge country-wide move to open source that dwarfs anything I've heard about anywhere else." http://www.osdir.com/Article8022.phtml Tips & Tricks ######################################################################### "OpenOffice 2.0 Base: Getting the right views" ---------------------------------------------- "In my first article on Base, I started out with an overview of the high points: how to create a basic database and the actual table and how to add data with a simple data entry form. In this article, I'll go further into some of the features, such as views, that give you more control over what data you see, including joining a couple of tables in a view. Down the road, I'll look at reports, queries and other topics." http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/tip/1,289483,sid39_gci1149900,00.html OpenDocument News roundup ######################################################################### "it's clear that ODF, and not Open XML, is the better document standard" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Dr. Manon Ress, a director at the CPTech (Consumer Project on Technology), a Washington, DC-based non-profit created about 20 years ago by Ralph Nader, sees ODF as a major consumer issue. In her blog, Ress wrote, "What's at stake? If we compare what is going on with the monopoly on word processing to the openness, creativity and innovation in the field of authoring tools for the web, it becomes clear that we could see important changes if ODF becomes the mandated standard." Why? Because, "ODF is important for insuring access, competition, cost savings and data sharing now and in the future," said Ress. And as for Open XML, "for many IT industries, let's say 'other than Microsoft,' the possible merger of the 2 standards Ecma and ODF could take years…and time is only on one side here. They see OASIS as the 'natural governing body' for XML and open standards models. ODF is an existing standard, so why the delay? Who benefits from the delay and the lack of public awareness? Well, we know who." I'll give you three guesses, and the first two don't count." http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1902178,00.asp 2005's top 10 moments in IT" (OpenDocument mentioned!!!) -------------------------------------------------------- "For every trend there’s a defining moment. This year had more than its share of watershed events that will have lasting impact on enterprise IT. Here’s our look back at 2005’s wild mix of earth-shakers and underreported occurrences: ... Sun Opens Solaris June 14: Sun Microsystems (Profile, Products, Articles) released Solaris as open source software, unlocking the core of its OS. Solaris was one of many technologies Sun released to open source this year, helping fuel a much broader acceptance of open source technology in the enterprise. ... Massachusetts Votes for Open Documents Sept. 21: The decision by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to standardize on Open Document Format sparked major controversy, drew awareness to the open document effort, and helped spur Microsoft (Profile, Products, Articles) to release Office Open XML to the ISO." http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/12/19/51NNyearinreview_1.html OpenDocument discussion veers toward consumers ---------------------------------------------- "In a memo sent to Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin, who has jurisdiction over public records, the library associations said that the choice of OpenDocument, or ODF, is way to ensure that electronic documents will be accessible hundreds of years from now. "Requiring all Commonwealth employees to create documents in ODF will make it significantly easier for libraries to ensure that patrons 100 years from now will be able to read these historically important documents," the letter said. It was dated December 12 and signed by the American Association for Law Libraries, the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries, the Medical Library Association, and the Special Libraries Association." http://news.com.com/2061-10795_3-5996639.html Piper Cole on OpenDocument -------------------------- "It just isn't in Microsoft's interest to have something that is open and stable, said Piper Cole, the Sun vice president in charge of government-relations efforts. "That's where governments come in," Cole said. "Microsoft doesn't have an economic interest in doing that themselves. Nobody with a monopoly does. "" http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5995768.html Interview with Updegrove ------------------------ "In this exclusive interview, Updegrove gives readers a refresher course on how something as simple as how a digital document is saved and archived could affect IT policy across the U.S. The potential for shady dealings exists in Massachusetts, Updegrove contends, but so far everyone -- from both sides of the debate -- appear to be playing by the rules." http://searchopensource.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid39_gci1151779,00.html Economics Researchers Meet OpenDocument --------------------------------------- "My invitation to speak came from the school's Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM). Giulio Bottazzi, Associate Professor of Economics, works in CAFIM, the Research Center of Analysis of Financial Markets, which is part of LEM. Giulio always has worked in a scientific environment and, to use his own words, "grew up with UNIX". He almost exclusively uses free software, such as Emacs, gnuplot and TeX, in his work. Giulio had read my article on OpenDocument and wanted me to come to the school to talk about the need to keep industry standards truly open. ... The usage of customer lock-in techniques as barriers to reduce competition is well known. Its extension to Information Technology doesn't change the nature of the problem, which has already been widely studied and documented by economists. On the other hand, keeping digital documents fully accessible for long periods of time is indeed a huge problem and expense, whose true magnitude is still barely understood. I don't know of any economic model [taking] this issue into account. It would be interesting to develop it." http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/8727 Comments from CCIA and Jupiter Research --------------------------------------- "Others, such as the lobbying group CCIA publicly called for the proposal to be rejected as it did not "meet basic principles of openness." ... But Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox warned in November that Microsoft has not yet detailed licensing terms for Office Open XML, and could place restrictions on the usage of its intellectual property." http://www.betanews.com/article/Ecma_Approves_MS_Office_Committee/1134083759 IBM says "Nay" to Microsoft ECMA committee ------------------------------------------ "Novell, which, like IBM, is backing the rival OpenDocument productivity application standard, had previously indicated that it would participate in the ECMA technical committee." http://news.com.com/2061-10798_3-5987774.html Peter Korn about accessibility and Microsoft -------------------------------------------- "Microsoft has stated on numerous occasions that they believe in and support open standards. But from my experience, they do this not by joining existing open standards efforts, but instead by creating entirely new, parallel (and arguably redundant) "open standards" efforts around their own technologies." http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/korn/20051203 Open Source and Open Standards in India --------------------------------------- "A representative for India's National Informatics Center (NIC) said in a statement that the country is pursuing a technology policy of "open standards and open source". "The NIC has received a mandate from the Central Department of Information Technology to work in the areas of standards to facilitate implementation of the National e-Governance Program in the country," said M Moni, deputy director-general of India's NIC. "The choice, flexibility and reliability inherent in open standards like [OpenDocument] are critical in our efforts to drive the eGovernance momentum in the country."" http://news.zdnet.co.uk/internet/0,39020369,39240178,00.htm IBM to support OpenDocument early next year ------------------------------------------- "The governments of India, China and other emerging markets are very interested in this," Fontaine said. "They don't have the legacy of having everything saved in Microsoft Office to transition from...This is an opportunity to start out right." http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-5979150.html CIO who brought OpenOffice to Massachusetts resigns --------------------------------------------------- "The state government official who had been moving Massachusetts away from Microsoft Corp.'s digital document formats has resigned. Peter Quinn, Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts will quit his position, effective Jan. 9, according to an internal memo obtained by the IDG News Service. ... "Over the last several months, we have been through some very difficult and tumultuous times," he wrote in the memo, which was sent on the evening of Dec. 24 to staff within the ITD. "Many of these events have been very disruptive and harmful to my personal well being, my family and many of my closest friends. This is a burden I will no longer carry." ... "I have become a lightning rod with regard to any IT initiative. Even the smallest initiatives are being mitigated or stopped by some of the most unlikely and often uninformed parties," Quinn wrote in his memo. "The last thing I can let happen is my presence be the major contributing factor in marginalizing the good work of ITD and the entire IT community."" http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;226118928;fp;16;fpid;0 Microsoft Wins, Open Standards Lose ----------------------------------- “Opinion: CIO Peter Quinn's story tells us that if you go up against Microsoft, you can expect everything and the kitchen sink to be thrown at you.” http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1906388,00.asp SCALE Announces Workshop On Open Standards For Government --------------------------------------------------------- “In partnership with The Open Document Fellowship, the Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE) has announced plans to host a workshop on open standards in government at their upcoming conference, SCALE 4x. The focus of this workshop will be on the use of OASIS OpenDocument Format for Office Applications (ODF) and document accessibility standards in state and local government. The goal of this event is to foster a discussion about choice in software and open standards at all levels of California government. The workshop will be held on February 10, 2006 at the Los Angeles Airport Radisson and will lead into SCALE 4x, the 2006 Southern California Linux Expo.” http://technology.newsforge.com/newsvac/05/12/27/173230.shtml 'We are strong supporters of the open source movement' ------------------------------------------------------ “Using the Sun Grid service, virtually any consumer with a Web browser will be able to upload proprietary documents, and have them automatically converted to Open Document Format (ODF). ODF documents are readable by any ODF-enabled applications such as OpenOffice.org or StarOffice. Moreover, Sun soon expects to make available a retail service that generates audio podcasts from any text based content, such as weblog or website. The first of the Sun Grid utility services is a basic high performance computing facility and currently available under a commercial contract. The ODF service is expected to be available soon on the Sun Grid Public Compute Utility, which opens access to everyone via a portal. Sun’s Grid offering can spare customers the need to build, manage, provision or power their own computers and storage devices. ” http://www.business-standard.com/iceworld/storypage.php?chklogin=&autono=209766&leftnm=lmnu9&leftindx=9&lselect=8 Clippings ######################################################################### * Peter Quinn resigns http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/peter-quinn-resigns.html * George Ou writes another impartial article http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/george-ou-writes-another-impartial.html * OpenOffice.org Suite Updates http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/openofficeorg-suite-updates.html * OpenOffice.org Updated to Fix Bugs in 2.0 http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/openofficeorg-updated-to-fix-bugs-in.html * Worldlabel.com Releases Openoffice.org Label Templates for OOo Writer http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/worldlabelcom-releases-openofficeorg.html * oh, by the way, the 2.0.1 is here http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/oh-by-way-201-is-here.html * OpenOffice.org Support from Copernic Technologies http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/openofficeorg-support-from-copernic.html * News from the Hungarian community http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/news-from-hungarian-community.html * "Microsoft in a 'tizzy' over open http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/microsoft-in-tizzy-over-open-documents.html * "Supporting two standards: Wise, or a Microsoft power play?" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/supporting-two-standards-wise-or.html * [Interview] With Robin Miller on "Point and Click: OpenOffice.org" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/interview-with-robin-miller-on-point.html * "Five must-have computer applications for home users" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/five-must-have-computer-applications.html * "ODF: The Better, More Affordable Office Standard" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/odf-better-more-affordable-office.html * "OpenDocument discussion veers toward consumers" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/opendocument-discussion-veers-toward.html * [Opinion] "Darn Good Freebies" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/opinion-darn-good-freebies.html * "Sun: ODF needed to prevent 'corporate Alzheimer's'" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/sun-odf-needed-to-prevent-corporate.html * "Sun calls for end to ODF mudslinging" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/sun-calls-for-end-to-odf-mudslinging.html * Real Time Report: ODF/XML Open Forum at the Mass. State House http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/real-time-report-odfxml-open-forum-at.html * "Microsoft: One open document standard good, two better" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/microsoft-one-open-document-standard.html * "Massachusetts says it's open to multiple formats" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/massachusetts-says-its-open-to.html * "Microsoft bows to Mass. with open records format - But rivals skeptical of software vows" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/microsoft-bows-to-mass-with-open.html * "Open Document format: a matter of sovereignty" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/open-document-format-matter-of.html * "Open Document man cleared of smear" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/open-document-man-cleared-of-smear.html * "Economics Researchers Meet OpenDocument" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/economics-researchers-meet.html * "Accountancy firm dumps Microsoft for OpenOffice" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/accountancy-firm-dumps-microsoft-for.html * "ODF/XML Notes and Reports from All Over (Installment V)" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/odfxml-notes-and-reports-from-all-over.html * [Opinion] "If this suite's a success, why is it so buggy?" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/opinion-if-this-suites-success-why-is.html * "Microsoft's Office standard plan gets legal parsing" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/microsofts-office-standard-plan-gets.html * [Tips & Tricks] "OpenOffice 2.0 Base: Getting the right views" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/tips-tricks-openoffice-20-base-getting.html * [Opinion] "OpenDocument Tipping Point" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/opinion-opendocument-tipping-point.html * [Opinion] "A file format that's worth keeping - forever" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/opinion-file-format-thats-worth.html * ODF subpar for the disabled? Not so fast says Google researcher http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/odf-subpar-for-disabled-not-so-fast.html * [Opinion] "Team ODF: Back on Offense (Did he Mention Massachusetts?)" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/opinion-team-odf-back-on-offense-did.html * IBM goes open with office suite http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/ibm-goes-open-with-office-suite.html * "One city's move to open source" http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/one-citys-move-to-open-source.html * Macedonia deploys 5000 GNOME Desktops in Public Schools http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/macedonia-deploys-5000-gnome-desktops.html * Hidden features and problems inside Microsoft Office http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/hidden-features-and-problems-inside.html * Microsoft drops the office open standards ball http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/microsoft-drops-office-open-standards.html * First ECDL certification in Romania using OpenOffice.org http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2005/12/first-ecdl-certification-in-romania.html Statistics ######################################################################### * More than 53,600,000 have downloaded OpenOffice.org so far (as of December 3, 2005). * The OpenOffice.org project has more than 34,900 unique people subscribed to the mailing lists (as of December 3, 2005). * 682 people and companies have signed a JCA and are thus either already contributing or considering to do so (as of December 29, 2005): http://www.openoffice.org/copyright/copyrightapproved.html * More than 280,000 people completed the user survey since the launch of OpenOffice.org 2.0 on October 20, 2005 (as of December 29, 2005). Events ######################################################################### Upcoming ======== LCA 2006 OpenOffice.org Miniconf 23 Jan 2006 Dunedin, New Zealand www.openoffice.org.nz/miniconf/ LCA 2006 23-28 Jan 2006 Dunedin, New Zealand www.linux.conf.au 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 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]