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OPENOFFICE.ORG NEWSLETTER
Volume 03 - Issue 7 - 01/2006
Please send news clippings to:
newsletter@marketing.openoffice.org
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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
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Contents
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1. Announcements
----------------
* OpenOffice.org 2006 Conference - Call for Location
* OpenOffice.org for the Intel-based Apple Mac
* OpenOffice.org Developer Article Contest
2. Success Stories
------------------
* PC maker Mirus ships OpenOffice.org
* U3 Adds New Software from OpenOffice.org
* Details about Bristol's StarOffice Deployment
3. Featured news
----------------
* Polish NL web site has new face
* iMac donation to Mac porting team
* OpenOffice.org wins award in Poland
* Cor Nouws reports on marketing activities in Netherlands
* John McCreesh replies to the article "the Trouble with Open Source"
* Developer.com Open Source Tool of the Year 2006
* OpenOffice.org ... small business's best friend
* StarOffice review by PC Magazine
* StarOffice 8 Review by FCW.COM
* LinuxWorld Magazine Reviews StarOffice 8
4. Tips & Tricks
----------------
* Moving to OpenOffice.org: an excellent article
* Ruby-based ODT to XHTML Conversion
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
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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
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Announcements
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OpenOffice.org 2006 Conference - Call for Location
--------------------------------------------------
"Dear OpenOffice.org community members,
The first three OpenOffice.org conferences in Hamburg, Berlin
and Koper/Capodistria were a huge success. The highlight so
far was this year's conference which, for the first time, was
organized by a team of volunteer community members. Now we are
wondering if this outstanding event can actually be bettered.
Therefore, we are searching for the perfect location for the
OpenOffice.org Conference in 2006.
We are collecting applications from teams who are willing to
organize OOoCon 2006, just like we did last year. To give you
an idea about what we are looking for, you can take a look at
last year's proposals:
http://marketing.openoffice.org/conference/ooocon2005/proposal.html
..."
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=announce&msgNo=267
OpenOffice.org for the Intel-based Apple Mac
--------------------------------------------
http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/webmink#open_source_ahead_of_microsoft
OpenOffice.org Developer Article Contest
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http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org_Developer_Article_Contest
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/SummarizeList?listName=announce
Success Stories
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PC maker Mirus ships OpenOffice.org
-----------------------------------
"The new low-cost computers, called Koobox, are equipped with the
Linspire operating system, based on the Linux operating system, and
a broad range of open-source applications, including the OpenOffice.org
office suite, an Internet browser, e-mail, instant messaging, a media
player and a photo manager, the companies said Wednesday in a statement."
http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/software/story/0,10801,107464,00.html
U3 Adds New Software from OpenOffice.org
----------------------------------------
"U3 revealed today that Yahoo!(R) toolbar is now available for use on
U3 smart drives, through the Mozilla Firefox browser for U3.
OpenOffice.org and ThinkFree suites of office productivity applications,
plus the award-winning Web browser Maxthon are also available on U3
Software Central for download to any U3 smart drive."
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060104005831&newsLang=en
Details about Bristol's StarOffice Deployment
---------------------------------------------
http://www.opensourceacademy.gov.uk/osa/folder.2005-09-28.8524679420/folder.2005-09-28.7241574634/
Featured news
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Polish NL web site has new face
-------------------------------
On the OpenOffice.org native-lang (NL) list, Konrad Stobiecki announced
that Polish NL web site has a new layout.
Go and take a look at http://pl.openoffice.org/ then you will see how
lovely it looks.
What I like is links to all native language projects on the top of the
page. You can see those links nicely next to the OpenOffice.org Logo.
Pavel Janik, OpenOffice.org l10n Co-Lead, read Polish and pointed out
that the title of the project is incorrect since it is referencing
Polish "Nation" instead of Polish "language".
Konrad explains:
"Polski Projekt Językowy" should be translated into "Polish Language
Project", and "Polski Projekt Narodowy" means "Polish National Project".
There were many proposals for certain translations when we were
starting and it seems that both names prevailed. Although "Polski
Projekt Narodowy" was accepted by all of the members. That's why there
are two names I think being used interchangeably :)
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/polish-nl-web-site-has-new-face.html
iMac donation to Mac porting team
---------------------------------
On the [EMAIL PROTECTED] list, Maho Nakata, a dedicated
Japanese Mac OS X and FreeBSD porter, announced that Mr. MIYAHARA,
Toru, CEO of Begi.net, donated iMac to the porting team.
Apple iMac 1.83GHz Intel Duo/17"/512MB
DDR2/160GB/SD/ATI Radeon X1600 128MB MA199J/A
Now Mac porting team has now a very stable, solid release engineering
subteam, said Maho. He is planning to provide Universal Binary builds
of all possible languages.
Louis, the community manager, proposed to interview the Mac Team.
The number of donated machines is growing!
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/donations.html
http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/imac-donation-to-mac-porting-team.html
OpenOffice.org wins award in Poland
-----------------------------------
OpenOffice.org got CHIP Reader's Product Of The Year 2005 reward
(category: Office Applications)
The Polish Native-Language project leads will receive the reward
in OOo's name on Feb 7th in Warsaw, Poland.
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/openofficeorg-wins-award-in-poland.html
Cor Nouws reports on marketing activities in Netherlands
--------------------------------------------------------
"- Halfway 2005, I was one of the people that took the initiative
to start BsOOo.nl, which stands for Business Support OpenOffice.org
Netherlands. See http://www.bsooo.nl/english.html BsOOo.nl started
at July 6th 2005.
- We (BsOOo.nl and others active in the Dutch project) translated
the page with features for 2.0 (http://nl.openoffice.org/nieuw-in-2.html)
and are working on the full 37 page document.
- Arthur and Simon took the initiative to organise a OOo Regicon,
which was held at November 23 last year.
http://nl.openoffice.org/regicon/regicon.html
- Press releasees reg. 2.0 and 2.01 had been send out.
On our to do-list:
- more martketing materials, obviously mostly translations from
the main-sources;
- a list with (reference) projects;
- informing our press contacts on a more regular base;
(see my recent note on this:
http://marketing.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=dev&msgNo=22199 )
I think it is good to find as much paralells with the international
marketing project so that all can benefit. "
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/cor-nouws-reports-on-marketing.html
John McCreesh replies to the article "the Trouble with Open Source"
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"This article caused some comment among those familiar with open
source software. It raised what it stated were a number of issues
with open source, and came to the conclusion that the widespread
adoption of open source, particularly in the public sector, poses
a threat to indigenous software industries. It argued that this
threat merited a government investigation - serious charges indeed."
http://www.bcs.org/BCS/Products/publishing/itnow/OnlineArchive/jan06/itnowextra/member.htm
Developer.com Open Source Tool of the Year 2006
-----------------------------------------------
The readers of Developer.com have had their say. After a month
of nominations and a month of voting we have finally counted the
votes and have our winners.
Open Source Tool of the Year (Tie):
OpenOffice 2.0 From OpenOffice.org and
Firefox From Mozilla Foundation
http://www.developer.com/db/article.php/3576286
OpenOffice.org ... small business's best friend
-----------------------------------------------
"Two other programs deserve a mention here. The OpenOffice.org
suite is small business's best friend. We have now completely
switched from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org. There are
still some minor irritations with the newest version, such as
the amount of time the program takes to boot up, and the amount
of disk space it takes, but those are warts, not barnacles.
With the 1.9 version, the developers provided Mac users with
an easy installer. Other users on the Web can offer tricks to
make the experience more Mac-like, but those are not necessary
to enjoy the program's benefits."
http://business.newsforge.com/business/05/12/12/1550224.shtml?tid=3
StarOffice review by PC Magazine
--------------------------------
"StarOffice matches all the core features in Microsoft Office while
providing a more logical and streamlined interface than Microsoft's
labyrinthine menus. As a drop-in replacement for Office, it is better
than anything else at opening Office documents with all formatting
and features intact, and it improves on Microsoft with built-in PDF
output features."
http://www.pcmag.com/print_article2/0,1217,a=168207,00.asp
StarOffice 8 Review by FCW.COM
------------------------------
"Sun has done a remarkable job with StarOffice, building a suite of
software that in many ways matches -- and in some cases exceeds -- the
far more expensive Microsoft Office."
http://www.fcw.com/article91898-01-09-06-Print
LinuxWorld Magazine Reviews StarOffice 8
----------------------------------------
"However, I don't look at price on its own; I look at value and I think
that's what StarOffice really delivers: a very functional feature-packed
productivity suite at a reasonable price. I personally have been using
OpenOffice.org and StarOffice for many years and find that for most
tasks they do the job just as well or better than Microsoft Office. If
you are looking to break the expensive upgrade cycle for Microsoft
Office without sacrificing functionality, StarOffice or OpenOffice.org
is the best choice I can recommend, especially for the Linux user."
http://br.sys-con.com/read/166315.htm
Tips & Tricks
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Moving to OpenOffice.org: an excellent article
----------------------------------------------
"Like its Microsoft counterpart, OpenOffice has a macro language. You
can start up OpenOffice from the Linux or Windows command-line prompt
with instructions to to run a particular macro, and you can even pass
a filename as a parameter to that macro. Adding the -invisible switch
to the command line tells OpenOffice to start up without the graphical
user interface (GUI). Put all these together, and you've got a command
line that converts a Microsoft Office file to an OpenOffice file (or an
Acrobat file) with no use of the GUI. To convert a hundred files, you
can use a Perl script or other scripting language to create a batch
file or shell script that has the hundred commands necessary to convert
those files."
http://www.xml.com/pub/a/2006/01/11/from-microsoft-to-openoffice.html
Ruby-based ODT to XHTML Conversion
----------------------------------
http://books.evc-cit.info/odf_utils/ruby_to_xhtml.html
OpenDocument News roundup
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Massachussets will support ODF anyway
-------------------------------------
"In a move that my avenge Peter Quinn's leave, Massachussets Secretary
Trimarco has confirmed its administration's support of the OpenDocument
Format."
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/newsblog/blog.php?ID=1887
Massachussets replaces CIO in OpenDocument fray
-----------------------------------------------
"Massachusetts has named an acting chief information officer, and the
state is "on track" to use OpenDocument-based desktop software next
year, a spokesman for the commonwealth's governor said Thursday."
http://news.com.com/Mass.+replaces+CIO+in+OpenDocument+fray/2100-1013_3-6021413.html?tag=nefd.top
ODF is somehow less secure?
---------------------------
"Microsoft's claim that the open ODF is inherently less secure than the
proprietary Office format is essentially an argument for security through
obscurity. ODF is no less secure than current .doc and other proprietary
formats, and may be -- marginally, at least -- more secure.
The ODF people say it nicely: "There is no greater security risk, no
greater ability to 'manipulate code' or gain access to content using
ODF than alternative document formats. Security should be addressed
through policy decisions on information sharing, regardless of
document format."
http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0512.html#8
Financial Times Article about OpenDocument
------------------------------------------
"This appears to be simply another oversight in a rushed submission.
Some observers of software standards have expressed concern for ECMA
and ISO because their reputations may suffer after an ignominious
rubber stamping of Microsoft’s proprietary and insecure format."
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/02cd6280-8ce9-11da-9daf-0000779e2340.html
IBM's Bob Sutor on OpenDocument
-------------------------------
"But Microsoft seems like it has made some inroads. The playing
field seemed to be that you and others were trying to cement OpenDoc
as the primary and only format, and now there may be more than one.
The reference model that was put in place last September and is
still in effect is only OpenDoc. Microsoft has given their formats
to ECMA and basically told ECMA, “Here they are. Don’t change them,
but please call them ‘community and open’ even though we’re the only
ones allowed to do anything with them.†They’re hopeful that this
will somehow get a nice rubber stamp that will convince people to
do something with them. And all Massachusetts has said is, "Yes,
you’ve done something, we’ll look at it next time comes around to
see if it meets our requirements. If it doesn’t meet our
requirements, well, then it’s still out."
...
Is IBM pushing OpenDoc hard in Europe or Asia? Are we talking about
national or local governments? The whole globe. What was established
in Massachusetts was an excellent amount of collateral: Why, from a
technological and open standards perspective, OpenDoc was a superior
standard. There was a tremendous amount of FUD generated around
OpenDoc, all of which was dispatched fairly quickly and with great
precision. What’s happening in Massachusetts will make it easier to
go to other governments, because fundamentally the arguments are
quite sound, and have been developed over months."
http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/erp/story/0,10801,108003p3,00.html
Peter Quinn's First Interview
-----------------------------
"PJ: I guess one last question I have personally would be: is the
Ecma process open enough to qualify for the MA standard, and if so,
and MA adds the MS XML, will that mean that Microsoft's monopoly
position will elbow ODF to the side? and isn't MA concerned about
security problems in a Microsoft monoculture? I guess that is three
more. Oops.
Quinn: (Oops is ok!)
I think the world will watch the ECMA process and smarter people
than I will insure it is "open enough" or cry out if it is not.
It is a fast track process and it behooves all to be engaged and
influence where they can. Based on conversations I have had with
people that are familiar with the process, there is doubt that
ECMA will be willing to force one standard. The end of the
process is pretty far out so ODF has a real chance to be
institutionalized.
Also, I think people are beginning to understand how desktops are
being used in the Commonwealth which means that the vast majority
of folks are content consumers. They require readers, a robust
browser, email and maybe calendaring. Given that reality, it
seems to be a blatant waste of the taxpayers' money to continue
to buy MS Office when in fact most people use a very small piece
of its functionality. And, as a user of Open Office myself for
both professional and personal use, it certainly does fulfill
all my requirements. And I use more of a suite's functionality
than most folks in the Commonwealth.
So given ODF is the accepted standard and the changing face of
desktop utilization, I think it has a real chance to prevail.
And I would hope that ECMA would force one standard (not likely
as noted above). That is not the Commonwealth's fight but the
world benefits with only one standard. And yes, the MS
monoculture is and will continue to be a security risk."
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060123132416703
Peter Quinn to Keynote OpenDocument Format
------------------------------------------
"Peter Quinn, former CIO of Massachusetts, will keynote at the
2006 Southern California Linux Expo. Quinn's keynote will be
the opening presentation at SCALE's Workshop on the OpenDocument
Format (ODF) in Government Organizations."
http://www.linuxpr.com/releases/8393.html
Novell Reaffirms Its Commitment to the OpenDocument Format
----------------------------------------------------------
"True open standards, like OpenDocument, are subject to public
inspection and contribution and are unencumbered by property
rights and the individual agendas of specific vendors," said
Jack Messman, chairman and CEO of Novell. "Users need these
conditions to completely trust the standard to remain
perpetually open. It's that openness that ensures customer
choice, and customer choice has long been Novell's priority."
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060117/sftu013.html?.v=41
Must-read insights into accessibility in the context of OpenDocument
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Remember, just because it has a text-to-speech component and
can be accessed via the keyboard doesn’t necessarily make it
accessible. The test: Turn off your monitor, shove the mouse
out of the way, and write a nicely-formatted résumé, keeping
in mind that if it looks like crap you’re not getting the job.
You should spell check it. Also verify your formatting: Is the
text that you intended to be bold actually bold? Is the text
that you intended to be centered actually centered? What’s
the font size? If you used a table to arrange your information,
is everything aligned and spaced as you intend it to be? Are
the margins appropriate? Oh, and to make this test realistic,
do it in a busy environment where you get interrupted a few
times by phone calls, colleagues, and the occasional instant
message. Maybe take a lunch break too and come back to the
document later on.
...
At times like this, Microsoft strikes me as a pouting child
who has folded his arms, stomped his feet, and proclaimed
that he will not include ODF support and if you don’t like
it you can just go play with someone else. Hey, Microsoft,
with that attitude you might not have anyone to play with
before too long.
...
C’mon Microsoft, what do you say? If you truly believe in
your product, compete on the basis of its quality and not
on people’s dependency upon your format. It’s good for
business, and it’s good for users who are blind — a
population that, at least according to company press
releases, Bill Gates and his Foundation care about.
...
So the answer to “Where do we go from here?†is, I think,
to continue advocating for a timely solution. I do not
believe this is an insurmountable problem, nor do I think
it is in our best interest to try to stop ITD from
implementing their proposed switch. I think this is going
to be the DOS-to-Windows thing all over again: Some
nerve-racking days ahead followed by the ability to do more
than we could before, just like we can do so much more in
Windows than we could in DOS. As long as an appropriate
solution is provided in a timely manner, the switch should
turn out fine and, with any luck, open format will open
doors to more consumer choice."
http://blog.carrolltech.org/archives/51
OpenDocument & Accessibility
----------------------------
"A situation has developed that has caught my eye in recent months and
has made me realize that I could no longer keep silent concerning several
things troubling me. I am visually impaired and a PC user, and I cannot
see well enough to work with a PC without using JAWS for Windows and MAGIC
for Windows Assistive Technology Software.
...
The only OS on which the built-in AT that truly works is OS X. Most
people in the visually impaired community are relatively unfamiliar with
Apple and its respective applications, so "unfamiliarity breeds
indifference and even hostility." So we are stuck going back to a
high-cost, unstable, Windows-based software environment.
...
If someone were to ask my opinion of what the best solution for this
situation is, I would say that states should invest in open source AT,
including technologies that use OpenDocument. If the states gave as much
fiscal and developmental attention to production of AT applications as
they had paid for JAWS and MAGIC, we would now have a viable and
productive open source system affordable to all visually impaired and
blind users."
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/6127/1/
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/6127/2/
Clippings
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* Sample Chapter of "Point & Click OpenOffice.org"
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=430837&rl=1
* Australian company lauches OpenOffice.org - based accounting software
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/australian-company-lauches.html
* Portable version of OpenOffice.org 2.0.1 released
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/portable-version-of-openofficeorg-201.html
* CES unveils new OpenOffice.org friendly initiatives
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/ces-unveils-new-openofficeorg-friendly.html
* Microsoft previews its Office 12 beta
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/microsoft-previews-its-office-12-beta.html
* MS Office beta shows off new User Interface
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/ms-office-beta-shows-off-new-user.html
* David Coursey on Office 12 and Windows Vista
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/david-coursey-on-office-12-and-windows.html
* Conglomerate XML Editor reaches basic functionality
http://programming.newsforge.com/programming/06/01/05/2032207.shtml?tid=57
* Yellowtab's report on OOo porting
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/yellowtabs-report-on-ooo-porting.html
* First draft of the GPL v3 available
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/first-draft-of-gpl-v3-available.html
* StarOffice for ECDL
http://trends.newsforge.com/newsvac/06/01/17/1553232.shtml
* Desktop Linux: if we build, will they come?
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/desktop-linux-if-we-build-will-they.html
* Taiwanese Parliament votes against Microsoft
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/taiwanese-parliament-votes-against.html
* Yikes! Firefox passes the 20% market share in Europe!
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/yikes-firefox-passes-20-market-share.html
* OpenOffice.org in a tie-in with Mozilla in the Developper.com's
Product of the Year Contest
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/openofficeorg-in-tie-in-with-mozilla.html
* Corel launches Office upgrades
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/corel-launches-office-upgrades.html
* HP's donation accelerates OOo building on FreeBSD
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/hps-donation-accelerates-ooo-building.html
* Getting away from MS Office
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/getting-away-from-ms-office.html
* Framakey, an USB key with a set of Free Software
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/01/framakey-usb-key-with-set-of-free.html
Statistics
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* More than 56,400,000 have downloaded OpenOffice.org so far
(as of January 14).
* The OpenOffice.org project has more than 35,200 unique people
subscribed to the mailing lists (as of January 14).
* 690 people and companies have signed a JCA and are thus either already
contributing or considering to do so (as of January 25, 2005):
http://www.openoffice.org/copyright/copyrightapproved.html
* More than 370,000 people completed the user survey since the launch of
OpenOffice.org 2.0 on October 20, 2005 (as of January 25, 2005).
Events
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Upcoming
========
CeBIT
9-15 March 2006
Hannover, Germany
http://www.cebit.de/homepage_e?x=1
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)
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