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OPENOFFICE.ORG NEWSLETTER
Volume 03 - Issue 11 - 05/2006
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/2006_05_01_ooonewsletter_archive.html
ATOM feed:
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/atom.xml
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Contents
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1. Announcements
----------------
* S. Sevki Dincer wins $750 in OpenOffice.org Developer Article Contest
* Google to Take 630 Summer of Code Projects
* Native OpenOffice.org in Nexenta OS released
* Germanophone project launches CampOpenOffice.org
2. Success Stories
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* Banco do Brasil completes migration to OpenOffice.org
* Gartner: "ISO Approval of OASIS OpenDocument Is a Blow to Microsoft"
3. Featured News
----------------
* Brazilian Portuguese Grammar Checker for OpenOffice.org
* Speak Out: ODF in France
* ISO and IEC approve OpenDocument OASIS standard for data
interoperability of office applications
* StarOffice 8 honored in eWEEK Excellence Award event
* Smart Computing designates StarOffice 8 a "Smart Choice"
4. Tips & Tricks
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* Practical Revision Tracking in OpenOffice.org Writer
* OpenOffice.org Solutions Page
* OpenOffice.org Migration Studies
5. OpenDocument News Roundup
6. Clippings
7. Statistics
8. Events
All news for this month can be found at:
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006_02_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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S. Sevki Dincer wins $750 in OpenOffice.org Developer Article Contest
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S. Sevki Dincer is the winner of the OpenOffice.org Developer Article
Contest for the month April.
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/SimpleCalcAddIn
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org_Developer_Article_Contest
Google to Take 630 Summer of Code Projects
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Google has announced that it will accept no fewer than a whopping
630 open source projects for this year's Summer of Code. OpenOffice.org
is among them. The number is up from last year's 410 projects.
http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3609496
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/SummerOfCode2006#OpenOffice.org_Summer_of_Code_Projects
Native OpenOffice.org in Nexenta OS released
--------------------------------------------
"Alberto Escudero announced the release and integration of a native
OpenOffice.org 2.0 in NexentaOS (alpha5) on his blog on May 16."
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/05/native-openofficeorg-in-nexenta-os.html
Germanophone project launches CampOpenOffice.org
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"Today, the Germanophone project announced its CampOpenOffice.org launch.
CampOpenOffice.org is a weekend taking place from Saturday, August 12th,
to Sunday, August 13th, in Diez in Germany, especially dedicated to youths
and students from 16 to 27 years."
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/05/germanophone-project-launches.html
Success Stories
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Banco do Brasil completes migration to OpenOffice.org
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"Federally owned Banco do Brasil has completed the migration of all its
Windows XP computers to the OpenOffice.org open source suite, reported
local tech service Computerworld. The migration involved 35,000 PCs, and
Banco do Brasil now aims to migrate another 30,000 computers that use
the OS/2 operating system. These should all migrate to the OpenOffice.org
system by year-end. Brazil was one of the first countries in the region
to adopt a policy of migration to open source at the government level,
prompting multinationals to increase development in this area."
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/05/30/1662778.htm
Gartner: "ISO Approval of OASIS OpenDocument Is a Blow to Microsoft"
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"International standards bodies' unanimous approval of ISO/IEC 26300
moves OASIS OpenDocument Format to being the official XML document format.
It is now unlikely that ISO will adopt Microsoft's Open XML document
format."
http://www.gartner.com/resources/140100/140101/iso_approval_of_oasis_opendo_140101.pdf
Featured News
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Brazilian Portuguese Grammar Checker for OpenOffice.org
-------------------------------------------------------
"Louis Suárez-Potts interviewed Carlos Eduardo Dantas de Menezes whose
group recently completed a grammar checker for OpenOffice.org.
The project is called CoGrOO (Corretor Gramatical acoplavel ao
OpenOffice)."
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/05/brazilian-portuguese-grammar-checker.html
Speak Out: ODF in France
------------------------
"By commenting in the public space provided and by writing about it in
blogs, articles, letters--anywhere that is public. We need people who are
involved in promoting the ODF, which OpenOffice.org uses, to help
publicize the importance of the French public sector using an already
approved open standard like ODF and the free (gratis and open source)
implementation in which it is embedded, OpenOffice.org. Massachusetts'
decision to use ODF has galvanized the US and much of the world but in
many ways this is just as important--and consequences even greater."
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/05/speak-out-odf-in-france.html
Andy Updegrove interviews OpenOffice.org
----------------------------------------
"Q: What effect do you expect the approval by the ISO/IEC membership of
ODF to have on the fortunes of ODF supporting software in general, and
of OpenOffice.org in particular?
JM: ISO 26300 marked approval at the highest standards level for the ODF.
It really is a revolution in the IT industry - the first time that users
have been guaranteed ownership of their own office data, and not be at
the mercy of software suppliers."
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20060513194119192
ISO and IEC approve OpenDocument OASIS standard for data interoperability
of office applications
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“OpenDocument, submitted by OASIS (Organization for the Advancement of
Structured Information Standards), was balloted as an International
Standard in ISO/IEC's Joint Technical Committee 1 on Information
Technology. The standard has been given the designation, ISO/IEC 26300.”
http://www.iso.org/iso/en/commcentre/pressreleases/2006/Ref1004.html
StarOffice 8 honored in eWEEK Excellence Award event
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“Peter served as the emcee of the event. He introduced the award for
StarOffice 8 by highlighting the innovation and value StarOffice 8
brings with integrated word processing, presentation, drawing,
spreadsheet and database capabilities at an incredibly affordable
price while maintaining compatability with the other dominant office
suite in the marketplace. I picked up the award noting that
StarOffice 8 is the first commercial office suite to support OASIS
OpenDocument format and it also offers enterprise level migration
tools that ease the transition. I ended with a call to action of
trying out StarOffice 8 for free for 90 days, to which Peter
quipped: "Operators are standing by, please call now!" :-)”
http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/chhandomay?entry=staroffice_8_honored_in_eweek
Smart Computing designates StarOffice 8 a "Smart Choice"
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“StarOffice 8 was compared with 602PC Suite 4.1, Ability Office
Professional 4 and ThinkFree Office 3. The reviewer, Jeff Dodd echoes
throughout his review that this latest release delivers big brand
functionality at a low cost. He details its quick installation and
effortless registration process. He also discusses all of its features
highlighting the fact that each component comes packed with
Microsoft-caliber features. Jeff also calls out the fact that
registered users get three free phone or email support incidents
in their first 60 days of use, "a perk that is virtually unheard of
these days." ”
http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/chhandomay?entry=smart_computing_designates_staroffice_8
Goodbye Microsoft Office, hello OpenOffice.org
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"This article is being written using OpenOffice.org's “Writer” program.
It's a software application so similar to Microsoft Word that anyone
who's always used Microsoft Word can get the hang of it within minutes.
It's being written in Writer because of one simple fact: I'm done with
Microsoft Office. Fed up and tired of the bugs and problems related to
this expensive software that's dominated our world for far too long."
http://www.times-standard.com/business/ci_3828429
Tips & Tricks
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Practical Revision Tracking in OpenOffice.org Writer
----------------------------------------------------
“While it takes a bit of practice, eventually using the change tracking
features feels perfectly natural. Even if you don't need to exchange
documents with other people, revision tracking can be useful when working
on any document where you need to make many edits. Change tracking can
let the edits stand out so you can see what you've done, and then commit
the changes later when you are comfortable with them - or, reject the
changes and toss them out when you realize that your drunken midnight
epiphany wasn't as brilliant as it seemed at the time.”
http://productivityapps.itbusinessnet.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=42970
OpenOffice.org Solutions Page
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http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org_Solutions
OpenOffice.org Migration Studies
--------------------------------
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Migration_Documents
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Market_Share_Analysis
OpenDocument News Roundup
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Open Standards / OpenDocument efforts in France
-----------------------------------------------
“The last statement (RIT0027) say that it is forbidden to migrate from
the format used by the software of an organization into any other format
than Open Document. There is an ongoing discussion in the wiki you
mention about the strictness and completeness of ISO/TEC 26300, because
of optional elements and missing items (ex: macros). The suggestion is
that one software should be used as reference implementation of the
standard.”
http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/dancer?entry=france_following_massachusetts_model#comments
http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/dancer?entry=open_standards_effort_in_france#comments
Open Standards / OpenDocument efforts in Denmark
------------------------------------------------
“The Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation will from
1 September 2006 make its online publications and other written
communication available in ODF. That was announced by Minister of
Science, Helge Sander, during an open consultation meeting in the
Science and Technology Committee of the Danish Parliament held on
23 May. Mr Sander said that "the use of open standards is essential
to the development of e-government", and that the decision to publish
in ODF is "a first step", and will be evaluated after a 6-months
trial period.”
http://gotzespace.dk/archives/2006/05/odf_in_denmark.html
http://blogs.sun.com/roller/page/dancer?entry=opendocument_in_denmark#comments
Monocultures and Document formats: Dan's Bomb Goes Off
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"The risk profile between a monoculture and a diverse IT culture such
as this is mathematically clear. By definition, even if ODF compliant
products as a group were someday to trade marketplace shares with
Microsoft Office, no individual user of any ODF compliant product
would share the same degree of risk that every Office user has today,
by reason of the fact that she would inhabit an IT culture with a much
richer genetic pool. And no virus is likely to operate at the level of
standardization at which these disparate products exist. As a result,
just as a species with a diverse gene pool is likely to be able to
withstand the assault of a new disease in far better form than a
species of clones, so also would an IT environment based on multiple
instantiations of ODF be more resilient than a monoculture of Office
users, only more so."
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20060523181724678
Andy Updegrove about the first public draft of Open XML
-------------------------------------------------------
"That's a lot of detail - much more than can be found in ODF. As
I've noted before, a key decision in the creation of any standard
is the level of detail to standardize upon. If the level is too low,
then interoperability will suffer, because much of what is needed
to make the product useful is left up to the vendor, and those
additional features will be proprietary. But if the level is too high,
then only clones can be built, which is good for interoperability,
but death to innovation. It can also be death to competition, since
if (as in this case) the standard is based on an existing product,
then no would-be competitor would ever expect to be able to catch
up with the incumbent, much less compete on price. So why bother?
While I'm not a programmer, what version 1.3 of XML Open indicates
to me is that the specification may be fine (and even perhaps very
good) for making it possible for end users and external developers
to do more with Office documents, but it may be useless for creating
true competition in the marketplace - which presumably is exactly
what is intended."
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20060519065126127
Open enterprise: Microsoft dukes it out with ODF
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"By now you should know where I'm going with this. It's been said
before, but it deserves repeating. The reason Microsoft won't write
any code to support ODF, and the reason Microsoft wants to block
OpenDocument, is because OpenDocument is a threat to Microsoft's
bottom line. Period. The revenue stream generated by locking
customers into closely guarded proprietary file formats is the
proverbial golden goose for Microsoft. Think about it. Protecting
those file formats must be worth countless millions, if not
billions of dollars to Microsoft. That's why Microsoft is paying
attention to ODF, and it's why you should keep paying attention,
too, even if digital file formats aren't normally your thing.
Because, if your business relies on office applications, that's
your money."
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;150996063;fp;2;fpid;3
Europe can't wait for Microsoft to play ODF catch up
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"Yet Microsoft has given no good technical reason why this should
be so. ODF was created by a consultative process, which is some
guarantee against hidden agendas. It is an ISO standard: it has
passed expert scrutiny and can be considered fit for use. It is
properly open: it can be made part of any product without the
need for authorisation or licensing. It is available now. None
of this is true of OpenXML, which, even as it goes forward for
consideration as an international standard, remains under the
control of one company, with many of the format's technical
details yet to be revealed. Microsoft says that ODF "would not
meet requirements for backward compatibility, for forward
compatibility, or for performance", an ironic statement for
anyone who's had to migrate data between different versions of
Office. It also reveals that Microsoft is mostly concerned with
compatibility between Microsoft and Microsoft: not good reasons
for the EC to hold back."
http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020505,39267678,00.htm
True Data Interoperability for Office Applications
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"The OpenDocument OASIS Standard, a format which enables users
of varying office suites to freely exchange documents, has been
approved for release as an ISO and IEC International Standard.
OpenDocument was balloted through the Joint Technical Committee
on Information Technology (JTC1) of the International Standards
Organization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical
Commission (IEC). The OASIS OpenDocument submission has been
given the designation, ISO/IEC 26300. OpenDocument defines a
genuinely open XML file format for office applications. Suitable
for text, spreadsheets, charts, graphs, presentations, and
databases, the standard frees documents from their
applications-of-origin, enabling them to be exchanged, retrieved,
and edited with any OpenDocument-compliant software or tool.
The standard will facilitate access, search, use, integration,
and development of document content in new and innovative ways."
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20060508005690&newsLang=en
Clippings
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* African localisation wins at Stockholm
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/05/african-localisation-wins-at-stockholm.html
* Acceralate FreeBSD/AMD64 Port
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2006/05/acceralate-freebsdamd64-port.html
Statistics
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OpenOffice.org Statistics
=========================
* More than 62,900,000 have downloaded OpenOffice.org so far
(as of 29 April 2006).
* The OpenOffice.org project has about 35,000 unique people subscribed
to the mailing lists (as of 30 May 2006).
* 726 people and companies have signed a JCA and are thus either already
contributing or considering to do so (as of 30 May 2006):
http://www.openoffice.org/copyright/copyrightapproved.html
* More than 635,000 people completed the user survey since the launch of
OpenOffice.org 2.0 on October 20, 2005 (as of 30 May 2006).
Unfortunately, not all responses were counted in May due to a survey
outage.
Events
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Upcoming
========
OSCON 2006
Portland, Oregon, USA
24-28 July 2006
http://conferences.oreillynet.com/os2006/
LinuxWorld San Francisco
San Francisco, CA, USA
15-17 August 2006
http://www.linuxworldexpo.com
OpenOffice.org Conference 2006
Lyon, France
11-13 September 2006
http://marketing.openoffice.org/conference/
Newsletter Archive
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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
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