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OPENOFFICE.ORG NEWSLETTER
Volume 04 - Issue 8 - 02/2007
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/2007_02_01_ooonewsletter_archive.html
ATOM feed:
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/atom.xml
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Contents
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1. Announcements
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* OpenOffice.org selects Barcelona for the OpenOffice.org Conference 2007
2. Success Stories
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* OpenOffice.org on 50,000 Brazilian desktops
* OpenOffice.org for close to 200,000 pupils in France
* City of Zaragoza (Spain) moving to OpenOffice.org
* South Africa moves to open source
* OpenOffice.org in Africa
* OpenOffice.org at the Municipality of Makedonska Kamenica
3. Featured News
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* OpenOffice.org wins in the 2006 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Awards
* ODF/OpenOffice.org report published by the Finnish government
* OpenOffice.org on Dell computers some day?
* Mother-Tongue Language Day & OpenOffice.org
* Interview Video! CoGrOO 2.0
* Vote for nicer Default Colors for the Chart
* User Experience Cyberspace Has 7 Dimensions, maybe 8
* Java GUI Installation Wizard for OOo 2.3
* Sun and Novell work together on a common OpenOffice.org VBA story
* Extensions Infrastructure – What's new in OpenOffice.org 2.2
* Chart2 Second Integration Candidate Ready for Download
* "Given latest in OO-XML vs. ODF, Microsoft must reconsider its support
for ODF"
4. Tips & Tricks
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* Dmitri Popov: "Connect OpenOffice.org to MySQL"
* Bruce Byfield: "Configuring OpenOffice.org Writer"
* A look at Microsoft Office alternatives
* New word processor review
* OpenOffice.org looks good in EU funded usability study
5. OpenDocument News Roundup
6. Clippings
All news for this month can be found at:
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2007_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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OpenOffice.org selects Barcelona for the OpenOffice.org Conference 2007
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"Members of the OpenOffice.org Community have selected Barcelona, Spain as
the venue for their 2007 Annual Conference in September. The result of
the on-line ballot of Community members was as follows:
Barcelona, Spain 297
Dehradun, India 224
Beijing, China 82"
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=announce&msgNo=317
Success Stories
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OpenOffice.org on 50,000 Brazilian desktops
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"Estimated monthly deployment is about 10,000 desktops, with 50,000
desktops already delivered, EnabledPeople, a Linux development company,
said. The company did not indicate the total number of desktops that are
to be deployed in the course of the project.
The Computers for All project is part of the Brazilian federal
government's "Program of Digital Inclusion," initiated in 2003. The
project's objective is to provide low-cost computers to the population
and to boost technological development, EnabledPeople said.
Linux XP Desktop is described as a user-friendly desktop operating
system for home and office users. With a preinstalled version, a user
gets an application set that includes the OpenOffice.org office suite,
the Evolution email client, the Firefox web browser, and the GAIM
multi-protocol instant messenger, among other software. According to
EnabledPeople, Linux XP Desktop is a Red Hat-compatible operating
system, and is compatible with Red Hat's application set."
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS8553667891.html
OpenOffice.org for close to 200,000 pupils in France
----------------------------------------------------
"French authorities will give out 175,000 USB memory sticks loaded with
open-source software to Parisian high school students at the start of
the next school year.
...
The sticks will probably contain the Firefox 2 Web browser, Thunderbird
e-mail client, an office productivity suite such as OpenOffice.org 2, an
audio and video player and software for instant messaging, he said."
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=storage&articleId=9010159&taxonomyId=19&intsrc=kc_top
City of Zaragoza (Spain) moving to OpenOffice.org
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According to the Spanish article below, the City of Zaragoza (Spain) will
move to OpenOffice.org. The open source office suite will be installed on
about 3,000 computers.
http://somoslibres.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1129
South Africa moves to open source
---------------------------------
"Cabinet approved a policy and strategy for the implementation of Free
and Open Source Software (FOSS) in government. All new software developed
for or by the Government will be based on open standards and government
will itself migrate current software to FOSS. This strategy will, among
other things, lower administration costs and enhance local Information
Technology (IT) skills. The meeting noted that all the major IT vendors
in the country have both supported the initiative and made contributions
to the development of FOSS. Government departments will incorporate FOSS
in their planning henceforth."
http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/2007/07022211451001.htm
OpenOffice.org in Africa
------------------------
"Chris Charuhas pointed me to a story about OpenOffice.org in Africa -
"how a school created a new computer lab without buying computers,
software, or books". And OpenOffice.org is involved!"
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2007/02/openofficeorg-in-africa.html
OpenOffice.org at the Municipality of Makedonska Kamenica
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"“After several employees of the municipality of Makedonska Kamenica
attended the training for OpenOffice.org they have asked for
OpenOffice.org in Macedonian language to be installed on their
computers. Now, OpenOffice.org has been installed on all the computers,
employees have already acquired basic skills and it is easier for them
to work since the software is in Macedonian,” said Pero Mitrevski,
mayor of the municipality of Makedonska Kamenica."
http://www.metamorphosis.org.mk/content/view/849/4/lang,en/
Featured News
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OpenOffice.org wins in the 2006 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Awards
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"The polls are closed and the results are in for the 2006
LinuxQuestions.org
Members Choice Awards (http://www.linuxquestions.org/awards/). Among the
winners are Ubuntu, Firefox, MySQL and OpenOffice.org. The Members Choice
Awards allow members of the Linux community to choose their favorite
products in a variety of categories including Linux Distribution of the
Year, Office Suite of the Year and Web Browser of the Year. The total
number of categories this year was 21."
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/2/prweb506056.htm
ODF/OpenOffice.org report published by the Finnish government
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The Finnish Ministry of Justice just published a new report about their
adoption of OpenOffice.org and ODF. Here is a quote:
"Negative experiences in the migration have been rare during the first
two months of 2007. The positive results of the 2006 OpenOffice.org pilot
project have been valid also in the actual migration. Also the opposition
to the change in office software has been very rare. The positive
attitude can be strengthened by focusing in training, standards complying
document tem- plates, good handbooks and supportive tools. The strong
points like the support for standards and document interoperability in
addition to the free installation possibilities of OpenOffice.org are
emphasized in the introduction of the software to new users.
The Ministry of Justice is an important customer to several Finnish IT
companies. The com- panies produce large amounts of IT systems
documentation as part of their services. The mi- gration to OpenDocument
file format in systems documentation has also started."
http://www.om.fi/Etusivu/Julkaisut/Julkaisusarjat/Toimintajahallinto/Toiminnanjahallinnonarkisto/Toimintajahallinto2007/1171362109118
OpenOffice.org on Dell computers some day?
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"The second highest ranking comment asked for the option to have
Sun's OpenOffice preinstalled on new systems, attracting more than
25,000 votes in two days."
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2183787/dell-users-ask-linux-openoffice
Mother-Tongue Language Day & OpenOffice.org
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"In a joint project funded by the Department of Communications and
administered by the CSIR, we delivered OpenOffice.org and the Mozilla
Firefox web browser in all 11 official languages. In celebration of
Mother-Tongue Language Day, the Department of Communications, CSIR and
Translate.org.za team are proud to announce an agreement that will see
OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird updated and
maintained for three years. This will ensure that South Africans are
now empowered to create documents, spreadsheets, email and browse the
web in their home languages."
http://translate.org.za/content/view/1790/65/lang,en-za/
Interview Video! CoGrOO 2.0
---------------------------
"Do you know what CoGrOO is?
It's a grammar checker for OpenOffice.org, which the Brazilian
OpenOffice.org team develops.
You can learn what it is if you read the interview with Carlos Eduardo
Dantas de Menezes by Community Manager Louis Suárez-Potts."
http://ooonewsletter.blogspot.com/2007/02/interview-video-cogroo-20.html
Vote for nicer Default Colors for the Chart
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"Have you ever created a chart in OOo and wished the colors would look
a bit more smashy? Then you should have a look at the cool new sets of
default colors designed by Stella, and vote for the one you like best!"
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/vote_for_nicer_default_colors
User Experience Cyberspace Has 7 Dimensions, maybe 8
----------------------------------------------------
"First is IssueZilla (aka Issue Tracker). This is the task tracking
system used for OpenOffice.org. Lots of our UX contributions happen in
IssueZilla. We submit bugs with a special focus on usability. We evaluate
and comment on issues. And in cases where we write the specification,
we add the URL to the task. To sum it up, IssueZilla provides the
infrastructure for the development workflow. No feature, no bug fix goes
into the product without an associated issue in IssueZilla. For us it
remains an ongoing challenge to keep on top of it; and to gain the big
picture of what is changing over all in the product."
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/user_experience_cyberspace_has_7
Java GUI Installation Wizard for OOo 2.3
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"In OpenOffice.org 2.3 a new Java GUI Installation Wizard will be
introduced to simplify the installation process on Unix platforms.
In a first step, this wizard will support the installation of Linux-RPMs
and Solaris packages. Additional package formats will follow.
Preview Installation sets with the Java GUI Installation Wizard are
available for Linux, Solaris-Sparc and Solaris x86. They can be
downloaded from:
http://installation.openoffice.org
Please feel free to download and test this installation sets and give us
feedback. This will help us to improve the quality of OpenOffice.org 2.3."
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/java_gui_installation_wizard_for
Sun and Novell work together on a common OpenOffice.org VBA story
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"Probably most of you have heard or read about Novell's effort to
provide VBA support in OpenOffice.org for better interoperability with
a well known competitive office suite. On the other hand Sun has a
similar VBA migration story in place for StarOffice. Sun's solution is
designed as an extension which is 100% optional whereas Novell's
solution prefers the integration directly in the code base. So we have
two similar solutions which overlap in many areas. This is a sub-optimal
situation and probably nobody would disagree here. The good news is that
both companies have come to an agreement that it makes sense to share
their resources and work together on one common OpenOffice.org VBA story."
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/sun_and_novell_work_together
Extensions Infrastructure – What's new in OpenOffice.org 2.2
------------------------------------------------------------
"Of course, there will be some new features in OpenOffice.org 2.2:
* Online Update for Extensions. Every extension can provide an update
URL. This URL points to an Extensions Repository. Everyone can setup
such a Repository. The Extension Manager now supports checking for
updates in the web and installation of updates from the web.
* Smart Desktop Integration for OO.o OXT Packages (Windows Explorer,
GNOME, KDE) . For example, double-clicking an OXT will install/update it.
* UNO services for management of string resources, including
multi-language support.
* Support for multi-lingual dialogs in OO.o's Dialog Editor (uses the
new string resource management services). The Dialog Editor now can be
used to design multi-lingual dialogs and to translate dialogs to
other languages."
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/extensions_infrastructure_what_s_new
Chart2 Second Integration Candidate Ready for Download
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"There is a new developer snapshot (Milestone 11) of the Chart's
re-implementation ready for download.
Download the snapshot from the Chart home page. There, you will also
find a list of recently fixed issues and instructions for installation.
As we re-implemented the entire chart module, it is very important that
all areas are tested thoroughly to make sure that the old functionality
works like expected (like before or better). So, we encourage you to
download the version and give it a try."
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/chart2_second_integration_candidate_ready
"Given latest in OO-XML vs. ODF, Microsoft must reconsider its support
for ODF"
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"Even so, it is a sign to Microsoft that the international technology
community is not as ready to embrace OO-XML as it is ODF. More government
adoption of ODF in particularl is not something that Microsoft can take
likely. Given how it's an ISO standard (something governments look for),
additional governmental organizations are likely to embrace ODF in 2007
and as they do, it's not just those governments' IT operations that will
be impacted. In many cases, ODF requirements could ripple out to the
businesses and individuals that those governments exchange electronic
documents with."
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Berlind/?p=335
Tips & Tricks
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Dmitri Popov: "Connect OpenOffice.org to MySQL"
-----------------------------------------------
"One of the good things about OpenOffice.org is its ability to use
different database engines. Just give it the right driver, and
OpenOffice.org can connect to virtually any database system, including
MySQL. However, deciding what database driver to use and configuring a
connection between MySQL and OpenOffice.org can be a bit tricky.
Let's walk through the process."
http://www.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/02/12/1736203
Bruce Byfield: "Configuring OpenOffice.org Writer"
--------------------------------------------------
"If the available options are more than you care to handle, in most
cases you can safely ignore them. In almost every case, the default
options for Writer are likely to be acceptable to most users, even if
they are not ideal. Some, like the viewing of nonprinting characters
are available from the menu, while others can be set elsewhere in Writer,
such as the default fonts. However, when you want more control of your
word processing or desktop publishing, spent some time familiarizing
yourself with the options. Unless you're very unusual, you're sure to
find a tweak or two that will make your computing easier."
http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000185
A look at Microsoft Office alternatives
---------------------------------------
"Solveig Haugland, the founder of GetOpenOffice.org, one of many
organisations that provides training and support for OpenOffice users,
relates a relevant story: A client organisation's meeting to discuss
potential use of OpenOffice was under way, and Haugland's client was
typing notes, which were then projected on a screen. Almost everyone
agreed that Microsoft Office alternatives would be "too hard." The
client asked, "What do you think I'm using to take notes?" The answer
came back "Microsoft Word"; in fact, the client was using OpenOffice
Writer, which disarmed some of the "too hard" objections immediately.
This scenario would likely have played out the same way were the
client using Evolution, Thunderbird or impressive up-and-coming Office
alternatives such as ThinkFree.com (which provides both free remote and
relatively inexpensive locally hosted office-software options)."
http://www.crn.com.au/story.aspx?CIID=73620
New word processor review
-------------------------
"OpenOffice.org seems to taken the best features of Microsoft Word 2003
— such Format Painter, advanced kerning, document recovery, hosted
templates, nested tables, Edit > Paste special, etc. — but left out the
bloat; for every feature is not mimicked. So if you're a fan of Word
97-2003, then you already know your way around OpenOffice.org."
http://www.donationcoder.com/Reviews/Archive/WordProcs/
OpenOffice.org looks good in EU funded usability study
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"Florian Effenberger from the German OpenOffice.org community just made
me aware of this usability study. As the website says, "tOSSad is an EU
project funded under FP6 IST program". The results for OpenOffice.org
look very good. Check it out yourself!"
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/openoffice_org_looks_good_in
OpenDocument News Roundup
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"The Contradictory Nature of OOXML (Part II) – 19 Nations Respond"
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"Well the results are in, and an unprecedented nineteen countries have
responded during the contradictions phase - most or all lodging formal
contradictions with Joint Technical Committee 1 (JTC), the ISO/IEC body
that is managing the Fast Track process under which OOXML (now Ecma 476)
has been submitted. This may not only be the largest number of countries
that have ever submitted contradictions in the ISO/IEC process, but
nineteen responses is greater than the total number of national bodies
that often bother to vote on a proposed standard at all."
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20070206145620473
"Texas, Minnesota eye move to ODF"
----------------------------------
"Texas and Minnesota may become the second and third U.S. states to adopt
Open Document Format for XML (ODF) as the standard file format for
government documents instead of the file format that Microsoft uses in
its Office 2007 software suite."
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/texas_minnesota_eye_move_to
Sun ODF Plug-in for Microsoft Word now available!
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"Finally, Sun's ODF Plug-in for Microsoft Word has arrived!
If you give it a try, you will see that it's different compared to other
MS Word ODF Plug-ins.
ODF is just an other file format in Word - no extra menus or tool bars.
You can even configure Word to use ODF as Word's default file format!"
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/sun_odf_plug_in_for
About Formulas in ODF
---------------------
"Coming back to the ODF formula specification: if you're interested in
the ongoing work and would like to see where we, the OASIS ODF formula
specification subcommittee, want to do better than MOOXML, download the
latest draft available at OpenDocument - Formula Public Documents . If
you have suggestions for improvement in details, drop us a line or two
using the OASIS office TC feedback form. Even better, if you wanted to
give us a helping hand and define some of the few remaining undefined
functions, contact The OpenDocument Foundation if you're interested in
working closer with the OASIS OpenDocument Formula subcommittee and
want to join."
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/does_size_really_matter
Microsoft does not rule out native ODF support for Office!?
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"Microsoft Australia's new platform strategy manager, Sarah Bond, said
there is a place for standards as it drives competition and "it drives
that desire to be more innovative".
...
Bond said while she is not aware of any initiative within Microsoft to
provide native ODF support in Office, she did not rule out the
possibility if the market demand was there."
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/microsoft_does_not_rule_out
My Family Photos - and ODF
--------------------------
"Finally, for those new to OpenOffice, it's a free office productivity
suite that will forever be free - to corporations and end users alike.
As best we can count, we've distributed hundreds of millions of copies
across the world (download here). And now that Microsoft has announced
support for the Open Document Format, users can feel comfortable that
OpenOffice can be added to any environment, home or office, not just
across the developing world, but the developed. In a few weeks, you'll
be able to download an ODF plug-in here, which will enable Microsoft
Word, by default, to save to/read from ODF."
http://blogs.sun.com/jonathan/entry/microsoft_vista_microsoft_office_and
What Sun's ODF plug-in looks like
---------------------------------
"Since many people will be wondering what Sun's new ODF plug-in might
look like, here are a few screen shots that illustrate its behavior."
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/what_sun_s_odf_plug
Essential and Accidental in Standards
-------------------------------------
"But a standard that confuses the accidental application-dependent
properties of a single vendor's application for an essential property
that everyone should implement, and to do this without tolerance or
allowance for other implementations, this is certainly a step back for
the choice and freedom of applications to innovate in the marketplace.
Better to use ODF, the file format that has multiple implementations
and acknowledges the propriety of sensible application-dependent
behaviors, and provides a framework for them to record such settings."
http://www.robweir.com/blog/2007/02/essential-and-accidental-in-standards.html
Petition for ODF in the UK
--------------------------
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/OpenDocument/
Clippings
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* FINA with OpenOffice.org support
http://www.fina2.net/screenshots.htm
http://www.fina2.net/
* ERP integration software announced for OpenOffice.org
http://openpr.de/news/121305/ACTIWARE-bahnt-den-Weg-zur-universellen-Integration-von-Business-und-Office-Anwendungen.html
* OpenOffice.org for OS/2
http://www.ecomstation.com/news.phtml?action=fullnews&id=2032&title=OpenOffice.org%202.0%20Release%20Candidate%201%20available
* Simon Phipps about OpenOffice.org
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/simon_phipps_about_openoffice_org
* Aqua : first tests with native filepicker
http://eric.bachard.free.fr/news/2007/02/aqua-first-tests-with-native-filepicker.html
Newsletter Archive
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