| From: |
| Erwin Tenhumberg <erwin.tenhumberg-AT-sun.com> |
| To: |
| announce-AT-openoffice.org |
| Subject: |
| [ooo-announce] OpenOffice.org Newsletter - Volume 01 - Issue 11 - 05/2004 |
| Date: |
| Sun, 30 May 2004 22:51:26 +0200 |
#########################################################################
OPENOFFICE.ORG NEWSLETTER
Volume 01 - Issue 11 - 05/2004
Please send news clippings to:
newsletter@marketing.openoffice.org
#########################################################################
Highlights in this Newsletter
#########################################################################
* OpenOffice.org Conference 2004 - Call for Papers
(Announcements)
* OpenOffice.org 2.0 is approaching - Testers needed
(Developer and Administrator News)
* The Greek Model (Studies & Reports)
* Migration Study: Health First (Studies & Reports)
* IRC transcripts from "Effective PR for Open Source Projects" session
(Resources)
* The Rookery: Desktop Publishing with OpenOffice.org
(Tips, Tricks & How-Tos)
Announcements
#########################################################################
OOoCon 2004: Call For Papers
----------------------------
The second worldwide OpenOffice.org is approaching
quickly. The conference team is still looking for more
speakers, exhibitors and sponsors. Thus, submit your
abstracts today!
Here is a short extract of the list of companies, ministries
and organizations that are planning to be present at the
conference:
* EDS
* China Standard Software Company (CS2C)
* EU Project COSPA
* Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry - France
* Ministry of the Interior - France
* Novell
* Sun Microsystems
Among the very first registrations for the conference
are both open source developers and representatives
from different European ministries and administrations.
In total we expect between 300 and 500 attendees.
More information including the Call for Papers can be
found on the following web pages:
http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2004/index.html
http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2004/cfp.html
http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2004/sponsors.html
Software Patents in the EU
--------------------------
Software Patents a reality in the European Union: The European Union
has cleared the way for Software Patents to be implemented all over
Europe. But the fight is not over and the Parliament may still block it
if a large majority of deputies are willing to do it.
Announcement Archive
--------------------
All new and past annoucements can be found in the announcement list
mailing list archive at
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/SummarizeList?listName=announce
Updates from the Native-Lang Project
#########################################################################
A selection of stories from the Native-Lang Newsletter. The full
Native-Lang
newsletter contains a focus on the Portuguese Native-Lang Project. Read
on at:
http://native-lang.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=dev&msgNo=3143
Hungarian Native-Lang project
-----------------------------
The Hungarian Native-Lang project lead by Andras Timar has opened its
doors and is already bringing some fresh air to the Confederation by having
been the first to implement fully localized webpages to OpenOffice.org and
removing the default english links and navbars.
Azeri Native-Lang project
-------------------------
"Thanks to the mentoring of Charles-H Schulz, Rail Aliev and Gorkem Cetin,
The Azeri project lead by Emin Husyenov has started to work rather quickly
after his setup phase and is now almost completed.
Upcoming Native-Lang projects
-----------------------------
Bengali (bn) and Croatian (hr) Native-Lang Projects to be soon set up;
Armenian (am) and Ukrainian Projects in queue, but they should follow
soon after Louis has checked the necessary steps with them.
More on the reform of the Native-Lang Confederation, and the common
development
of right-to-left (RTL) lanuages (currently focused on Thai, Arabic and
Hebrew)
in the Native-Lang newsletter:
http://native-lang.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=dev&msgNo=3143
Courtesy of Charles-H.Schulz, Native-Lang Confederation
http://native-lang.openoffice.org/
Success Stories
#########################################################################
Canada
======
Ontario's school system gives StarOffice a shot
-----------------------------------------------
"The province of Ontario Thursday said it has reached an agreement with
Sun Microsystems of Canada to provide more than two million students with
access to the company's StarOffice desktop productivity suite."
http://www.itbusiness.ca/index.asp?theaction=61&sid=55732
USA
===
Linux in action: A public library's success story
-------------------------------------------------
"Over the past year, the Howard County (Md.) Public Library has migrated
more than 200 public PCs from Windows 98 and Windows NT to Linux. These
PCs are used both to surf the Internet and to access the library's
catalogues. NewsForge recently spoke with Brian Auger, associate director
of the library, and the IT team responsible for the migration. We wanted
to learn more about why and how it was accomplished, and how pleased they
are with the results.
...
Using LFS as a starting point, Luis and Mike were able to build a minimal
Linux kernel that included only the functionality required by the "kiosk
style" machines. They added the Gnome desktop environment, the Mozilla
browser, and OpenOffice.org to complete the picture. They call the new
distribution "Lumix." It's a combination of their first names, Luis and
Mike. By the way, it's pronounced loo-mix, not lummox, which is something
else entirely."
http://os.newsforge.com/os/04/05/03/1520209.shtml?tid=2&tid=82&tid=94
Hungary
=======
Sun pushes open source in new EU
--------------------------------
"Sun Microsystems Inc. began sinking its teeth into the "new" European
Union (E.U.) this week, saying that it has signed a no-charge education
licensing program with the Hungarian government that will make its
StarOffice 7 productivity suite available to 5,500 schools and 67
higher educational institutions in the country."
"Sun has taken particular aim at educational institutions, offering
them a special no-charge licensing deal for StarOffice. To date, the
company claims that 165,000 school districts in 24 countries have
access to its software through the program, potentially touching over
50 million students."
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/05/04/HNsuneu_1.html
http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=130352&
liArticleTypeID=1&liCategoryID=1&liChannelID=1&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1
Belgium
=======
Brussels embraces OpenOffice.org
--------------------------------
C.I.R.B has a mission of technological watch driven by the
Government of Brussels says Miss Lökkhana Quaremme, C.I.R.B PR
manager, and will deliver a positioning report about OpenSource
opportunities for Local Government Agencies. The actual feedback
seems to be a positive first step.
...
After a product evaluation period, the 100 users got an dedicated
information program, followed by the installation of OpenOffice.org 1.1
on every desktop, and a training. Document templates were migrated
and support implemented thru an internal and online F.A.Q.
...
We did not face any heavy technical issues, just small details to
fix says finally Miss Lökkhana Quaremme.
French article:
http://www.toolinux.com/lininfo/news/news/news20040524005103.htm
Dutch article:
http://www.cibg.irisnet.be/ci/NL/Supports/Communicatie/Press
Netherlands
===========
Sonneburgh: OpenOffice.org deployment in Rotterdam
--------------------------------------------------
"In 2003 there has been a noticable trend of public organisations
considering to migrate (or already migrating) to OpenOffice[.org] (1) .
Large-scale examples include the French Ministry of Interior and
the city of Munich, but small cases are also common. This paper
looks at such a small-scale application in a residential care
centre for ill or elderly people, located in Rotterdam, The
Netherlands. We look at what has been done and why it makes
sense for them to use OpenOffice[.org]."
http://europa.eu.int/ISPO/ida/jsps/index.jsp?fuseAction=showDocument&
documentID=1799&parent=chapter&preChapterID=0-452-470
Germany
=======
German employers' liability insurance association
-------------------------------------------------
According to the German articles below a German employers'
liability insurance association migrated 2400 workstations to
Linux and OpenOffice.org.
Links:
http://www.pro-linux.de/news/2004/6795.html
http://www.mysan.de/article4330.html
UK
==
Scottish schools get help with StarOffice
-----------------------------------------
"The Scottish Executive has signalled a possible move away from
Microsoft Office with the signing on Thursday of a deal that will
enable it to manage licences for Sun's StarOffice7 suite of office
applications.
As a result of the deal, any school, college, university or local
authority in Scotland will be able to ask the Executive to manage its
licences.
The Executive has not actually bought any licences -- which are
provided at no cost to educational establishments under Sun's
StarOffice 7 Education Licensing programme. But the deal will allow it
to provide licensing support for 2,833 Scottish schools - which would
mean 738,597 students and 50,048 teachers using StarOffice if every
school decided to take advantage of the offer."
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/applications/0,39020384,39153936,00.htm
Australia
=========
Construction firm moves to thin client to boost productivity
------------------------------------------------------------
"BGC has replaced 170 desktop PCs with SunRay thin clients running
Solaris on the servers. Sun Microsystems' StarOffice and the Netscape
e-mail and internet applications are the main productivity tools."
http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=130731&liArticleTypeID=1&
liCategoryID=1&liChannelID=1&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1
Interviews
#########################################################################
Interview: Aynu Localization Team
---------------------------------
"Last month, HIRANO Kazunari notified the Native-Lang Confederation that
Aynu localization had begun. Aynu is the language spoken by the Aynu (or
Ainu), the indigenous people of Japan, especially its northernmost island,
Hokkaido."
http://www.openoffice.org/editorial/aynu_team.html
Customer/User Feedback
########################################################################
OpenOffice[.org] vs CrossOver Office
------------------------------
[extract from "State of Play: Linux on the Desktop for an ordinary
Business"]
All of these reasons lead me to believe that I would be genuinely
stupid to make these people swallow two bitter pills at once,
especially when one of them would permanently disrupt the day-to-day
operation of the company (OpenOffice[.org])."
http://www.advogato.org/article/776.html
Studies & Reports
#########################################################################
The Greek Model
---------------
"Hundreds of people throughout Greece participated in the free and open
source conference held last month by Greece's ebusiness forum. The strong
support demonstrated both the actuality and potential of open source and
OpenOffice.org in Greece. What has been done? And what can you do?"
http://www.openoffice.org/editorial/el_oss.html
Linux Asia 2004 Keynote - Local Wealth: The Case of OpenOffice.org
------------------------------------------------------------------
An abbreviated version of the keynote presented by Louis Suárez-Potts to
the Linux Asia 2004 conference in New Dehli.
http://www.openoffice.org/editorial/linux_asia_keynote_2004.html
Migration Study: Health First
-----------------------------
"There are two big IT projects going on at Health First Inc., and Linux
is at the heart of both of them. Health First, a family of Brevard
County, Fla., nonprofit health care facilities, is migrating its
desktops to OpenOffice[.org] and bringing in many Novell's Nterprise Linux
Services. Weaning 6,000 IT users off of Microsoft Office 97 on 3,500
PCs is no small feat. It's manageable, however, if an IT shop takes it
one step at a time, according to Danny J. Wall and Daniel Bray, Health
First IT network administrators. Their primary pain comes from
integrating OpenOffice[.org] with Health First's almost 500 applications.
In part 1 of this in-depth migration story, Wall and Bray explain why
Health First is backing away from Microsoft Office and choosing
OpenOffice[.org]. Next, they describe the OpenOffice[.org]
implementation process.
Then, in part three, Wall tells us how Health First is bringing in and
will be using Novell's new Linux services."
Part 1:
http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/qna/0,289202,sid39_gci964811,00.html
Part 2:
http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/qna/0,289202,sid39_gci964821,00.html
Part 3:
http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/qna/0,289202,sid39_gci964823,00.html
Are you ready for open source infrastructure?
---------------------------------------------
"That's the title of a presentation given by Forrester Research
analysts John Rymer and Noel Yuhanna at GigaWorld 2004. This session
was attended by fewer than 30 of the approximately 800 GigaWorld
attendees, but raised some interesting points, especially about how to
compare competing commercial and open source offerings."
" Yuhanna pointed to results of a Forrester survey of 140 companies
(some large, some small) taken in March. Some highlights:
...
- 6% use OpenOffice.org; 9% plan to use it in the near future"
http://software.newsforge.com/software/04/05/18/151220.shtml?tid=132&tid=82
Letter from India
-----------------
Reports on the Free/Libre Open Source (FLOSS) front by technology critic
and FLOSS advocate Niyam Bhushan
http://www.niyam.com/gnulinux/gnulinux.php
Resources
#########################################################################
IRC transcripts from "Effective PR for Open Source Projects" session
--------------------------------------------------------------------
These are the transcripts from the Newsforge session on getting media
attention for OSS projects
OOo version interpreted by Daniel Carrera
http://www.math.umd.edu/~dcarrera/openoffice/promo/
Newsforge "raw" version
http://trends.newsforge.com/trends/04/04/25/1411229.shtml?tid=137&tid=148&tid=2&tid=82&tid=94
Bit Prepared: A Missing Link?
-----------------------------
"Building the case for turning the Boy Scouts into a worldwide advocate
of free software."
"I hope I have made clear why I think Scouting and free software have a
lot in common, and why the first should use the second. To me, Linux
enables me to continue to be a Scout even when I'm at the keyboard. It
also allows me to try to help others, as in the RULE Project. I'm
convinced that if Baden-Powell was alive today, he'd use Linux. Do you
agree? If not, why not? Let me know your opinions, both on this forum and
privately. I'm obviously eager to help Scouts use free software, and I am
available for further discussion and support. Above all, invite all your
Scout friends who don't know about free software to read this article and
act, or at least provide feedback. Ask them (and yourself) how they would
score on the following test, and, again, let me know"
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7533&mode=thread&order=0
Awards & Reviews
#########################################################################
StarOffice: ready for the big time
----------------------------------
"StarOffice is already very popular and has become something of a
standard on Linux PCs often in the guise of OpenOffice[.org], its open
source
brother. Sun acquired Star Division GmbH five years ago, with the clear
intention of competing directly with Microsoft. It has taken time for
Sun to establish a competitive position, though. StarOffice never got
strong reviews until version 6, which debuted in early 2002. It is just
now in version 7, which is attracting even more attention because of
the quality of the release."
"For large organizations looking to reduce the costs of the desktop
significantly, Star Office looks compelling. Siemens did a trial
project to test the Ximian/OpenOffice/Linux combination with office
staff in Germany last year. (Open Office has some minor differences to
StarOffice, such as fewer fonts and graphics) Siemens concluded that
changing to Linux and StarOffice was no more expensive than a Windows
upgrade - in terms of training. On top of that, it saved 20 to 30 per
cent in administration costs, 50 per cent in hardware costs and 80 per
cent in licensing costs. Pretty compelling when you think about it."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/29/staroffice_reaches_maturity/
Linux-based Java desktop system is a worthy challenger
------------------------------------------------------
"I had no trouble navigating around the JDS desktop or using the
pre-loaded applications, even without looking at the help files."
http://www.thehollandsentinel.net/stories/052304/bus_052304075.shtml
Developer and Administrator News
#########################################################################
OpenOffice.org 2.0 is approaching - Testers needed
--------------------------------------------------
OpenOffice.org 2.0 is approaching. On a regular basis (about bi-weekly)
snapshot builds are published. The files can be downloaded at
http://download.openoffice.org/680/index.html
The snapshot builds should be used for work that is not business critical
to find all bugs before the final release. Feedback should be provided as
explained on the follwing web page:
http://qa.openoffice.org/issue_handling/pre_submission.html
Also the QA project can always use an additional hand:
http://qa.openoffice.org/helping.html
Here is the current OpenOffice.org roadmap for orientation purposes:
June 2004: OOo 2.0 EA (early access)
June/July 2004: UI freeze/feature complete OOo 2.0 Alpha,
start of localization work.
September 2004: OOo 2.0 Beta Release Candidates
October 2004: OOo 2.0 Beta
November 2004: OOo 2.0 changes will be done on separated branch,
the trunk (HEAD) will then be user for the next OOo
major (3.0 ?) release.
December 2004: OOo 2.0 rc
January 2005: OOo 2.0
The roadmap can also be found on the web at:
http://development.openoffice.org/releases/OpenOffice_org_trunk.html
Start downloading and testing OpenOffice.org 2.0 now!
Novell & OpenOffice.org
-----------------------
Article: "Interview with Miguel de Icaza, co-founder of
Gnome, Ximian and Mono"
"Q. Has Novell decided what form the desktop will take - will it be
Gnome-based, or have other elements?
Gnome and KDE are basically the shells, but then there are higher-level
applications like the office suite. We're making the decision it's
going to be OpenOffice[.org], the browser it's going to be Mozilla, the
email
client it's going to be Evolution, the IM client it's going to be Gaim.
So we basically have to pick successful open source projects and put
them together. There's a lot of work on integrating."
http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2004/04/28/interview_with_
miguel_de_icaza_cofounder_of_gnome_ximian_and_mono.html
New White Paper about the OpenOffice.org XML File Format
--------------------------------------------------------
This new white paper explains the advantages of the OpenOffice.org XML
file format used by all applications of the StarOffice software.
Developers also get a basic introduction to the different tools and
resources available for leveraging the XML file format programmatically.
The white paper can be found at at:
http://wwws.sun.com/software/star/staroffice/whitepapers/index.html
Article: Programming with the StarOffice 7 Software Development Kit
-------------------------------------------------------------------
"While StarOffice software offers a full-featured office suite, you
can make it even better by extending it with the StarOffice Software
Development Kit (SDK). You can create customized extensions for your
own organization or full-featured plug-ins that other organizations
may want to license."
http://developers.sun.com/techtopics/desktop/reference/techart/staroffice_sdk.html
Tips, Tricks & How-Tos
#########################################################################
The Rookery: OOo Off the Wall: Building Characters
--------------------------------------------------
"Learning about character styles in OOo Writer.
Character styles are a set of formatting options applied to selected
text. They are a basic tool in most word processors, and
OpenOffice.org's use of character styles is more or less typical. If
you have used character styles in other word processors, then you
probably can grasp the basics of using them in OpenOffice.org with few
difficulties."
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7576&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
The Rookery: Desktop Publishing with OpenOffice.org
---------------------------------------------------
"Dazzle your clients, boss or friends with this freely available tool you
probably installed with your latest Linux distribution.
Desktop publishing is easy, and it also can be fun. With OpenOffice.org you
have a rich selection of tools to create high-quality documents for
personal
or business use."
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=7495&mode=thread&order=0
Competitive/Market Info
#########################################################################
Star Wars: StarOffice Vs MS office
----------------------------------
"Mr Pramanik said that StarOffice is fast gaining ground, citing a
recent large 10,000 user win from United India and 8,000 units from the
Haryana government as an example."
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/638623.cms
MS Office vastly overpriced, says UK consumer outfit
----------------------------------------------------
"Microsoft software is seven times more expensive than alternatives,
the latest issue of UK Consumers Association magazine Computing Which?
claims today. But although the claim does have some justification, in
going for the extreme the magazine misses the byzantine subtleties of
Microsoft's pricing machine."
"'Nobody ever buys retail' could have been coined for Microsoft Office.
Computing Which? cites StarOffice 7 at £44.99 and says it has 90 per
cent of the functionality at a fraction of the cost of MS Office,
quoting a price for the Standard Edition of £326. Which is true enough;
Dabs.com quotes £339.57 for Office 2003 Standard Edition, but claims
that its second best-selling MS Office product is the Student or
Teacher version of Office 2003 Standard, at £104.57.
Clearly we're not comparing like with like here, but (and we've told
you this before) it is a sad home user indeed who is unable to whistle
up something that could be deemed a legitimate qualification for
purchase of Microsoft software via a 'student' programme."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/04/30/msoffice_pricing_attack/
Sun-Microsoft deal: Questionable significance for OpenOffice.org
----------------------------------------------------------------
"In January 2001, Corel announced its intentions to spin off its
various Linux products and not work on broadening its WordPerfect
customer base beyond its existing audience. Now Microsoft has reached
an agreement with Sun, settling their $4 billion lawsuit for $1.6
billion. Since Microsoft's total payment to Sun will come to well over
10 times the amount it paid to Corel, I wondered what impact if any
this might have on OpenOffice.org? I asked Dr. Louis Suarez-Potts,
community mnager for OpenOffice.org and Chair of the Community Council,
what the possible repercussions might be for the popular open source
office suite."
http://software.newsforge.com/software/04/04/19/2117259.shtml?tid=130&tid=82&tid=93
Opinion: French Linux users against pirating Microsoft
------------------------------------------------------
"The French have somehow picked up a reputation as haters of big
American business. It's not hard to see how that came about, when you
consider that their biggest folk hero of recent years, the farmer José
Bové, was catapulted to fame almost overnight for his part in the 1999
destruction of a new McDonald's fast-food restaurant in a rural corner
of southern France.
So it's doubly strange to hear of the latest initiative by the French
Association of Linux Users (AFUL): The group wants the government to
crack down on piracy of software products from companies such as
Microsoft, it announced Tuesday (announcement in French). It also wants
stores to display separately the price of software packages such as
Microsoft Office when they are bundled with new computers, so that
consumers are aware of their true cost."
http://www.nwfusion.com/news/2004/0505frenclinux.html
Softmaker releases Linux spreadsheet software beta
--------------------------------------------------
"Linux users now have an Microsoft Excel-compatible spreadsheet program
from Germany's Softmaker. The software maker announced a full native
Linux office suite in March 2003 and debuted TextMaker for Linux, a
Microsoft Word equivalent later that same year."
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS9684602041.html
http://www.softmaker.de/
Comparison page:
http://www.unixauthority.com/~fiskeja/mirror/www.softmaker.de/pmwcomp_en.htm
IBM Launches Alternative To Microsoft Office
--------------------------------------------
"IBM on Monday unveiled a server-based bundle of desktop applications
that offer companies an alternative to Microsoft's market-dominating
Office suite.
Part of IBM's Lotus Workplace strategy, the software includes email,
instant messaging, word processing, spreadsheet and presentation
software. Unlike Microsoft's products, however, the applications are
not tied to Windows or Mac systems, and can run on Linux, Unix or
proprietary operating systems used in handheld computers and cellular
phones."
"IBM, based in Armonk, N.Y., plans to charge $2 per user per month for
access to the software, plus the cost of the server needed to run the
applications. IBM's WebSphere application server would be the preferred
infrastructure."
http://www.crn.com/sections/BreakingNews/dailyarchives.asp?ArticleID=50052
IBM's Workplace Hurdles
-----------------------
"With IBM Workplace's new rich-client strategy, Big Blue appears ready
to challenge Microsoft for control of its core platform. No, not
Windows. And no, not Office, either. Instead, the battle has been
joined at Redmond's most vulnerable spot: software as a hosted service.
In this attack, IBM has endorsed and bootstrapped Sun's JDS (Java
Desktop System) strategy. Even some of the code is the same:
Workplace's default word processing, spreadsheet and presentation
editors come from the same OpenOffice.org code base, albeit one from
which IBM forked away more than a year ago."
"IBM deploys its Eclipse Runtime IDE as the host for the OpenOffice.org
editor components and associated API. This lets IBM play the Java
compatibility game with its JVM while using the Eclipse Runtime to
provide direct GDI (Graphics Device Interface) calls into Windows,
.Net, even "Longhorn" and Mac Carbon applications. Thus, Workplace
pushes down a rich cross-platform controller architecture that
leverages Office while adding Workplace Messaging and Workplace
Documents, which communicate with the WebSphere/DB2 back end."
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1598973,00.asp
Corel updates WordPerfect Office
--------------------------------
"Corel has released WordPerfect Office 12 in stores across North
America, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South East
Asia Tuesday. The suite is being sold as a feature-rich, value-priced
office suite that is highly compatible with Microsoft Office."
http://www.globetechnology.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040427.gtcorel0427/BNStory/Technology/
Additional reporting:
http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2004/Apr/1035806.htm
Office Rivalry - WordPerfect Office 12
--------------------------------------
"Today's release of WordPerfect Office 12a tremendously capable
packageis a healthy reminder that Microsoft Office, although currently
thundering over the land, has competitors that not only equal but
surpass it in many ways. Consumers and IT purchasers in businesses
large and small have real choices and need to seriously investigate
them. Toward that end, we have reviews of three strong contenders:
Microsoft Office 2003, Sun's Star Office 7, and WordPerfect Office 12."
"To say the least, Microsoft has no lock on capabilities or usability.
In fact, we found StarOffice more intuitive than Redmond's product, and
the competitors from Sun and Corel have excellent features not found in
Microsoft Office, such as the capability to directly export to PDF and
SWF (Flash) formats. The WordPerfect word processor also retains its
superior Reveal Codes mode that gives tight control over formattinga
popular feature yet to be matched by Microsoft and for which its
product suffers."
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1573568,00.asp
Microsoft Office 2004: Preliminary reports
------------------------------------------
"Although few people have actually received their copies of Office 2004
yet, we've begun to receive reports from those who have, largely
positive."
http://www.macfixit.com/article.php?story=20040513004725665
Additional reporting:
http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/software/story/0,10801,93252,00.html
African open source projects gather steam
-----------------------------------------
"Last month, a group of developers began offering a Kiswahili
spell-checker. Kiswahili is one of the major languages spoken in the
Southern African region. The new spell-checker follows the release of
an Afrikaans spell-checker. Afrikaans is also a language spoken widely
in South Africa.
The spell-checkers allow users writing documents in OpenOffice.org or
composing an e-mail in Mozilla to check spelling as they type their
document or e-mail. The spell-checkers work on Linux and Windows.
Dwayne Bailey of South Africa's Translate.org.za (cq), the open source
developmment alliance that released the spell-checkers, said that
judging from downloads of the products, there has been a lot of interest
with the Kiswahili and Afrikaans spell-checkers. "
http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/04/30/HNafrican_1.html
Statistics
#########################################################################
OpenOffice.org
==============
Highlights
----------
* More that 28,100,000 have downloaded OpenOffice.org
so far (as of May 15, 2004).
* The OpenOffice.org project has more than 23,700
unique people subscribed to the mailing lists
(as of May 15, 2004).
* 428 people and companies have signed a JCA and are thus
either already contributing or considering to do so
(as of May 26, 2004).
* 1502 people have participated in the OOo developer
survey so far (as of May 26, 2004).
* OpenOffice.org User Survey Data
(Provided by Cristian Driga)
User survey stats, May 26th 2004:
Total number of responses: 528261
Responses by month:
March 2004: 33199
April 2004: 32865
May 2004 (untill may 26th): 24173
Responses Top20 countries this month:
United States 5277
Germany 2746
France 1845
United Kingdom 932
Italy 884
Brazil 736
Canada 720
Japan 630
Spain 586
Netherlands 528
Australia 503
Poland 389
Belgium 344
Switzerland 313
Finland 262
Denmark 249
New Zealand 219
Czech Republic 215
China 189
Sweden 173
This month's "Where did you find out about
OpenOffice.org":
Press Article 4855
TV/Radio 598
Website 7172
A friend 6342
Search engine 1814
No response 3400
What applications do you primarily use in
OpenOffice.org ? (may 2004)
Writer: 18669
Calc: 10352
HTML: 3345
Draw: 3237
Ipress: 2886
How long have you been using OpenOffice.org? (may
2004)
Over 1 year 5308
6-12 months 2057
1-6 months 12914
No response 3905
Operating systems this month:
Windows2000: 4795
WindowsNT: 697
WindowsXP: 15289
Windows98_me: 4530
Windows95: 418
LinuxIntel: 6876
LinuxPPC: 785
LinuxARM: 299
LinuxAlpha: 159
FreeBSD: 397
NetBSD: 65
OpenBSD: 137
MacOSX: 1108
Solaris: 380
BEOS: 99
Irix: 61
Tru64: 42
Other: 472
Events
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Upcoming
========
FISL
----
Porto Alegre, Brazil
2004/06/3-5
http://captacao.softwarelivre.org/english/captacao2004-en-1.5.html
Guadec
------
Kristiansand, Norway
2004/06/28-30
http://2004.guadec.org/
WWDC
----
San Francisco, USA
2004/6/28-07/02
http://developer.apple.com/wwdc/
OSCON
-----
Portland, USA
2004/07/26-30
http://marketing.openoffice.org/conference/
OpenOffice.org Conference 2004
------------------------------
Berlin, Germany
2004/09/23-24
http://marketing.openoffice.org/conference
Invex
-----
Brno, Czech Republic
2004/10/11-15
http://www.invex.cz/
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, erwin.tenhumberg@sun.com or
deepankar_datta@hotpop.com.
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