http://www.osnews.com/ Exploring the Future of Computing en-us Copyright 2001-2008, David Adams OSNews version 4 donotreply@osnews.com (Adam Scheinberg) donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Sat, 17 May 2008 05:32:13 GMT http://www.osnews.com/images/osnews.gif http://www.osnews.com/ 120 http://www.osnews.com/story/19748/Wired_vs_Wireless:_Sometimes_Theres_No_Substitute_for_a_Cable/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19748/Wired_vs_Wireless:_Sometimes_Theres_No_Substitute_for_a_Cable/ In a June 2003 Wired Magazine interview, Martha Stewart said, "Bill Gates' house, for example, is totally out of date now. He built it right before wireless happened. The big tunnels for all his wires - he doesn't need any of that stuff anymore." The article wasn't about networking, or even technology, but I was struck by that statement because it was echoed by several people when I was explaining that I was running many thousands of feet of cable in OSNews' "house of the future." "Is all that cable really necessary now that there's wireless everything?" people said. As much as I respect Martha Stewart's business and design acumen, neither she, nor those people who talked to me, know what they're talking about. When it comes to networking, there's no substitute for a wire, when a wire's available. -- This is the latest entry in our 2008 Article Contest. Thu, 15 May 2008 23:02:21 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (OSNews Staff) Features, Office 49 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 Feature JoanneRodgers http://www.osnews.com/story/19741/Office_2008_SP1_Released_VBA_Support_To_Return/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19741/Office_2008_SP1_Released_VBA_Support_To_Return/ Microsoft has released the first service pack to Microsoft Office:Mac 2008. The company also said that sales of Office:Mac 2008 have "soared", and that it is "selling faster than any previous version of Office for Mac in the past 19 years". Microsoft also had a surprise announcement about Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) support. Tue, 13 May 2008 20:34:36 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Features, Office 42 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19717/What_Makes_Software_High-Quality_/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19717/What_Makes_Software_High-Quality_/ "Which parameters make software applications high-quality? And which parameters or methods, while desirable, are not directly 'quality'?" This is the question the author of this article asks himself. Most of his 'parameters' make a lot of sense, but be aware that the article is about what makes an open source program high quality, and not programs in general. This important bit is stated in the one-sentence 'abstract'. Tue, 06 May 2008 15:15:19 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Features, Office 27 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 News Shlomi Fish http://www.osnews.com/story/19562/Microsofts_Office_Open_XML_Becomes_ISO_Standard/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19562/Microsofts_Office_Open_XML_Becomes_ISO_Standard/ "Microsoft's embattled Office Open XML document format received ISO fast-track approval after receiving support from approximately 86 percent of the national bodies that participated in the vote. ISO approval will be broadly perceived as a sign of validation for the document format which has received widespread criticism from technical experts and standards advocacy groups." Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:54:41 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Features, Office 46 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 News Almafeta http://www.osnews.com/story/19543/OpenOffice_2.4_Released/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19543/OpenOffice_2.4_Released/ Version 2.4 of the OpenOffice productivity suite was released on Thursday, boasting enhancements to all its core components. Possibly the most significant alteration in the new version of the free suite is in the description of file types. The 'OpenDocument' description has been replaced by 'ODF', which stands for 'OpenDocument Format' and is becoming a well-known acronym thanks to rivalry with Microsoft's controversial OOXML format. Sat, 29 Mar 2008 23:02:53 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Features, Office 47 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19503/OpenOffice.org_3.0s_New_Features_an_Early_Look/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19503/OpenOffice.org_3.0s_New_Features_an_Early_Look/ "OpenOffice.org 3.0 is 167 days away, but who's counting? Maybe the software developers are counting because they have a whopping 2,278 issues targeted for this release. Even though OpenOffice.org 2.4 is not yet out the door, let's see how far they've come with OpenOffice.org 3.0." Fri, 21 Mar 2008 20:07:43 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Features, Office 14 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 News irbis http://www.osnews.com/story/19236/OpenOffice_3_Has_PDF_Import_Native_Aqua_UI/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19236/OpenOffice_3_Has_PDF_Import_Native_Aqua_UI/ "There's been quite a bit of buzz recently after it was announced that OpenOffice 3 was due in September. It seems, however, most people still aren't aware of what's in store. The Openpoffice.org website is a rather scary place. We managed to find this conference presentation lurking in the shadows before running away in fear of mid 90's web design. Here's the best bits." Tue, 29 Jan 2008 23:02:42 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Features, Office 13 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 News irbis http://www.osnews.com/story/19172/Office:Mac_2008_Released/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19172/Office:Mac_2008_Released/ Microsoft has released Office:Mac 2008. "The suite is a major step forward for those who prefer to use the Redmond company's applications for the Mac platform. Since its last update in 2004, much has changed on the Windows side: this effectively brings Apple customers up to speed." Ars sat down with the Mac Business Unit at MacWorld. Wed, 16 Jan 2008 22:29:08 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Features, Office 17 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19109/First_Look:_Microsoft_Office_for_Mac_2008/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19109/First_Look:_Microsoft_Office_for_Mac_2008/ Ars reviews Office:Mac 2008, and concludes: "Perhaps the best thing that can be said about software that one uses in the course of working is that even if it doesn't make the work fun, it doesn't make it any worse, and that's certainly the story with Office 2008. Those spreadsheets, presentations and software reviews won't write themselves, but now it's a deal easier to make them look like they did. That it does that in just the way you'd want a great Macintosh program to behave is good news for Office workers." Thu, 03 Jan 2008 23:01:10 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Features, Office 33 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 News http://www.osnews.com/story/19060/OpenOffice.org_2.3.1_Released/ http://www.osnews.com/story/19060/OpenOffice.org_2.3.1_Released/ "Following our policy strategy to publish releases on a regular basis, OpenOffice.org 2.3.1 is available for download now. Although it is primarily a maintenance release, we recommend users to install the release due to a security fix. Full details of the changes may be found in the Release Notes associated with the release." Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:35:02 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Features, Office 43 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 News YouGenia http://www.osnews.com/story/18853/OpenDocument_Foundation_Abandons_Namesake_Format/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18853/OpenDocument_Foundation_Abandons_Namesake_Format/ A group formed five years ago to promote the OpenDocument Format has abandoned ODF and will favor one developed by the World Wide Web Consortium known as the 'Compound Document Format', or CDF. The OpenDocument Foundation's format failed to meet market requirements, the group said. Wed, 31 Oct 2007 19:29:07 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Features, Office 29 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 News WillM http://www.osnews.com/story/18768/The_House_of_the_Future/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18768/The_House_of_the_Future/ Remember those great "home of the future" demonstrations from days past? If you're not old enough to remember them from world fairs, Disneyland, or movie newsreels, you've probably seen the cartoons parodying them: Robotic maids, self-cleaning kitchens, futuristic-looking plastic furniture, dehydrated food; everything white, round, and sparkling. Well, it's the future now, and it didn't exactly turn out the way they thought it would, but thanks to ubiquitous computer technology, today's home can have capabilities that futurists 50 years ago would never have imagined. Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:57:00 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (David Adams) Features, Office 31 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 Feature http://www.osnews.com/story/18678/Microsoft_Confirms_Lineup_for_Mac_Office_2008/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18678/Microsoft_Confirms_Lineup_for_Mac_Office_2008/ Microsoft said that Office 2008 will come in three versions. The "core" version, Office 2008 for Mac, including all the applications plus Automator and Microsoft Exchange Server support, will cost USD 399.95, with a USD 239.95 upgrade price. Microsoft Office for Mac Home and Student Edition will allow three user licenses, but it won't include the Automator and Exchange Server support. It will cost USD 149.95 for the retail version, with no upgrade pricing announced. New to the lineup will be Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition, which will add Microsoft Expression Media for Mac, a revised version of the iView Media digital asset management utility. iView was acquired by Microsoft in 2006. This version will cost USD 499.95, with a USD 299.95 upgrade price. Tue, 25 Sep 2007 18:33:34 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Features, Office 16 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 News http://www.osnews.com/story/18632/OpenOffice.org_2.3_released/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18632/OpenOffice.org_2.3_released/ OpenOffice.org 2.3 has been released. "Available for download now, OpenOffice.org 2.3 incorporates an extensive array of new features and enhancements to all its core components, and protects users from newly discovered security vulnerabilities. It is a major release and all users should download it." Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:46:27 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Features, Office 28 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 News maxx_730 http://www.osnews.com/story/18566/ISO_Rejects_OOXML_for_Fast-Track_Procedure/ http://www.osnews.com/story/18566/ISO_Rejects_OOXML_for_Fast-Track_Procedure/ Microsoft has failed in its attempt to have its Office Open XML document format fast-tracked straight to the status of an international standard by the International Organization for Standardization. The proposal must now be revised to take into account the negative comments made during the voting process. Microsoft expects that a second vote early next year will result in approval, it said Tuesday. That is by no means certain, however, given the objections raised by some national standards bodies. Tue, 04 Sep 2007 21:40:31 GMT donotreply@osnews.com (Thom Holwerda) Features, Office 178 http://www.osnews.com/topics/3 News archiesteel