Office Archive

OpenOffice.org Conference Media Coverage

Submitted by uros 2005-09-28 Office 18 Comments

OOoCon 2005 started today in Koper, Slovenia. Anyone interested to take a part in it are welcome to join us. Everyone else are invited to OpenPages live coverage with constantly updated gallery, video and audio archive and links to live video stream from the main hall (scheduled for tomorrow). In related news, it seems that that OOo 2.0.0rc1 is close to being released.

Computer Market Relegated to Prefab and Hypnosis

Submitted by kellym 2005-09-26 Office 59 Comments

"I have noticed these days that the computer market is either falling into some sort of dictatorship or some other power of influence that is forcing the computer market into a no choice market where the choice is handpicked by either some monopoly or by a misperception made by the wrong decision makers in today's computer industry. The computer market of today as we know it is being prefabricated by influence while hypnotizing the public of that influence."

Preview: Microsoft Office 12; PDC Slides Available

Submitted by Sandy Miller 2005-09-19 Office 13 Comments

"Microsoft has tried to radically change the design philosophy behind its office suites from 2003 to office 12. The difference between the interface of Office 12 and Office 11 (2003) is nothing short of staggering. The attempt has been to enhance the user’s ability to actually get to the function he wants to use quickly and without getting lost in the labyrinth of toolbars and menus." You can find info on beta testing Office 12 here. In related news, the slides from the PDC presentations are now available for download.

Opening the Potential of OpenOffice.org

Submitted by Jono Bacon 2005-09-18 Office 31 Comments

"I would go so far as to say that a feature complete, high performing and integrated OpenOffice.org is key to the success of the Linux desktop. This importance is key, and I get concerned when I hear that there is a lack of hands. So, what can we all do? How can we help? How can we make OpenOffice.org into the office suite that is not only capable, but has a strong vitality?"

Microsoft Office vs. OpenOffice Shootout

Submitted by andrewg 2005-09-14 Office 133 Comments

"As nice as Open Office Excel is for a free application, it doesn't even come close to the performance and usability of Microsoft Office Excel. There is no shame in losing to a commercially funded application, but no one should make false statements that Microsoft Office is bloated and inferior. The only remaining question for businesses and homes is whether Excel is worth the money and most have apparently decided yes." Update: OOo 1.1.5 has been released.

Screenshots of Office 12

Thom Holwerda 2005-09-13 Office 126 Comments

Screenshots of Office 12 have been published. You'll be amazed (for better or worse, your call). "As you can see, Microsoft is trying to do away with the 'legacy' menu bar. In newer Vista builds the menu bar is turned off by default (although it can be reactivated temporarily by pressing alt). In Office 12, the menus have been replaced with tab-like buttons. The only 'legacy' menu item that remains is the file menu, but it has completely been redesigned. The file menu now looks like the Windows XP start menu and can be customized as well." You can find more information and shots on Microsoft's website.

The Curse of Xanadu

Thom Holwerda 2005-09-13 Office 12 Comments

"It was the most radical computer dream of the hacker era. Ted Nelson's Xanadu project was supposed to be the universal, democratic hypertext library that would help human life evolve into an entirely new form. Instead, it sucked Nelson and his intrepid band of true believers into what became the longest-running vaporware project in the history of computing - a 30-year saga of rabid prototyping and heart-slashing despair. The amazing epic tragedy." Please note that this is an older article, from 1995, and that it is 27 pages long.

Review: Inexpensive “VR” Specs

David Adams 2005-09-06 Office 22 Comments

OSNews takes a look at some inexpensive "Virtual Reality" monitor specs. You wear them like a pair of glasses, and your eye sees the equivalent of a relatively large monitor. It's been a science fiction dream for years, and now it's available for under $200 at Geeks.com, albeit in rudimentary form. So how do they work in real life? Read more to find out.

OpenOffice.org Goes LGPL

Submitted by DittoBox 2005-09-05 Office 48 Comments

On 2nd September 2005 Sun announced the retirement of the Sun Industry Standard Source License. As a consequence, no future Sun open-source project will use the SISSL. Projects currently using the SISSL under a dual-license scheme, such as OpenOffice.org, are dropping the SISSL and thus simplifying their license scheme as soon as the development cycle allows. Effectie with the announcement that Sun is retiring the SISSL, OpenOffice.org will in the future only be licensed under the LGPL (.pdf). A FAQ is also available.

Vim’s Newest Features

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-30 Office 62 Comments

Vim, or vi improved, is an open source text editor for multiple platforms. This article gives an overview of vim's latest improvements over vi. New features include multiple windows, syntax highlighting, multiple levels of undo, and color themes. All of these improvements are made possible by the use of vim plugins.

OpenOffice.org v2 Beta 2 Released

Submitted by Dennis Jakobsen 2005-08-29 Office 49 Comments

The OpenOffice.org project has released the second beta of version 2 of their office suite. "This is our second beta of OpenOffice.org 2.0. That means it probably has bugs; use caution. Download, test it out, and file bug reports with the QA Project."

Word Processors Compared: OOo Writer, AbiWord, and KWord

Thom Holwerda 2005-08-24 Office 44 Comments

OpenOffice.org receives most of the attention among FOSS office suites, but users shouldn't forget that free software includes at least two other word processors: AbiWord, and KWord, part of the KOffice suite. From their inception, both have been playing catch-up with OpenOffice.org's Writer. But now, after several years of development, AbiWord and KWord are both reaching early maturity. How do Writer, AbiWord, and KWord compare?

Inside OpenOffice 2.0

Submitted by Mark Brunelli 2005-08-23 Office 43 Comments

OpenOffice.org instructor Solveig Haugland explains why the upcoming OpenOffice 2.0 is set to make her job a whole lot easier. She says, "As an OpenOffice.org and StarOffice trainer, I teach a lot of one-day classes on the core software features. As I introduce the program and then word processor (Writer), spreadsheet (Calc) and presentation maker (Impress), I teach students how to deal with the oddities of each application before we get into the primary lessons. My first half hour of each section is gone."

Today is System Administrator Appreciation Day

Submitted by Tyr. 2005-07-29 Office 29 Comments

Friday, July 29th, 2005, is the 6th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day. "Let's face it," the website reads, "System Administrators get no respect 364 days a year. This is the day that all fellow System Administrators across the globe, will be showered with expensive sports cars and large piles of cash in appreciation of their diligent work."

Review: Virtual Privacy Machine

David Adams 2005-07-12 Office 28 Comments

The Tor Desktop Virtual Privacy Machine is a USB JumpDrive preloaded with a complete Linux OS and a roster of useful applications. Plug it into a Windows or Linux machine and launch a virtual Linux desktop that routes all network traffic through multiple network proxies using the Tor network. This provides a totally secure way to access your data, even when using an internet cafe PC or an untrusted network.

Power Plays: The Phenomenon of Vendor Lock-in

David Adams 2005-06-29 Office 53 Comments

Fans of just about anything alternative all seem to suffer from a similar affliction: a naïve underestimation of the pains of switching. This goes for U.S. fans of the metric system, alternative fuel proponents, vegetarians, and yes, OS fanatics. Now, personally I'm all for a lot of those things I just mentioned, but as a lapsed vegetarian, I know full well how, despite the advantages of the alternative, sometimes it's hard to switch and easy to go back.

OpenOffice 2.0 Beta Review

Thom Holwerda 2005-06-29 Office 20 Comments

I have been using Open Office for about 8 months now for my word processing needs. In a nutshell I am satisfied. Last week the version 2.0 was released, I downloaded it as soon as it was made available, on first view, even though the key functionality in version 2.0 Beta remains largely intact, it promises dozens, possibly hundreds, of changes.

VMware Workstation 5 Review

Submitted by anonymous 2005-06-29 Office 18 Comments

In last week's article, we discussed virtualization and its role in reducing server sprawl. We included VMware server as one of the products used to virtualize a data center. VMware also sells a workstation with a well-established reputation. This week we take a look at VMware Workstation 5.0.

KOffice 1.4 Released

Eugenia Loli 2005-06-21 Office 35 Comments

The KDE Project today announced the immediate release of KOffice 1.4 for Linux and Unix operating systems. The KOffice 1.4 release is a large step towards embracing the OASIS OpenDocument file format which has become an approved standard for office file formats. This format is also used by the upcoming OpenOffice.org 2.0, thus providing high interoperability. New applications in the 1.4 release: Krita - A pixel based image manipulation application and Kexi - An integrated data management application.

Office developer speaks about the Office XML format

Submitted by Varg V 2005-06-15 Office 30 Comments

Brian Jones, a Microsoft employed Office developer, speaks about the new XML format to appear in the new version of Microsoft Office and answers a lot of questions about the OASIS issue. No the formats will not be compatible and Brian takes the time to say why: "Our primary goal at Microsoft was to create an open format that fully represented all of the features that our customers have used in their existing documents, documents that have been created using the existing Office products over the past couple decades."