Office Archive

This release specifically introduces the database management application Kexi, the image editor Krita and upgrades the major KOffice components to use the OASIS Open Document format, an industry standard allowing better interoperability across applications and platforms.

According to this Linuxworld article, OpenOffice.org 2.0 will be delayed until at least June or July because of the level of feedback received on the beta. The project's other significant problem, according to developers at this year's OpenOffice.org conference in Canberra, Australia, is the shortage of developers not tied to Sun.

Aditya Nag recently got the chance to ask the OpenOffice.org team a few questions about OpenOffice.org in general, and their upcoming release. The interview is fairly long and detailed, and there are a few interesting tid-bits, like Louis' assertion that there will come a day when there will be no proprietory file formats for Office Suites.

A quick look at what next major version of this popular open source office suite offers to end users.

A long-time Gnome user takes a week to try out SimplyMepis to see what all the hubub is about. The result is not only a favorable look at a capable Linux distro, but an examination of the state of the Desktop Environment landscape, and the areas in which KDE can tempt even a dyed-in-the-wool Gnome fan.

The Sun-sponsored OpenOffice.org project based on open sourced StarOffice code has released a preview of the upcoming OpenOffice 2.0 product. This version touts better MS-Office loading and parsing, strict XML compliant output, a new database program that mimics Microsoft's Access, and much more. The Inquirer took it for a spin.

Novell hacker Jan Holesovsky has announced a build of OpenOffice.org that has both KDE and GNOME support. When launched within KDE, KDE support is activated, similarly when launched within GNOME, GNOME support is activated. Jan's next project will be to plan for OOo 2.0.

We've put together a short list of tech books that could keep you company this weekend.

The Internet went all abuzz last week when a report by Todd Bishop of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer posited that Microsoft was keeping open its legal options against licensees of OpenOffice.org. Commonly known as OpenOffice, the software is a freely downloadable open source productivity suite that constitutes a significant portion of Sun's commercially offered StarOffice. It also exemplifies the threat that the open-source movement poses to Microsoft.

The KOffice team released the third bugfix package that builds upon the previous 1.3.x versions, with many fixes, mainly in the core libraries and in some filters.

While the just-released first service pack for Microsoft's Office 2003 primarily rounds up security and bug fixes, it also enhances features in the 2003 versions of OneNote and InfoPath.

When I was first asked to review this book, I was somewhat taken aback by the title. I wondered if it could be construed as blasphemous. The dictionary came to my rescue with this definition: damn, adj., beyond doubt or question.

"Learning Python, Second Edition" was published only a few months ago by O'Reilly. We take a quick look at this promising book.

Virtual memory is one of the most important subsystems of any modern operating system. Virtual memory is deeply intertwined with user processes, protection between processes and protection of the kernel from user processes, efficient shared memory, communication with IO (DMA, etc.), paging, swapping, and countless other systems. Understanding the VM subsystem greatly helps understanding how all other parts of the kernel work and interact. Because of this "Understanding the Linux Virtual Memory Manager" is a great guide in better understanding and working with the entire kernel.