I have tried to follow the discussion about the standardization of the Microsoft Office Open XML document format, or ECMA-376:2006 or ISO/IEC DIS 29500. The fast track process is in the final stage, with the national bodies voting on the approval of the modified specs which came out of the Ballot Resolution Meeting in Geneva.
I have been reading many blogs, which seem to be the preferred communication tool for both parties: those for the approval and those against the approval. Using a handy feature of Google Reader, I have tried to collect all the posts which have been written on the subject since the start of the BRM.
If I were a “normal” user trying to understand if there was something positive for me in the standardization process, I would have probably given up after a few days. I think that it is almost impossible to get a clear picture of what has happened, what is happening and what will happen. Communications, unfortunately, does not seem to be the primary concern of all the people that have been writing on this subject.
Technorati Tags:
ooxml
The change has been announced last week, but I think it’s important to read Simon Phipp’s comments on its relevance.
This quote sums it up:
OpenOffice.org’s license will change to LGPLv3 as part of a broader set of changes intended to improve the OpenOffice.org community for everyone. Those changes also include a switch to the latest version of the standard Sun contributor agreement, with an addendum specifically tailored to the needs of the OpenOffice.org community. There’s increased latitude for documentation writers to publish their work on OpenOffice.org. And in future, plugins for OpenOffice.org may host their source code directly on the community site without copyright being shared, helping collaboration within the community.
In order to understand the complete picture about software patents and all the related issues I think it’s important to read what Simon has written in may 2007 about patent covenants.
Tags: openoffice, softwareDeveloper’s Guide is now in the Wiki
The OpenOffice.org Developer’s Guide is now available online in the OpenOffice.org Wiki. The main purpose of moving the guide into the wiki is for maintenance reasons and the hope to get more contributions. We also hope to get a localized version of the guide to reach more users/developers all over the world.
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/developer_s_guide_is_now
Users demand support for OpenOffice.org
QualityLogic, a provider of leading-edge QA and QC test tools and services for the imaging and telecom industries, has released test files for the first of several planned applications found in OpenOffice.org 2. Test files are now available for “Writer” and “Draw”. “Impress” is in development, and additional applications are planned. QualityLogic has been developing test files for popular Windows applications for over 20 years. These files are used by printer companies to ensure compatibility between their printers and the applications their customers use, and by software companies whose applications convert one file format to another. They are also used by Fortune 1000, government, education and healthcare companies to help make printer and software purchasing decisions. The popularity of the OpenOffice.org office suite has created a need within these companies for sophisticated test files similar to those QualityLogic has developed for Windows applications.
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/users_demand_support_for_openoffice
New StartCenter replaces StartModule
After a hectic week of discussion, implementation and rewriting we now have a new initial window when you start OpenOffice.org without a document. This up to now brought up a large window (so large because it defines the size of the document that will replace it) in “battleship gray” as some call it. On most platforms you don’t see this window so often, because system integration will usually leave you with an application window (Writer, Impress, Calc, …) instead. On Mac however the so called StartModule is the norm rather than the exception. So we put a long planned overhaul of the StartModule in motion. The first plan was to use a dialog replacing the StartModule, however that would lead to questions about modality, startup and exit behavior due to the modal event loop and similar issues.
So in the end we decided to improve the existing StartModule instead, turning it into the new StartCenter. The StartCenter contains a host of labeled buttons (natively themed where available of course) that allow the user to create a new document or open an existing one. It also shows the same menu entries as before, so additional features like the recent file list are still available.
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/new_startcenter_replaces_startmodule
Impressive Eye Candy: 3D OpenGL Transitions
PowerPoint’s old push-down transition has done its 15 years of service, and it’s time for it to retire. Do the sleepy faces in your meetings agree? OpenOffice.org Impress 2.4 has the answer in the form of ten 3D OpenGL-rendered transitions:
- Flipping tiles
- Outside turning cube
- Revolving circles
- Turning helix
- Inside turning cube
- Fall
- Turn around
- Iris
- Turn down
- Rochade
http://www.oooninja.com/2008/02/eye-candy-3d-opengl-transitions-impress.html
PDF/A Support in OpenOffice.org
The first release candidate for OpenOffice.org 2.4 has just been released. One of the key new features is the built-in PDF/A export capability. The new Chart features are very cool as well! Please check if the release candidate is good enough for being promoted to a final version!
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/pdf_a_support_in_openoffice
I’ve had a long phone conversation with Sam Ramji today. It was plagued by some bandwidth problems on my side (next time I will have a dedicated PC for Skype) but it was definitely constructive for both of us: Microsoft and Associazione PLIO. We are both committed to start working about and around interoperability, maintaining our respective independence and therefore our different views on some issues.
During the call, Sam has pointed out that a very large percentage of OpenOffice.org users (close to 90%? maybe, although every Linux user and an increasing number of Mac users adopt it) are also Windows users (from the emails and phone calls that we receive on a daily basis, I would dare to say that all the Italians that use Vista have already switched to OpenOffice.org).
Therefore, interoperability is a key factor for Microsoft, because a malfunctioning OpenOffice.org on Windows would raise question marks about the operating system, and is a key factor for OpenOffice.org, because there are areas where performances can be improved with a better understanding of Windows.
Then there are document formats. During the recent press conference, Microsoft has stated the following:
To promote user choice among document formats, Microsoft will design new APIs for the Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications in Office 2007 to enable developers to plug in additional document formats and to enable users to set these formats as their default for saving documents.
Unfortunately, only a few people understand the implications of standard document formats for the user. During the last couple of weeks I have talked with many Italian journalists about this subject, and I have realized that their knowledge is still limited and sometimes even confused. We have a long education process in front of us.
Given this limited understanding, the chaos around standard formats has raised more than one eyebrow in those who have followed the discussion on the press. It’s time to stop being negative and start being positive, for the sake of the user.
Tags: Linux, openofficeOrvieto has submitted a proposal to organize the OpenOffice.org Conference in 2008.
I quote John McCreesh:
I believe one European bid this year stands above the others, which is the bid from Italy. I believe the combination of an experienced organising team, a delightful warm location, and a thriving local community would be hard to beat. I would urge anyone wanting an OOoCon in Europe this year to unite behind Orvieto.
Voting is open to all individuals who were registered as members of the Community on January 1st 2008. If you happen to be one of them, please go to this page and pay your duty.
Today, we have decided to follow yesterday’s Microsoft announcement with an open letter to the company. This is my translation into English of the text (unfortunately, some of the extra care put in each word gets lost, but the meaning is there).
Welcome, Microsoft.
Following yesterday’s announcement, we are ready to co-operate at the promotion of open formats in order to support this new endeavour in the area of office suites. We are ready to co-operate, but we will criticize you for every uncertain or false step.
Inside interoperability there isn’t any space left for tricks: interoperability means that you have chosen to be on the same side of the users.
We believe in your good faith more than the European Commission does, as they have told the world that this is the fourth time that Microsoft makes an announcement about interoperability, without any impact - until today - on the company strategy.
We sincerely hope that this time, for a number of reasons - including our proactive opposition to the fast track standardization of Office 2007 file formats, which will go on until all the necessary changes will be made, the chances that mere words are going to translate into facts are higher than in the past.
At the same time, we invite all the companies that support the ODF format together with us - and those that belong to the OpenOffice.org community: Sun, IBM, Novell & Red Flag - to work for a full interoperability, as the technical and legal obstacles are going to disappear soon.
Users should be able to exchange transparently Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org documents, in both directions.
The software industry, which is not based just in Redmond, must demonstrate a true commitment to make ODF a more widespread format.
If this will happen, users will win, and the market - i.e., all of us - will win.
Associazione PLIO (Italian National Linguistic Project OpenOffice.org)
We know that many inside the community have a different opinion. Of course, we have carefully evaluated the pros and the cons of such a statement, and are quite sure that this is the right attitude for this specific time in the history of computing.
Tags: office suite, Open Document Format, open document format, openoffice, softwareAccording to Alfresco Open Source Barometer (you may find more here and here) OpenOffice.org is alive and well (and almost kicking Microsoft Office on the back in some countries, like Germany and France).
Glyn Moody writes:
One of the most interesting additions to the survey this year is a question about which office suite people use. Overall, OpenOffice.org chalks up a very respectable 24% to Microsoft Office’s 66%. This is a much higher penetration than I would have guessed for open source on the desktop, and suggests that among those adopting open source programs OpenOffice.org is doing really well – pretty much at the Firefox level of success. Sadly, the same cannot be said of the UK, which manages only 18% compared to France’s 28% and Germany’s 34% (the latter probably boosted, again, by the historical roots of OpenOffice.org in the German StarOffice suite, later sold to Sun).
I’ve asked Ian Howells of Alfresco some additional information about Italy. Of course, as soon as I will get them, I will write at least a post, but most probably a press release for the Italian press.
Tags: office suite, Open Source, openofficeApologies. On September 18, 2007, while announcing OpenOffice.org 2.3 we boldly stated that during the following 6 months the software would have been downloaded by one million people.
At the time, it was a brave announcement, as the previous million of downloads took exactly nine months, from January 18 to September 17, 2007, and the total of the previous 30 days was a meager 116.405 downloads.
And, in fact, we were wrong, as it took only 151 days (i.e., four months and 28 days) to get to that threshold: on Friday the 15th of February, OpenOffice.org in italian got to 1.001.185 downloads, at a daily average of 6.742,82 since September 18.
At the current rate, we are close to 2,5 million downloads per year, and again, today we boldly state that we will hit the 3 million mark before the end of december.
These are the two histograms that represent the number of downloads of OpenOffice.org 2.3 (and 2.3.1) in Italian since September 18, 2007, and the number of downloads of OpenOffice.org in Italian during the last 365 days (running rate as of today). We’re growing.
Just as a reference, in 2007 (365 days, or twelve full months) the trial version of Microsoft Office 2007 in Italian has been downloaded one million times (the press release is in Italian).
Announcements
OpenOffice.org Community Innovation Program
"On 7 December 2007, Sun Microsystems Inc. announced a new million-dollar fund to foster innovation in six of the open-source projects it
sponsors and contributes to. We are pleased to report that OpenOffice.org was included. The contest, which we have titled the OpenOffice.org Community Innovation Program, commences tomorrow, 30 January, and we invite OpenOffice.org Community members to participate".
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=announce&msgNo=350
OOoCon 2008 Call for Location - deadline extended
"Last month we set a deadline of January 31st for the receipt of proposals for hosting the OpenOffice.org Annual Conference 2008 - see http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=announce&msgNo=345. In response to a number of requests from organising teams, we have agreed to put back the deadline to midnight UTC February 10th. We will aim to open the community voting process a few days later, and announce the winning bid on March 1st".
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=announce&msgNo=349
Fosdem 2008
"Fosdem 2008 (23-24 February, Brussels, Belgium) [0] is legendary for being a focused and exciting developer and contributor conference. This year, it will host a Developer Room (DevRoom) for OpenOffice.org from 23-24 Feb. (the weekend). The purpose of the Developer Room is to give developers and other contributors the space and time to present and conduct workshops on OpenOffice.org and related technologies. We will have this room for the weekend, from morning to evening. All interested are welcome to participate, and if you have a new integration, extensions, add-on or functionality, here is your chance: you are invited!".
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?list=announce&msgNo=348
Success Stories
Sears starts selling $199 PC
"I just learned that the large retailer Sears just started selling $199 PC’s (after $100 mail-in rebate) which have Freespire pre-installed. As can be read on the Freespire homepage, this means that buyers of this PC will get access to the Sun StarOffice software. Since Freespire is Linspire’s free offering, I guess people have to pay in order to get StarOffice, but AFAIK Freespire also allows includes OpenOffice.org as a free option. This is yet another example of a major retailer selling low-cost PC’s with an ODF implementation pre-installed, or at least very closely attached. BTW, I just learned that the Eee PC will start selling in Germany on January 24. I’m anxious to get my hands on one of those little guys."
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/sears_starts_to_sell_199
Indian organization saving money with OpenOffice.org
"Umashankar says that his office uses the Openoffice.org suite. This saves them close to Rs 12,000 on each desktop. We buy Intel dual core desktops with 19" TFT monitors for Rs 21,600 including the Linux OS. If we bought a proprietary office suite at Rs 12,000 for each desktop, the cost of commissioning infrastructure would go up to Rs 33,600 - a 55 percent increase", he says. "And when you have to refresh over 30,000 PCs, that’s a figure that can add up: to about Rs 17 crore. And that’s not all. These figures don’t take into account software upgrades for applications. By using the free Openoffice.org suite and a Linux OS, Elcot has bypassed yearly licensing fees for proprietary software".
http://www.itbusiness.ca/it/client/en/home/News.asp?id=46692
Lenovo now also pre-installing Linux and OpenOffice.org, too
"I just read this article. Apparently Lenovo will pre-install Linux and OpenOffice.org, too. I wonder what high-profile hardware vendor comes next!?".
http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/01/now_lenovo_load.html
Yet another cheap laptop with OpenOffice.org pre-installed
"Measuring 9" in length and 2 pounds in weight, the Everex CloudBook caters to users seeking the latest in mobile computing. With its 1.2GHz VIA C7-M ULV mobile processor, the laptop averages 5 hours of battery life on a 4-cell, lithium-ion battery. Unlike many of its competitors, the CloudBook also features 30GB of internal storage, digital video output (DVI-I), 4-in-1 card reader and 1.3MP webcam.
…
The CloudBook, model CE1200V, showcases the Linux based gOS operating system and familiar applications from Mozilla, Skype, Google, Facebook, Faqly and OpenOffice.org. Available January 25th, the computer will be available at Walmart.com for $399". The full announcement can be found here. I’m pretty sure that all these low-cost laptops will increase the global acceptance and market share
of open source desktop software like OpenOffice.org. As a consequence, the OpenDocument Format (ODF) will become increasingly popular, too.
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/yet_another_cheap_laptop_with
Alternatives to Word and Windows at Israeli schools
"Even the unadventurous Israeli education system may soon discover that there is (computerized) life after Microsoft. The country’s schools will forgo Word and Windows in favor of parallel programs from Sun Microsystems. For the first time, the education system’s tenders committee has authorized cooperation in principle with Sun, in a move that could undermine Microsoft’s sovereignty in Israeli
classrooms".
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/939224.html
Usage of OpenOffice.org in Vietnam
"Weeks ago, the Ministry of Information and Communication recommended a list of open software solutions for use in State agencies and the education sector, comprising Open Office, Thunderbird, Firefox and Unikey. In the same gesture, the Office of the Vietnam Communist Party has announced it has replaced Microsoft Office by Open Office, and by the end of 2008, all 20,000 desktops at Party organs throughout Vietnam will be installed with Open Office. Other state agencies like the Department of Post and Telematics of Khanh Hoa Province, and three departments of Trade, Science and Technology, and Post and Telematics in HCMC are using Open Office on a trial basis. After this stage, HCMC agencies will expand the trial use of this open source software to three more departments and five districts in the first half of this year. An official of the HCMC Department of Post and Telematics says that the trial time shows that Open Office meets the requirements of the department".
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2008/01/762523/
Featured News
French Gendarmerie Adopts Ubuntu
"The gendarmerie’s 70,000 desktops currently use Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system. But these will progressively change over to the Linux system distributed by Ubuntu, explained Colonel Nicolas Geraud, deputy director of the gendarmerie’s IT department. "We will introduce Linux every time we have to replace a desktop computer," he said, "so this year we expect to change 5,000-8,000 to Ubuntu and then 12,000-15,000 over the next four years so that every desktop uses the Linux operating system by 2013-2014". There are three reasons behind the move, Geraud said at the Solution Linux 2008 conference here. The first is to diversify suppliers and reduce the force’s reliance on one company, the second is to give the gendarmerie mastery of the operating system and the third is cost, he said".
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iU4Lq7tOR_WVOJLZ3IeRaIH03×6w
"Open source software has the ability to change the face of the Education Industry"
"A number of education institutions around the globe are looking towards open source software (OSS) as a means to gain more control over their solutions. From this a new report by independent market analyst Datamonitor predicts that spend on OSS (including maintenance and services) by the Education sector globally will reach $489.9 million by 2012, compared to $286.2 million today, providing sizeable opportunities for technology vendors".
Advice for the Dutch public sector on Open Source
"The programme OSOSS informs and advises the Dutch public sector about the possibilities of open source software and stimulates the use of open source software in their information systems. The acronym OSOSS stands for “Open Source as an Option in your Software Strategy”. The OSOSS programme offers concrete support by providing information, knowledge and instruments that governmental bodies can use to start using open source software. The programme is run by the foundation for
e-government, ICTU, on request by the Ministries of the Interior and of Economic Affairs".
http://www.ososs.nl/about_ososs
Tips & Tricks
Alternative to Endnote (bibliography / citation)
"I just found out about Citavi. Citavi is an alternative to bibliography / citation tools like Endnote. Currently, Citavi is only available in German, but I guess the company is willing to add more languages based on user feedback. Thus, send your language and feature requests per email to Citavi! The interesting thing about Citavi is that there is a free entry version of Citavi which should be sufficient for the needs of most students, at least for the first years.
…
Have you heard of Zotero? Zotero is a Firefox extension for managing bibliographies that has a "cite as you write" extension for OOo. It works great, is cross-platform (Linux, OS X, and Windows all supported), and, most importantly, it has a Free software license.
Zotero incorporates the open standard CSL citation language developed by the co-leader of the OOo bibliographic project team (OOoBib), Bruce D’Arcus, who recommends Zotero for everyday use:
http://www.mail-archive.com/dev@bibliographic.openoffice.org/msg00896.html"
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/alternative_to_endnote_bibliography
New Chart features in OpenOffice.org 2.4
"Now, it is possible to display the equation for a trend line (regression curve) next to it. The formula object can be moved around, formatted with a number format, font and graphical formatting.
…
Axes can be reversed, i.e. they point in a different than usual direction. In the example the y-axis points down from the top, instead of the usual orientation.
…
You can set individual number formats for the value displayed in a data label, as well as for the percentage".
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/new_chart_features_in_openoffice
Improved picture cropping for Draw/Impress
" Of course there is an existing OpenOffice.org Issue for this (i3545) and in my daily work I get a lot of feedback from users who need and want this functionality, too. But unfortunately our developers are busy with more important features. So I decided to specify the needed redesign in my free time and I found a developer who saw the same need for this improvement. Christian Lippka from the Graphics team supported me and helped in his free time to get this working. Great job, thanks again! By now there is a quite good beta version implemented in CWS cropmaster2000 and there is not much work left to be done. So I hope soon this will make its way into the master build. And this is how it works: Selecting an inserted picture brings up the picture toolbar. Clicking on the cropping-button brings up 8 blue object-handles on the sides and angles of the picture. Moving the mouse cursor over these handles shows the cropping cursor. Now you can easily grab one of those and crop the picture by dragging these handles. It’s as simple as that and works in Draw and Impress".
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/improved_picture_cropping_for_draw
Macros in Database Documents – Milestone 1
A while ago, I talked about macros in database documents, and that we had finished the work to re-factor various parts of OpenOffice.org’s application and scripting frameworks, so that we could start embarking upon implementing the real feature: Basic macros as well as JavaScript, BeanShell and Python scripts embedded in database documents. Nearly 3 months passed, and what I now want to advertise is the first milestone of this implementation: If you’re interested in, you can get your hands onto a version of OpenOffice.org which allows you to put your macros into your database document, and then run those macros from all sub components of the database: from within your forms, reports, the query, table and relation designer, and from within the table data view. Well, of course also from within the database document itself. The CWS which is dedicated to implementing the feature is called odbmacros2, and a snapshot of it is available to everybody for download, as Linux and as Windows version. For the details of what you can expect, please refer to the feature specification in our Wiki, and to the release notes in the download directory.
http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/macros_in_database_documents_milestone
ODF News
Arcor introducing web conferencing with ODF support
"According to this German article, Arcor is introducing a new phone and web conferencing solution which supports sharing ODF documents among participants".
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/arcor_introducing_web_conferencing_with
Yet another reporting tool with ODF support
"Adding FastReport VCL to your application is a breeze. You need to put several necessary components on the visual form, then connect to needed data sources and make a report form. It’s as easy as working in Corel Draw. The end user who got FastReport VCL in an application can edit templates and available reports, convert reports to 15 formats (such as PDF, XLS, RTF, and ODF), and send reports by email directly from the application".
http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/538737
Book about ODF vs. OOXML discussions
"This article reminded me that I had not written about Andy Updegrove’s book project. I’m sure it will be an interesting story!".
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/book_about_odf_vs_ooxml
ODF Alliance Publishes Response to Burton Group Report
"In case you had not noticed, the ODF Alliance just published a response to the recent Burton Group report".
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/odf_alliance_publishes_response_to
Poll regarding ODF and OOXML
"Here is an interesting poll regarding ODF and OOXML. I’m curious about the results!".
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/poll_regarding_odf_and_ooxml
Dispelling Myths Around ODF
"Yes, ODF 1.0 did not specify a formula language but allowed arbitrary formula languages instead. This was recognized as an interoperability issue and is thus being addressed by ODF 1.2. However, many ODF 1.0 based products from different vendors even don’t have an interoperability issue in the formula area because they are based on the same code base. It would have been fast and easy to define a formula language by simply documenting the formula language of one single application. However, ODF chose to specify formulas based on broad industry experience and best practices.
The formula language in ODF 1.2 is based on the following applications:
- Microsoft Excel (many different versions)
- OpenOffice.org / StarOffice
- Lotus 1-2-3
- Quattro Pro
- Gnumeric
- Koffice Kspread
- WikiCalc
- SheetToGo
- Mathematica
- Macsyma
- Octave
And the key benefits of the ODF 1.2 formula language are:
- Broad application coverage, incl. Microsoft Excel, Lotus 1-2-3 and OpenOffice.org
- Innovative functions, e.g. XOR, BASE, SEC, etc.
- Reuse of standards, e.g. ISO 8610 date and time representation
- Support for supplier-unique namespaces, enables rapid, decentralized innovation
- Avoids bugs like the „1900 leap year bug“
- No limitation to the number of rows and columns
- No constraints on the user interface
- Predefined function sets for different application areas
Thus, the ODF 1.2 formula language covers all key areas without sacrificing vendor independence and openess".
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/dispelling_myths_around_odf
Becta supporting ODF
"I guess you have all read the news articles about the latest Becta report about Vista and Office 2007. It is great to see that Becta is supporting ODF. In case you haven’t seen the report yet, you can find it here".
http://blogs.sun.com/dancer/entry/becta_supporting_odf
New ODF-XSLT Project
"Lone Wolves is happy to announce the ODF-XSLT project. The ODF-XSLT Document Generator is a library written in PHP 5 that brings the full power of XSLT to your OpenDocument files".
http://www.linuxpr.com/releases/10303.html
ODF making ‘amazing progress’
"Twelve countries and six regional governments have adopted "pro-ODF policies," according to the group, composed of companies and organisations that advocate for the format. The latest countries are the Netherlands and South Africa, which require government agencies to use the format. Also, more than 40 applications now support ODF and the Alliance’s membership ranks are set to rise above 500, according to the report".
http://www.computerworlduk.com/toolbox/opensource/applications/news/index.cfm?newsid=6851
Blogging has never been so popular inside the OOo Community. During last week, Florian Effenberg - Marketing Project Co-Lead - has put together the OOo Marketing Blog, and John McCreesh - Marketing Project Lead - has doubled with the Marketing Planet, the aggregator of OOo related feeds in English.
I’m a contributor of the marketing blog, and the feed of this blog gets aggregated into the planet. There is a side effect, though: if I don’t pay attention, as it happened today, when I was carried away by the enthusiasm of having two marketing tools to play with, and I posted here (deleted) and there, and doubled here on the planet.
Apologies, I will improve my skills.
Tags: marketing, openoffice