Hi,
I try to migrate to dbmail-pgsql 1.2.1-1 on Debian unstable. I installed
and configured dbmail without any problems. During moving my Maildir to
dbmail I got such error messages for some mails:
Dec 26 23:39:20 hurd postgres[19187]: [3] ERROR: Invalid UNICODE
character sequence found (0xe46269)
Dec 26 23:39:20 hurd dbmail/smtp[19186]: insert_messages(): error
inserting msgblock
Dec 26 23:39:20 hurd postgres[19187]: [4] LOG: pq_recvbuf: unexpected
EOF on client connection
You can find one of them attached to this mail (it is a newsletter from
openoffice.org). Some others contain 8-bit Russian KOI8-R text. The
attached mail uses
Content-type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252; format=flowed
Content-transfer-encoding: 8BIT
So, with high probability it can not be inserted into the UNICODE
database without any conversion. I believe the solution is to convert
all incoming mails to the UNICODE. Dbmail does not.
1. Is there any tool around, which you can recommend to convert
correctly all incoming mails to UNICODE?
2. Shouldn't dbmail do this job himself? I think it is job of dbmail,
because I get the same problem when I try to move mail message between
imap servers using Mozilla-mail, where source is courier-imap and target
dbmail-imap.
--
Best regards, Sergey Spiridonov
A: No
Q: Should I quote below my post?
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Subject: [ooo-announce] OpenOffice.org Newsletter - October 2003 - Volume 1 -
Issue 4
#########################################################################
OPENOFFICE.ORG NEWSLETTER
Volume 01 - Issue 4 - 10/2003
#########################################################################
Highlights in this Newsletter
#########################################################################
* More that 20,400,000 have downloaded OpenOffice.org so far
(as of September 27, 2003).
* The Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry has chosen OpenOffice.org
* Nine German cities poised to adopt Linux
* OpenOffice.org 1.1 released
"fast to use once they're running, and really well designed. It's
professional quality software, available for multiple platforms, for
free. My sole Windows machine is now no more than a games console."
* Sun announced StarOffice 7 and the Java Desktop System
(formerly known as project "Mad Hatter")
* 45,0 % of the respondents in a German online survey (Computerwoche)
say that their company will switch to StarOffice or OpenOffice.org
instead of Office 2003
* StarOffice reviews
"Sun StarOffice 7 is an outstanding value"
"Overall you'll get the most for your money from either StarWriter
or TextMaker, depending on your needs."
"Word 2003 is not only inferior to WordPerfect 2002, but it's not even
any better than Word XP and it can't hold its own against
StarWriter 6.1."
* Office 2003 reviews
"Nope, it's the older relatives of Office 2003 that are stabbing it in
the back by refusing to go away and by being every bit as good as 2003
in everything that matters to businesses."
"In Office 2003, Microsoft has made shockingly few changes to Word,
Excel and PowerPoint."
Announcements
#########################################################################
OpenOffice.org
==============
OpenOffice.org 1.1 released
---------------------------
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?msgId=848545&listName=announce
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?msgId=848639&listName=announce
Features:
http://www.openoffice.org/dev_docs/features/1.1/
Press and media coverage:
http://news.google.com/news?q=OpenOffice&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&sa=G&edition=us&scoring=d
http://news.google.de/news?q=OpenOffice&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF-8&sa=G&edition=de&scoring=d
Quote from discussion on Slashdot:
"I got one of the very first copies of StarOffice 5.0b when Sun bought
and released it for free. It very quickly got renamed 5.1, and I
tentatively recommended it to a client as a means to solving their
office-suite-on-xterm problem. Ended up having to support the evil
bastard package as a result. Horrible, horrible thing it was. 5.2 was
identical, except with slightly fewer bugs.
OpenOffice.org was born, and I ran screaming. Occasionally I'd drop in
and check out the current release (around the 0.300 to 0.500 mark), and
find that they had gone light years beyond SO5.2, but still had at least
that far to go.
When Sun announced that SO6.0 was coming out, I started to check out the
OO releases again, and found a passable package. Slow slow slow (still),
but actually usable and convenient.
SO-6.0/OO-1.0.1 was a decent product. I used it regularly, learned to
deal with its quirks (no anti-aliased fonts on Solaris--ugh!), and was
relatively happy.
Then came the StarOffice 6.1 beta program, which I was a part of. That's
when I fell in love, or at least like. StarOffice 7.0 (formerly 6.1) or
OpenOffice 1.1.0 are GREAT packages, at long last! Slow to start up, but
fast to use once they're running, and really well designed. It's
professional quality software, available for multiple platforms, for
free. My sole Windows machine is now no more than a games console.
This is a happy day folks! We finally have a complete non-MS desktop!"
OpenOffice.org Community Council is now formed
----------------------------------------------
Five Project Leads (From Accepted Projects):
Louis Suarez-Potts, Martin Hollmichel, Matthias Huetsch, Sam Hiser,
Kevin Hendricks
Two Native-Language Representatives (From Native-Lang Projects):
Pavel Janik, Sophie Gautier
One Community Contributor Representative (At large):
C.P. Hennessy
One Sun Staff Member:
Stefan Taxhet
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?msgId=841773&listName=announce
Announcing CLI-UNO language binding
-----------------------------------
"We are pleased to provide a preview of the CLI-UNO language binding.
It gives developers the possibility to write client programs for
OpenOffice.org, as well as stand-alone UNO applications, with CLI
languages, such as C# and VB.NET."
http://www.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?msgId=832179&listName=announce
QA project promoted from incubator to Accepted Projects Category
----------------------------------------------------------------
The mission statement of the QA Project is clear: "To provide an easy
way for volunteers to find, update and better define issues, and to define
test processes to validate a build of the Office Suite." Over the last
year or so, led by Michael Bemmer, Gordon Shum, and Scott Carr, it has
more than done this, and it has become OpenOffice.org's primary site for
anyone wanting to find and fix bugs, test new builds, and ensure that the
builds we offer to the OpenOffice.org community are solid.
In fact the project is so important to the OpenOffice.org community that
last month it was unanimously voted into the Accepted Projects Category,
which gives the project the official authority it has earned and
automatically makes the leads eligible for Community Council election.
But this achievement is only a start. The QA project needs more people
to go through the bug reports and enhancement requests filed each day
by OpenOffice.org's hundred thousand members. If you would like to help,
please join the project.
QA Project: http://qa.openoffice.org/
Sun announced StarOffice 7 and the Java Desktop System
(formerly known as project "Mad Hatter")
======================================================
http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/media/presskits/networkcomputing03q3/index.html
Product Highlights
#########################################################################
Advantages of the StarOffice/OpenOffice.org open XML file format
----------------------------------------------------------------
* open
- 500-page specification document available at http://xml.openoffice.org
- no undocumented proprietary elements (no lock-in)
- basis for OASIS Open Office XML Format standardization effort
- leverages established standards like Dublin Core, XSL-FO, XLink,
SVG and HTML
- file format allows to add features to the productivity applications
without having to break the file format compatibility
* universal, multi-purpose file format
- XML file format is default file format
(users don't have to choose to save to XML)
- all applications use the same XML file format
(word processor, spreadsheet AND presentation)
- files include the full document information
(content, meta data, macros AND formatting information)
- not limited for usage with specific business applications
* small file size
- ZIP compression
(native support for ZIP format in tools like Perl, Ant and most
operating systems, e.g. Windows XP, Linux, Solaris)
- images included as native files instead of Base64 encoded ASCII data
* separation of content/data and formatting information
- separate XML files for content, meta data, styles and macros
in XML file
- content file includes assigned style names but no style details
* full XML support in all "editions"
- same XML file format for free OpenOffice.org office suite
and commercial StarOffice product
- platform independent XML file format (Windows, Linux, Solaris)
* XSLT based XML filter tool for standards based interoperability
- allows import and export of 3rd party file formats using
XSL transformations (e.g. Office 2003 XML file formats)
* 3rd party support
- future versions of KOffice will use the OASIS XML file format
as the default file format
- the cross-industry OASIS technical committee members are
defining the future of the OASIS XML file format
(not just one single vendor)
Statistics
#########################################################################
OpenOffice.org
==============
Highlights
----------
* More that 20,400,000 have downloaded OpenOffice.org
so far (as of September 27, 2003).
* About 4,000,000 people downloaded OpenOffice.org in
just the last quarter.
* The OpenOffice.org project has more than 13,700
unique people subscribed to the mailing lists
(as of September 27, 2003). This is about 3% more
than in the previous month.
* 315 people and companies have signed a JCA and are thus
either already contributing or considering to do so
(as of October 1, 2003). Compared to the previous month
this is a 7.5 percent growth rate.
* 1028 people have participated in the OOo developer
survey so far (as of October 6, 2003). This is about
5% more than last month. A detailed analysis will
be provided in one of the next newsletters.
* 708 messages were sent to the dev@api.openoffice.org
mailing list in August. This is again a new record!
User survey data
----------------
The number of people who filled out the OpenOffice.org user
survey is increasing very fast. A comparison of the first
six days of each months shows that in October the number
was almost twice as high as in September. This peak was
probably caused by the OpenOffice.org 1.1 announcement.
July 1-6, 2003: 3266
Aug 1-6, 2003: 3573 (+ 9.4%)
Sept 1-6, 2003: 4693 (+ 31.3%)
Oct 1-6, 2003: 8292 (+ 76.7%)
---
Operating systems occurence (in various combinations)
among 277398 respondents:
OS TOTAL %
Win 2000 79115 28.52%
Win NT 16014 5.77%
Win XP 124293 44.80%
Win 98 ME 82228 29.64%
Win 95 9422 3.39%
Linux Intel 120602 43.47%
Linux PowerPC 10097 3.63%
Linux ARM 3494 1.25%
Linux Alpha 2065 0.74%
FreeBSD 6570 2.36%
NetBSD 902 0.32%
OpenBSD 2348 0.84%
Mac OS 17882 6.44%
solaris 8774 3.16%
BeOS 1997 0.71%
Irix 1376 0.49%
Tru64 784 0.28%
other 6995 2.52%
---
Native Languages of OOo users
No answer 17809
Arabic ar 397
Catalan ca 1382
Chinese zh-cn 3486
Chinese zh-tw 2651
Danish da 2958
Dutch nl 9179
English en 104057
Estonian et 1132
Finnish fi 3265
French fr 19535
German de 40475
Greek el 1101
Hungarian hu 2194
Italian it 10910
Japanese ja 6504
Korean ko 496
Polish pl 7387
Portuguese pt 2005
Portugues do Brasil br 9655
Russian ru 3875
Slovenian sl 981
Spanish es 13168
Swedish sv 2822
Thai th 132
Turkish tr 1246
Other 8596
TOTAL answers: 277398
---
21. Where are you primarily using OpenOffice.org ?
[Multiple choice]
35% - use OOo at work
70,2% - use OOo at home
6.37% - use OOo in school
0.96% - Not aplicable
9.4% - have not responded at all
Using OOo Exclusively in one single place:
Work - 17.37%
Home - 49.8%
School - 1.71%
---
20.How long have you been using OpenOffice.org?
[Single choice]
17.77% - use OOo for over 1 year
10.83% - 6-12 months
59.4% - Less than 6 months
12% - have not responded to this question
---
32. Would you like to be included in our mailing list for
announcements, updates, volunteer requests (you can unsubscribe
anytime later) ?
[Single choice]
51% - YES
25% - NO
1% - I am already a part/member of the OpenOffice.org team.
23% - No response
---
31. If you would like to help/participate what would you like to do
most ?
[Multiple choices]
13.3% - 35905 - Translation
16.2% - 43698 - Promotion
10.8% - 29362 - Programming
10.6% - 28602 - Distribution
35.8% - 96706 - Testing
15.4% - 41785 - I would not participate
36.2% - 97858 - No answer
Success Stories and References
#########################################################################
United Kingdom
==============
RSPCA evaluates Penguin for its desktops
----------------------------------------
"We had to swallow the increased cost of Microsoft's software licensing
recently but we can't justify that level of expenditure on software
rather than preventing animal cruelty," Chris Rolfe, network manager at
the RSPCA, told vnunet.com.
He said the charity was looking towards using Linux on the desktop within
12 months."As well as the software cost benefits we feel that moving to
Linux will help us get more out of our hardware.
http://www.computing.co.uk/News/1143584
Jessops (Europe) - purchases 250 StarOffice licences
----------------------------------------------------
"250 licenses doesn't seem too impressive at first, but this actually puts
StarOffice in *every single* retail store for all UK employees except their
head office."
[Source: Sun Microsystems, Inc.]
Italy
=====
"Hi,
thanks to the collaboration between the PLIO (OpenOffice.org Italian Lang
Project), Free Software Foundation Italy, and ASSOLI (Italian Free Software
Association), OOo has been officially listed as alternative Office Suite
in an
administrative act directed to all Italian schools.
This act was originally thought for the introduction of the Sun's School
Initiative in Italy, but now has been extended to OOo in all those cases
where
StarOffice license is not applicable (i.e, when PCs are shared by
students and
other people, when the students want to "play" with the sources, etc).
Students in Italy are more than 8.000.000.
The PLIO will start soon a project with some local CD-ROM distributors in
order to supply OOo to all students (or schools) who may request it.
Regards,
Gianluca"
France
======
The Ministry of Economy, Finance and Industry has chosen to fit out the
desktops of central administration agents with OpenOffice.org. From the
beginning of 2003, all new computers provided to agents in Bercy (Paris)
have been equipped with this free office software. In all, 8000 desktops
are involved. The decision resulted from recommendations of the internal
work team, Normes and Standard, situated in the Ministerial Informatique
Shema's and is intended to establish a commitment to open standards for
the desktop.
While the choice of OpenOffice.org was mainly determined by financial
considerations, there are undeniably other advantages.
. The use of a standard file format enabling free document exchange
(standardised by Oasis)
. independence, stability and permanence of file format due to the lack
of privileged links with a vendor, particular software or its release.
. native XML file format, accessible without any restrictions easing
interoperability between this application and other information
systems
. MS Office file format compatibility
. Global reduction of the software costs,
. The ability to distribute the software freely to anyone who needs it.
A training session has been organised for the new term 2003.
Germany
=======
StarOffice 6.0 on Notebooks sold at major retail chain in Germany
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Most people won't be able to read the article below because
it is in German, but according to the article Tchibo will
sell multi-media notebooks at EUR 899 in all their stores.
Windows XP Home and StarOffice 6.0 will be preinstalled.
This is a huge win, because Tchibo is a retail chain where
you can buy coffee and bakery. You find at least one Tchibo
shop in every German city with a population higher than maybe
10,000. Besides, Tchibo always has very attractive deals.
This offer could give StarOffice quite a big boost in Germany,
because some people might find StarOffice 6.0 "good enough" for
their work.
Having StarOffice notebooks at Tchibo is like selling them
at Starbucks in the US!
[Information provided by Erwin Tenhumberg]
German article:
http://www.computerwoche.de/index.cfm?pageid=254&artid=52893
Nine German cities poised to adopt Linux
----------------------------------------
"The cities are among the largest in the state of Rheinland Pfalz:
Alzey, Kaiserslautern, Koblenz, Landau, Mainz, Neustadt, Speyer,
Trier and Worms.
Should they dump Microsoft for open source, they would join two other
cities that have already made the move: Schwäbisch Hall and Munich.
While Schwäbisch Hall, a community of 36,000 in southern Germany,
has decided to build its entire IT infrastructure on the open-source
Linux operating system, replacing Windows from Microsoft, Munich,
the capital city of the state of Bavaria, will equip all of the
14,000 computers in its public administration with Linux and other
open-source office applications."
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/09/17/HNgermanlinux_1.html
Austria
=======
City of Vienna may substitute Linux for Microsoft
-------------------------------------------------
"Microsoft Corp. may lose 15,000 customers for its Windows operating
system as the Viennese city government considers phasing in Linux
software, a city official said yesterday.
[...]
In May, the city government in Munich, Germany, decided to switch
14,000 computers to the freely distributed software."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/139017_msftvienna11.html
South Africa
============
Start-up solutions beat rising software costs
---------------------------------------------
"He says the company has put together a rental solution that reduces
start-up costs considerably by using a combination of the Windows
operating system and open-source software such as the StarOffice
office suite.
With StarOffice, a small business will save R4000 (~550 USD) per PC on
the upfront software costs and another R3000 (~400 USD) to R4000 on
recurring annual licence fees, says Coates-Palgrave."
http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/1,3523,1433364-6094-0,00.html
USA
===
Digital River Adds Sun's StarOffice Productivity Suite to Its Online
Reseller Channel
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Digital River(R), Inc. (Nasdaq:DRIV), a global leader in e-commerce
outsourcing, today announced that it signed an agreement to add
StarOffice, Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s suite of office productivity
software to its reseller channel of more than 72,000 executable sku's.
As part of the contract, Digital River will be the only authorized
online distributor of the StarOffice(TM) productivity suite. StarOffice
is now available on well-known retail sites such as BestBuy.com and the
AT&T Software Store, among others."
http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20030917005467&headlineSearchConfigBO=1063818000000%201063833640000%20%20groupByDate%20%201%20-4%201063818000000%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%201000151%20false%20true%20&newsLang=en&beanID=478837757&viewID=news_view
Massachusetts To Move Toward Open-Standards Computing
-----------------------------------------------------
"Massachusetts, the lone holdout state still suing Microsoft Corp. for
antitrust violations, will become the first state to adopt a broad-based
strategy of moving its computer systems toward open standards, including
Linux, the rival operating system to Microsoft's Windows."
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=15200496
New Documents and Collateral
#########################################################################
New book: "501 Things You Wanted to Know About Switching to
OpenOffice.org from Microsoft Office"
-----------------------------------------------------------
"OpenOffice.org (OOo) is an open source replacement for the Microsoft
Office suite. From all accounts, OOo is gaining significant momentum
with over 16 million downloads recorded and countless installations
from CD-ROM according to the OOo Web site. It's also the subject of a
recent book entitled, OOo Switch: 501 Things You Wanted to Know About
Switching to OpenOffice.org from Microsoft Office, reviewed here by
Paul Nowak.
[...]
Overall, OOo sucked me in after just 2 or 3 times using it. I now view
OOo as having a better feature set and a better over-all experince than
MS Office. If MS Office did not have a proprietary closed file format,
OOo would probably be the Office suite of choice."
Awards & Reviews
#########################################################################
NewsForge readers pick their favorite desktop Linux apps
--------------------------------------------------------
"A recent NewsForge story carried a list of my top 10 favorite desktop
apps and asked readers to name theirs. More than a hundred readers
responded with their own lists, which included more than 250 different
applications. Here are the surprising results.
[...]
The next list ranks the top 10 apps based on the points they earned:
1. OpenOffice.org (277 points)
2. Mozilla (263 points)
3. XMMS (262 points)
4. The GIMP (216 points)
5. Konqueror (168 points)
6. Vi/Vim (168 points)
7. Mplayer (156 points)
8. Gaim (144 points)
9. Emacs/Xemacs (139 points)
10. Evolution (124 points)"
Best Office Suite: OpenOffice.org 1.1
-------------------------------------
OfB [Open for Business] Open Choice Awards 2003
http://www.ofb.biz/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=265
Linux Enterprise Reader's Choice 2003
-------------------------------------
Best Office Solution:
1st place - OpenOffice.org
2nd place - StarOffice
StarOffice 7 Review
-------------------
"Considering what you're getting -- an excellent word processor,
spreadsheet and presentation program -- Sun StarOffice 7 is an
outstanding value. No other office suite can match these features
and this functionality for a comparable price. StarOffice 7's
easy-to-use interface, helpful help documentation, flawless Microsoft
Office conversion filters and unique features make it a far more
logical choice for home users than MS Office XP or even the new Office
System 2003.
Business users will have a hard time being disappointed with
StarOffice 7 if they're on a budget and need good office software.
If you're in a shared OS environment where some people in your
company or school are on GNU/Linux and others are on Microsoft
Windows, or if you're transitioning from Windows to GNU/Linux,
StarOffice 7 is the perfect solution because of its cross-platform
compatibility and accomodating license.
The major features that are lacking are a good PIM/email client and
document sharing functions in a group environment. There is an
OpenOffice groupware project in progress, but I don't know what its
exact future is with Sun and StarOffice. Also, personally I would
really like to see StarOffice 7 ports for FreeBSD and OS X, but Sun
says that isn't likely to happen because of the extensive platform
testing that goes into StarOffice."
http://www.thejemreport.com/software/staroffice7.htm
Word Processor Comparison
-------------------------
"Overall you'll get the most for your money from either StarWriter
or TextMaker, depending on your needs. If you have money to burn
and you're using Windows, WordPerfect is the top choice. It's almost,
for lack of a better term, perfect except for its high price, clumsy
.DOC converter and poor platform support. There used to be a GNU/Linux
edition (WP 8) back when Corel was in the Linux business, but they've
since stopped making software for that platform.
Not only is Word no longer necessary, but it's not even the best
choice anymore. Perhaps if it were priced at a third of its current
cost it would be worth it. Word 2003 is not only inferior to
WordPerfect 2002, but it's not even any better than Word XP and it
can't hold its own against StarWriter 6.1. It's more on par with
TextMaker in terms of what it can do, but TextMaker is cheaper and
easier to navigate, making it a more sensible choice for working with
.DOC files.
If you're using OS X there is a separate version of Word specifically
designed for Apple machines, but since I don't have access to an OS X
machine for testing and since it is not terribly different than
Word XP, I decided not to include it in the article."
http://www.thejemreport.com/software/wordprocessors.htm
Avoid the Upgrade Trap
----------------------
"Nope, it's the older relatives of Office 2003 that are stabbing it in
the back by refusing to go away and by being every bit as good as 2003
in everything that matters to businesses.
[...]
In fact, as Jason Brooks correctly notes in his review of Office 2003,
Office 97 was the last new version that was considered a must-upgrade
because it was vastly superior to the previous 6.x Office.
[...]
But if you want my advice, stay out of that trap, for a trap is exactly
what it is. Look closely at some of the cool new features in Office
2003. Almost all of them will require you to upgrade your desktops and
your servers. Almost every cool feature won't work with older versions
of Office."
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1306674,00.asp
Microsoft Office 2003 Reviewed
------------------------------
"In Office 2003, Microsoft has made shockingly few changes to Word,
Excel and PowerPoint. The message seems to be: "You people didn't like
it when we piled on features? O.K., fine. Let's see how you like it
when we add none at all.""
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/25/technology/circuits/25stat.html?ex=1065585600&en=aa84170c1cb75ba7&ei=5070
Developer and Administrator News
#########################################################################
XML Support In Office 2003 Isn't For Everyone
---------------------------------------------
"But analysts contend that WordML's compliance with industry standards
is a misnomer. Because the schema isn't fully documented, people who want
to edit files created in Office 2003 will only be able to do that with
Office itself, as before. Text in Office 2003 files stored in XML format
might be viewable in other desktop programs, but all document formatting
would be lost and most other files would be unreadable."
http://slashdot.org/articles/03/04/13/2031259.shtml?tid=109
Office Politics 2003, Microsoft Style
-------------------------------------
"But according to Joe Wilcox, senior analyst at Jupiter Research,
"Microsoft has limited the XML capabilities in four of the six versions
of Office." The XML is saved using a prorietary schema. "And Microsoft
doesn't fully publish that information," Wilcox told TechNewsWorld.
"That significantly limits portability.""
http://www.ecommercetimes.com/perl/story/31571.html
Database Support in StarOffice
------------------------------
Many StarOffice users do not know that the StarOffice provides database
functionality. StarOffice does not have a separate database application
like Microsoft Access but it has an interface to almost all existing
databases.
StarOffice provides the functionality to create database forms, queries,
reports, but requires an external database server like Adabas, MySQL or
Oracle to store the data.
Beside the ability to connect to database servers, StarOffice has the
capability to use spreadsheets, text files or the address books from LDAP,
Mozilla/Netscape and Windows as data sources. StarOffice provides for all
database types the same look and feel. Thus, it is transparent to the
users what database backend they are using.
More information on :
http://docs.sun.com/db/doc/817-0364?a=load
Linux/OpenOffice.org/StarOffice Market Share
#########################################################################
Office 2003/StarOffice Migration Survey
---------------------------------------
The popular weekly German computer magazine Computerwoche is
currently conducting an online survey. Everybody can participate
and thus the data does not necessarily reflect the reality, but it's
still interesting.
The question they ask is:
"Is your company planning to switch to Office 2003/Office
System in the foreseeable future?"
[" Wird Ihr Unternehmen in absehbarer Zeit auf Office 2003/
Office System migrieren?"]
We will switch to StarOffice/OOo 45,0 % (183)
Yes, we will switch from version 95/97 2,0 % (8)
Yes, we will switch from version 2000/XP 13,0 % (53)
No 40,0 % (163)
Total number of responses: 407 (as of October 7, 2003)
URL:
http://www.computerwoche.de/umfrage/ergebnisse.cfm
Japan, China, Korea plan joint open-source project
--------------------------------------------------
"A brand new operating system starting from zero is impossible," he said.
"Developing a new operating system is time consuming and very expensive.
In general, it could be based on Linux with some specific functions
added. There are already a lot of Linux engineers out there."
http://www.idg.com.sg/idgwww.nsf/unidlookup/04B8C8F13FF8653148256D98002BC4A2?OpenDocument
Competitive/Market Info
#########################################################################
GNOME-Office 1.0 Released
-------------------------
"Gnumeric 1.2.0, GNOME's spreadsheet, is designed to be fast, compatible,
and easily extensible. The latest release provides a comprehensive set of
accurate analytics, including a solver, goal seek, iterative expressions
and 100% coverage of MS Excel (tm) worksheet functions. There is also
newly added support for encrypted xls files, Applix 5, PlanPerfect,
Quattro Pro, and OpenOffice import."
http://www.gnomedesktop.org/article.php?sid=1353&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
Sun Adds RealOne to Mad Hatter Docket
-------------------------------------
"Real is currently pushing its open source Helix Player for Linux,
Solaris and UNIX. Real says it aims to develop a player for millions
of users to experience the same richness of its Mac OS X and Windows
clients."
http://www.betanews.com/article.php3?sid=1063015277
Sun and Adobe to Advance Document Workflows on Sun's New
Java(TM) Desktop System
---------------------------------------------------------
"Furthering wide-ranging industry support from
independent software vendors (ISVs) for Sun's new Java(TM) Desktop System,
Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW - News) and Adobe Systems Incorporated
(Nasdaq: ADBE - News), today announced the two companies are working
together to enable users to leverage Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF)
documents in their business-critical processes. Adobe and Sun announced the
completion of an agreement granting Sun the right to redistribute Adobe's
award-winning Adobe(R) Reader(R) software with Sun's Java Desktop System."
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030916/sftu110_1.html
Sun Micro Sees Opportunity in China Software Move
-------------------------------------------------
""As China decides to ban software not developed in China, which is
another way of saying goodbye Microsoft, that means Linux, that means
StarOffice -- the stuff we give away free -- can replace all of
Microsoft's Word," Gage said in an interview."
http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2003/09/08/sun_micro_sees_opportunity_in_china_software_move/
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/applications/0,39020384,39116190,00.htm
http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-5072462.html
Sun Gets Real with Mad Hatter
-----------------------------
"To be a viable alternative to Windows, Sun needs quality multimedia
capability, because streaming has become an integral part of desktop
functionality, said Yankee Group analyst Dana Gardner.
"The more interesting question is whether Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL)
QuickTime will also be a part of Mad Hatter or other desktop Linux
offerings," Gardner said, noting that the end user ideally should be
able to access content in any format with a minimum of hassles.
A decision on accepting QuickTime will indicate whether Apple is
allied with the open source community against the common enemy or is
another competitor. It would also signal closer relationship between
Sun and Apple, said Gardner."
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/22238.html
English version of China's Red Flag Linux due soon
--------------------------------------------------
"The English version of Desktop 4.0 will be the first non-Chinese
commercial product offered by the company and will help Red Flag expand
into international markets, a long-standing goal."
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/09/08/HNenglishredflag_1.html
Microsoft, Be reach antitrust settlement
----------------------------------------
"In its 2002 lawsuit, Be alleged that Microsoft had entered into
anticompetitive agreements with PC makers, effectively blocking its
effort to get its system sold alongside Windows. Microsoft denied
the charge."
http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/legalissues/story/0,10801,84708,00.html
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/030905/tech_micrososft_2.html
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1256905,00.asp
Outfitting Small Business
-------------------------
"On the product front, Microsoft at its Worldwide Partner Conference
next month will release Windows SBS (Small Business Server) 2003 and
Office 2003, versions that are feature-rich for small and midsize
companies. It will expand SBS offerings with a Premium version for
medium-size companies and a Standard version for small companies."
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,4149,1257111,00.asp
Red Hat 9 released to OSS community
-----------------------------------
"Red Hat has announced it is releasing the Red Hat 9 core to the
open source community as part of a new project called Fedora.
In doing so, it allows Red Hat to focus on its core technology
and most profitable area - enterprise software and support.
Red Hat involvement in Project Fedora was similar to the model
of support taken by Sun to the OpenOffice.org application suite,
and Netscape to the Mozilla browser, Red Hat's global support
manager for Asia Pacific, Martin Messer, said.
"It was originally a Red Hat 9 project," he said. "Now it is
released to the open source community. So we are going to let
them [open source community] run with the ball." "
http://www.arnnet.com.au/index.php?id=357123420&fp=16&fpid=0
Works Refreshed for 2004
------------------------
"Microsoft Works, the company's suite of productivity and consumer
software often found on bargain PCs, has been refreshed for 2004.
Billed as an outstanding value by Microsoft, Works lashes together
several popular products for $100 USD.
Works Suite 2004 will ship with a combination of Microsoft Word 2002
and its custom database software, as well as Money Standard 2004 and
Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Standard 2004. The suite compliments
work with play; consumer software such as Picture It! Photo Premium 9
and Microsoft Streets & Trips 2004 will be thrown in to sweeten the deal.
http://www.betanews.com/article.php3?sid=1063182581
Sun and AMD to Deliver New Java(TM) Desktop Client for the Enterprise
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"Sun Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW - News) today announced support
of the Java(TM) Desktop System on the AMD Athlon 64 processor,
leveraging the momentum of Sun's Java Desktop System and fulfilling
customer demand for an alternative desktop. Sun will provide both 32-
and 64-bit Java Desktop System support for the AMD Athlon 64 processor
recently announced in San Francisco. Customers in areas such as
manufacturing, call centers and governments will benefit from the
system's increased processing and memory power, and enhanced ability
to process mixed and digital media as well as graphics-intensive
computing."
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030924/sfw076_1.html
Novell Readies Nterprise Linux Services Beta
--------------------------------------------
"Consequent of its recent acquisition of the Ximian brand, Novell has
married the management services of Ximian's Red Carpet with Nterprise.
The final product is set for delivery later this year.
Nterprise is designed to give customers file, directory, print,
management and messaging services in one package. It is compatible
with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SuSE Linux Enterprise Server
distributions.
[...]
The software maker has shied away from its cornerstone NetWare suite,
embracing a new multiplatform strategy that includes Linux and Java."
http://www.betanews.com/article.php3?sid=1063100442
Ximian To Offer Linux .NET Apps This Year
-----------------------------------------
"Components include a .NET virtual machine, two types of class
libraries (.NET-compatible and Unix-specific), C# and VB.Net compilers
and third-party components, such as existing commercial compilers and
development tools."
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/22261.html
Novell to drop ZENworks from Linux tool bundle
----------------------------------------------
"Novell had announced in June that ZENworks would be the management
tool in the Nterprise Linux Services package. "ZENworks would have
worked, but our engineers found Red Carpet was closer to meeting the
needs of our customers," Novell spokesman Kevin Barney said this week
when asked about the change."
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/09/12/HNzenworks_1.html
Novell Delays Linux Services for NetWare
----------------------------------------
"Novell is delaying shipment of its much anticipated Linux Services
for NetWare product until the end of this year, due to a decision to
integrate software code from Ximian, a recently acquired ISV that is
very active in the Linux space.
[...]
The delayed product, known as Novell Nterprise Linux Services, represents
the first step in a plan, unveiled at Novell's BrainShare show last
spring, to make the entire NetWare protocol stack available on Linux as
well as NetWare. Ultimately, in the forthcoming NetWare 7.0 operating
environment, Novell expects to accomplish a port of the Linux kernel
to NetWare. "
Linux Migration
#########################################################################
Microsoft Windows Is A Cheaper Development Environment Than Linux/J2EE
----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Although Gartner's analysis showed that enterprises shifting to Linux
can save $80 on hardware acquisition costs and an average of $74 per
user per year on office productivity software compared to Microsoft's
offerings, he noted that enterprises could see the same cost benefit
simply by shifting from Microsoft Office to the Windows editions of
Sun's StarOffice or the for-free OpenSource.org suite.
"Enterprises need to separate the OS decision and the office
productivity applications decision," he said. "Companies can move
away from Microsoft Office and see some cost benefits, but keep
Windows for the hundreds of other applications they use.""
http://www.internetwk.com/breakingNews/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=14700335
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=14700324
Gartner Counts the Cost of Desktop Linux Migrations
---------------------------------------------------
"There are other reasons for moving to Linux on the desktop than TCO,
however, which do not appear to have been taken into account by Gartner.
In a celebrated move, the City of Munich announced in May that it was
prepared to switch 14,000 desktops from Microsoft Windows to Linux.
Linux was not the cheapest platform for Munich, and details emerged last
month that showed that the $35.7m bid from SuSe Linux AG and IBM Corp
was lower than Microsoft's contract price offers of first $31.9m and
then $23.7m. Munich went with Linux because it said it would provide the
city with more long-term flexibility and freedom."
http://www.cbronline.com/todaysnews/4cd56c1f1e65815c80256d9f0018c1c7
Gartner findings on desktop Linux disputed
------------------------------------------
"Gartner also ignores the fact that the vast majority of office desktop
workers use nothing but Microsoft Office, Microsoft Internet Explorer,
and either Lotus Domino or Microsoft Outlook all day. Each of these has
a more than capable, and in many ways superior native replacement. These
include such applications as Sun StarOffice, Netscape, and (now Novell)
Evolution, respectively."
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/16/1063625013703.html
Windows versus Linux: What works best?
--------------------------------------
"The supplier already has a number of high-profile customers for
StarOffice, its open source-based rival to Microsoft Office, including
the Central Scotland Police and Texas Instruments.
Sun is also keen to offer its software through major PC manufacturers.
In December 2002, it announced that StarOffice would be bundled with
Sony's desktop computer systems in Europe."
http://www.vnunet.com/Analysis/1143712
Danger Zone
-----------
"While Licensing 6.0 may have seemed rational to planners at Microsoft,
it seemed anything but logical to customers who saw the program as a
means of forcing them to upgrade to the latest versions of Windows and
keep the tills ringing at Redmond.
An April 2002 survey of CIOs, CTOs and COOs at 1,500 corporations found
that 37% refused to sign up to Licensing 6.0. The survey, conducted by
Sunbelt Software and researcher Information Technology Intelligence Corp
(ITIC), found 38% of respondents threatening to investigate relevant
alternatives to Windows such as Linux, Unix, Sun Microsystems'
StarOffice and Novell's eDirectory."
http://www.cbronline.com/magazine/56c261d7c664657f80256da6005163fb
Linux Taking Off, And Being Taken Off
-------------------------------------
""More than two dozen nations are considering proposals to promote or
require the use of Linux in government offices" according to Erwin
Gillich, deputy head of the city of Vienna's information technology
unit, which is likely to choose Linux over Windows on 15,000 desktops.
So, who are these nations?"
http://www.it-director.com/article.php?articleid=11271
Security
#########################################################################
Linux vs. Windows Viruses
--------------------------
"There are about 60,000 viruses known for Windows, 40 or so for the
Macintosh, about 5 for commercial Unix versions, and perhaps 40 for Linux.
Most of the Windows viruses are not important, but many hundreds have
caused widespread damage. Two or three of the Macintosh viruses were
widespread enough to be of importance. None of the Unix or Linux viruses
became widespread - most were confined to the laboratory."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/56/33226.html
Eset Co-Sponsors 13th Annual Virus Bulletin International Anti-Virus
Conference & Exhibition
--------------------------------------------------------------------
"Among the many subjects to be discussed at VB 2003 are "Security
Awareness: The Human Factor", "OpenOffice Security", "Real-time
WildList: Measuring Viruses In Real Time", and "Malicious Threats and
Vulnerabilities in Instant Messaging". Eset's Lubos Vrtik will present
the latest research results on the techniques of the code decompilation,
a key tool in virus analysis.
[...]
VB 2003 Toronto will be held at the Fairmont Royal York hotel. Other
major co-sponsors of the conference and exposition are Microsoft,
Computer Associates, and Sophos. For more information about the VB 2003
13th Virus Bulletin International Conference & Exhibition, visit
www.virusbtn.com ."
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/030925/cgth046a_1.html
Glass ceiling
-------------
"With Windows under attack from viruses, could more companies switch
their operations to Linux?"
http://news.independent.co.uk/digital/features/story.jsp?story=441976
Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing Initiative: Users Are Losers (Opinion)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"While many companies use Windows, they can't trust Microsoft to deliver
the best return-on-investment, because the cost of all those patches adds
up. It would cost about $3,300 per corporate server computer to test and
deploy all 72 of the patches Microsoft issued in 2002. For a company
managing 100 computers, that's more than $300,000. Large businesses that
are Microsoft shops -- and most of them are -- run up to a thousand servers
in each Microsoft server group, and a company can have multiple groups.
That adds up to serious money."
http://www.internetweek.com/security02/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=14700184
Microsoft: Asia Windows rival raises fair competition concerns
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Members of Japan's computer and consumer hardware industry --
which includes global heavyweights such as Sony Corp., Matsushita
Electric Industrial Co. and NEC Corp. -- have long searched for an
alternative to Windows, which they contend gives Microsoft too much
control over the PC and electronics industry.
Japanese media have reported that the government would spend $86
million on the project and endorse an open-source forum set up by
Japan's electronics makers.
But Japan's trade minister, Takeo Hirunama, took a different tack
at the ASEAN economics ministers meeting in the Cambodian capital
Phnom Penh by raising security concerns over Microsoft's software.
Citing the recent high-profile virus attacks by the Slammer and
Blaster worms against Windows-based software, Hiranuma told reporters
it would be useful to "pursue a new kind, a different kind, of
software code.""
http://www.computerworld.com/softwaretopics/os/windows/story/0,10801,84661,00.html
Document controls vs net liberties
----------------------------------
"Because they control it they can use it as a way of excluding
competition. If Microsoft refuses to give full details of how the
rights management software works then StarOffice and other
office-compatible systems will simply not be able to read or write
these documents.
The new system also requires us to trust Microsoft to make the system
secure, bug-free and reliable. "
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3089746.stm
Sun Touts Liberty for Digital Rights Management
-----------------------------------------------
"Sun Microsystems Inc hopes to replicate an industry initiative for
federated identity in the field of Digital Rights Management (DRM), to
stymie Microsoft Corp's own controversial plans to control distribution
of electronic content."
http://www.cbronline.com/latestnews/0c6050c7cc37124380256da60018cb81
Solutions
#########################################################################
Samba offers NT 4.0 escape route
--------------------------------
"Microsoft makes a lot of money from SMEs. With Samba 4 you can set up
a small server and provide hundreds of users with authentication, file
and print," says Allison. The savings can be substantial: around $25 per
user for a client access licence, and hundreds of dollars per server.
http://www.it-analysis.com/article.php?articleid=11277
Whining about Wine, crossing off CrossOver Office
-------------------------------------------------
"This whole exercise in Wine and CrossOver Office left me a bit
dispirited. Neither product is really an adequate avenue for running
a wide range of Windows programs under Linux. CrossOver Office is more
polished than Wine, but it's guaranteed to work mostly with Office
applications for which StarOffice and OpenOffice provide similar
functionality. If you truly need to run Windows applications on your
Linux box, try VMware Workstation. At $299, it's a lot more expensive
than the alternatives, but that just demonstrates that with free
software, there's no free lunch."
http://newsforge.com/newsforge/03/09/18/1735203.shtml?tid=11
Business Intelligence
---------------------
"Huntsville, AL May 2, 2003 Applied OLAP, Inc. , a software development
company that caters exclusively to users of the industry-leading Hyperion
Essbase XTD, today announced that it is developing the StarOffice (tm)
Calc Application Add-in for Hyperion Essbase XTD. The Calc Application
is Sun Microsystems spreadsheet component to the StarOffice (tm) [7]
Suite. StarOffice software is an affordable alternative in office
productivity suites that runs on multiple operating systems, including
Solaris(tm) Operating Environment, Microsoft Windows, and Linux.
Tim Tow, President of Applied OLAP, Inc., stated, we anticipate a
growing demand for the new Calc Application Add-in as Hyperion customers
adopt the cost effective StarOffice [7] Suite. Hyperions customer
base includes Sun as well as over 6,000 companies worldwide. Development
of the Calc Application Add-in is a joint effort between Applied OLAP and
Sun. Suns software development group has been working closely with
Applied OLAP in developing the product and Suns finance group is the
products the first customer.
http://www.appliedolap.com/releases/SunRelease.htm
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