So I’m writing this from my N800 at the airport, thinking about the event that happened at Gran Canarias this week. This last day there were mostly talks about the local community in spain. The first talk were abput the Telecentros in Brazil. I was interested about the technical talks but it was really more social. This talk focused about the use of Gnome on this telecentros. But also the way it improves people lives.The earlier night I got to spend a more serious talk with Alberto who were sharing the rather large hotel room that I got. We went out to get some food and resulted on a great talk about how FLOSS in Europe and Spain is growing and dealing with Microsoft. From the legal point of view as well as the techical one.Alberto was one of the key pieces against the OOXML / ISO debacle. He also has recently been fighging the issues about the laptop on education and whenever they will carry Linux or Windows.I also had the chance to meet Federico Mena, a fellow mexican that is a very proficient developer. Our talk was focused around the news related about Oracle and Sun buying and how would it affect the community. Most of the conversation drifted into who controls the technological agenda in OOo.Then had some more chattering with Frank from KDE and about the social factors and aplication within openoffice.org. Since it seems that Frank really wants to innovate on this area. But we also realize that the roadblocks are many and we need to be very autocritical and protect the users.We agree on continuing implementing something easy and mainteinable without duplicating the other applications and also define if you want it to connect with the community or with other people.
OpenOffice.org Collaboration, ODFkit and social office place
Today we had a nice day with lots of conversations happening at the Gran Canarias Desktop Summit. More conversation about the ODFkit which also gave us our need to understand webkit better. Also an alternative idea is basically understand ODFpy and go through that route. This will allow us lower our cost of design, and basically just change it to a port.However now there are three ways:
- Implement ODF the webkit way
- Do a port from ODFpy to C and optimize it for speed
- Create a libODF from scratch with optimization in mind
Any of this implementation could become a foundation to develop more ODF tools and make it more accessible for everyone.The other parts of the day were pretty awesome, involved the review of interesting technology from freedesktop called Telepathy and farsight.This technology can greatly push the agenda for both collaboration and social desktop.At the end of the day I finally met with Luis Cabrera and attended the issues within Ecuador development of an universal dictionary for multiple languages. This will allow and open the contribution as well as have more efficiency.We even went on to record a podcast about the issues that we’ll distribute in private ways with the rest of the team. We are looking forward to restart development.
Gran Canarias Desktop Summit
Having Guadec and Akademy at the same place always seemed like a great idea and pulling it together has proved that it was indeed a great idea.As an OpenOffice.org community member I feel truly honored to be at this event and see so much forward thinking about using open source, free software and open standards to push forward society and innovate.Nobody is talking about imitating the commercial equivalent, at least when talking about technologies. Nor there is people that seems that a good idea is to keep doing what works.This is a great fertile soil ground to innovate and come up with propositions about business, development, use cases, and just share bold daring opinions.Yet everyday is a party and having creative juices all over can lead to maybe some exhaustion and just take the night off to sleep. However the way things have been advancing I really wish we could make more of this events with more inclusiveness.The event has been great and the people I have meet has been outstanding. To be honest I knew some of these people before, they are fun, easy to talk to and very very geeky.I enjoyed having them around again and sharing experiences on what can happened to OpenOffice.org and the general desktop. The most important points that this event has raised so far is the Semantic applications and the social desktop.Gnome people on the other side were more concern with Gnome 3.0 and more underlining technology like Freedesktop and GnomeShell. Media applications and just having a more appealing desktop experience. Not saying that they weren’t embrassing innovation, but much on a different fashion.
OPENOFFICE.ORG NEWSLETTER
#########################################################################
OPENOFFICE.ORG NEWSLETTER Volume 07 – Issue 24 – 06/2009 ######################################################################### Contents######################################################################### 1. Announcements
================
* OpenOffice.org Bloggers
2. Success Stories
==================
* Gribskov: Municipality uses OO.o and saves a million DKK per year
3. Featured News
================
* EndNote X3 for Windows Released – With OO.o support
* Chin Wong: Shifting to OpenOffice
* PHC Software now supports OpenOffice.org Calc
* Connected Internet: OpenOffice.org vs Google Docs
* GullFOSS: The framework project, OpenOffice.org 3.2 and Windows 7
* GullFOSS: Does OpenOffice.org 3.x have a general quality issue?
4. Tips & Tricks
================
* Linux Journal: Creating Queries in OpenOffice.org Base
* Linux Beacon: Getting the most out of OpenOffice.org Writer
* Suite101: How To Create an OpenOffice.org Database Log On
* Solveig Haugland: How to put a drawing into a Writer document
* GullFOSS: Does OpenOffice.org 3.x have a general quality issue?
5. ODF News
===========
* Another Vendor to Fully Support ODF: GemBox Software
* iTunes: FileAid, the first OpenDocument (OpenOffice) reader for
* H Open: “Productive” Open Document Plugfest
* sdtimes : Microsoft focuses on ‘pragmatic interoperability’ #########################################################################
Want to help OpenOffice.org? Find out hot to contribute or see our
To Do List!! http://contributing.openoffice.org/index.html
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/To-Dos/index.html
######################################################################### Announcements
######################################################################### OpenOffice.org Bloggers
======================= A Planet is a web page which consolidates posts by a number of bloggers.
There are a number of OpenOffice.org Planets: the OpenOffice.org Planet
is the widest collection, with people blogging on a wide variety of
OpenOffice.org topics. http://www.openoffice.org/editorial/blogs.html Success Stories
######################################################################### Gribskov: Municipality uses OpenOffice and saves a million DKK per year
================================================================== The Danish municipality of Gribskov has saved two million DKK, about
270,000 euro, over the past two years by switching the public
administration and schools to OpenOffice, Michel van den Linden,
responsible for IT in the municipality says in an interview with the
Danish IT news site Computerworld. http://www.osor.eu/news/dk-municipality-uses-openoffice-and-saves-a-million-d… Featured News
######################################################################### EndNote X3 for Windows Released – With OO.o support
============================================================ …EndNote X3 expands ways to group references and find full text when
off campus. Cite While You Write now integrates with OpenOffice.org
Writer 3 … users can search for and insert citations within
OpenOffice.org Writer documents and format bibliographies instantly,
just as they can in Apple Pages ’09 and Microsoft Word. http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/Digest/Thomson-Reuters-Releases-EndNote-X-for…
Chin Wong: Shifting to OpenOffice
============================================================ GIVEN the cost of buying a licensed copy of MS Office and the dangers of
using pirated software, it’s no surprise that many companies are opting
to use OpenOffice. Published free and open source, OpenOffice (Version
3.0 is the latest) can be downloaded and used with no legal liability http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business6_june23_2009
PHC Software now supports OpenOffice.org Calc
========================================================= PHC (www.phc.pt), an Enterprise Management applications in Portugal is
now supporting OpenOffice.org Calc, making it possible for the
Portuguese companies to reduce their licencing costs. The PHC 2010
version enables export to OpenOffice Calc where previously export to
Microsoft Excel was the only option.
This development was based on the 3.0 version of OpenOffice.org” http://www.phc.pt/portal/programs/ewpview.aspx?codigo=Upgrade
Connected Internet: OpenOffice.org vs Google Docs
================================================= Microsoft Office has ruled the world of computer productivity since
the Windows 9x era. Really, how many of you are still using Corel or
Lotus? I thought so. http://www.connectedinternet.co.uk/2009/06/29/openoffice-org-vs-google-docs/
Suite101: How To Create an OpenOffice.org Database Log On
========================================================= At some point in their lives every OpenOffice.org Base developer will
start to consider the security of their database. For example they may
wish to: http://database-programming.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_create_an_openoff… GullFOSS: The framework project, OpenOffice.org 3.2 and Windows 7
================================================================= Currently the framework team works on OpenOffice.org 3.2 and
compatibility with the Windows 7 file picker. If you use
OpenOffice.org 3.1 or download the latest developement snapshot you
will find out that the system file picker doesn’t look like the
default Windows 7 file dialog. http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/openoffice_org_the_framework_project GullFOSS: Does OpenOffice.org 3.x have a general quality issue?
=============================================================== Some days ago there started a discussion about this topic in a German
mailing list on OOo. It wasn’t really this question in the thread. But
I want to pick up this discussion in this blog and want to take this
provocative question to highlight some quality metrics and actions
which are in progress. http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/does_openoffice_org_3_x Tips & Tricks
######################################################################### Linux Journal: Creating Queries in OpenOffice.org Base
====================================================== Queries are the database equivalent of filters in a spreadsheet. Just as
a filter can limit and reorganize the information displayed in a
spreadsheet, so a query limits and reorganizes the information in a
database. Either can be an efficient way of finding the information you
want, especially when you’re dealing with thousands of records. http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/creating-queries-openofficeorg-base
Linux Beacon: Getting the most out of OpenOffice.org Writer
=========================================================== Writer is, without a doubt, the most frequently used application in
the OpenOffice.org suite. It offers many advanced features that can
help you to create anything from a simple letter to a book with a
complex layout. http://linuxbeacon.com/doku.php/articles:writertips Solveig Haugland: How to put a drawing into a Writer document
=============================================================================== When you create a drawing in Draw, you often want to then paste it
into a Writer document…. http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2009/06/how-to-put-a-drawing-into-a-wr…
Solveig Haugland: Using regular expressions in OpenOffice Calc filters
===================================================================== Using regular expressions in OpenOffice Calc filters — phrases like
“contains” rather than equals, less than, etc. http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/2009/06/using-regular-expressions-in-o… ODF News
######################################################################### Another Vendor to Fully Support ODF: GemBox Software
=================================================================== … GemBox.Spreadsheet .NET component fully supports Open Document
Format for spreadsheets (.ods files). GemBox.Spreadsheet already
supports XLS, CSV, XLSX and HTML, so addition of ODF will enable C# and
VB.NET developers to read, write and convert between all that formats. http://www.prweb.com/releases/ODF/component/prweb2546424.htm
iTunes: FileAid, the first OpenDocument (OpenOffice) reader for
======================================================================== The new version of FileAid 1.3 integrates the first OpenDocument
(OpenOffice) reader for the iPhone OS.
Read OpenDocuments’ Texts, Spreadsheets and Presentations easely using
FileAid. http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=297804694&a…
H Open: “Productive” Open Document Plugfest
================================================= The first ODF Plugfest has brought together both corporate and
independent developers to test the interoperability of Open Document
Format (ODF) documents. http://www.h-online.com/open/Productive-Open-Document-Plugfest–/news/113601
sdtimes : Microsoft focuses on ‘pragmatic interoperability’ ================================================ Microsoft receives feedback through many channels, but it chose to
place itself in the hot seat in May at a closed-door meeting of its
Interoperability Customer Executive Council (ICEC). http://www.sdtimes.com/link/33574 Unsubscribe
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Contact Information (regarding this newsletter)
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Que tienen en la cabeza
Respuesta al post de Gunnar Wolf sobre ESCL, publicado en EDUSOL
http://edusol.info/es/bitacora/gwolf/recuento-mi-viaje-nicaragua-para-encuent… Muy buen escrito, me gustaria saber mas sobre lo que tienen en lacabeza estas comunidades. Vaya a que le apuntan, cuantos eran
desarrolladores, cuantos se enfocan en su pais y cuantos se enfocan en
mejorar el software libre. Vi los primeros dos videos donde hablan de la vision propia de su
pais. Pero supongo que de eso se trataba la platica. Sin embargo me
gustaria saber si ellos buscan el crecimiento tecnico como
desarrolladores de tecnologia. Como dirian en algunos eventos, el ponerte la camiseta, cargar tu
laptop con la ultima version y decir que el SL rocks no te hace muy
util en el softwre libre. El ponerte a hacer codigo, documentacion o
control de calidad en las listas de los proyectos de SL te hace
muuuucho mas valioso. Claro, otras personas toman el lado opuesto y dicen, el codigo no
importa, lo que realmente importa es la libertad y que se permee a la
cultura. Cual crees que pudiera ser el rumbo que ellos tomen? Por cierto acabo de llegar del FISL y quizas no tenga la paciencia de
notas de viajero pero si hay mucho que paso para que lo comente tan
luego reviva mi blog.
Sobre Software libre en Gobierno Mexicano
Hola Andres, como estas.
Compre tu revista ya que un amigo me hablo sobre tu articulo desoftware libre en el gobierno. Es una discusion que parece despertar
muchas pasiones y frustraciones sobre la incapacidad de poder
aprovechar los beneficios del software libre por la desinformacion y
real falta de visibilidad tecnologica. Como lider de OpenOffice.org en Latinoamerica pero con nacionalidad
Mexicana, he visto como el ambiente de software libre ha cambiado
dramaticamente en diferentes paises excepto en Mexico. Aun con cayos tras haber caminado demasiado en Porto Alegre Brasil
(llegue anoche) y haber pasado la semana en uno de los eventos de
software libre mas importanes del mundo (FISL 10) donde inclusive el
Presidente de este pais dio un discurso impresionante. Y el anio pasado pude tambien ver lo mismo al otro lado del mundo en
Espana donde en el Open Source World Conference comparti muy buenas
experiencias con comites y organismos como CENATIC, ASOLIF, IDESOL, y
las iniciativas de SL gubernamentales. Creo que el enfoque del
software libre debe cambiar para poder ser aceptado. En Espania, paso de ser un ‘producto’ a los ojos de la gente, a
convertirse en una herramienta realmente. Nadie va a venir a
convencerte de usar software libre. Si lo ves como un ‘producto’ y un
‘mercado’ entonces realmente nunca entenderas lo que es software
libre. Como lider Iberoamericano de OpenOffice.org me comunico con gobiernos
de Paraguay, Ecuador, Venezuela, Zaragoza, Valencia, Extremadura, Peru
etc. Y tratamos proyectos e iniciativas juntos, sin embargo nunca he
tenido ningun acercamiento de gobiernos Mexicanos. Cosa que es algo
decepcionante. Como lider de este movimiento te puedo decir que yo trabajo con los
que quieren trabajar, pero soy muy mal vendedor y creo que no soy el
unico. Por eso te explico que a menos que en Mexico se cambie la
actitud, realmente este debate de SL seguira por siempre mientras que
otros paises se beneficiaran y cosecaharan los frutos de esta
herramienta. El software libre esta listo, y empresas estatales ya migraron:
– PetroBras (brasil)
– PDVSA (venezuela)
– ENELVEN (venezuela)
– Banrisul (brasil)
– BBVA (espania y subsidiarias)
– Telefonica (espania)
– Generalitat de Valencia
– Junta de Andalucia Sin embargo la adopcion en Mexico no ha crecido y los beneficios no se
han materializado. Creo que es importante tener un enfoque mas
internacional de los avances del software, ya que las necesidades no
son tan diferentes entre estas empresas. No veo como Pemex tenga
necesidades mas extraordinarias que PetroBras o PDVESA ni como CFE sea
tan diferente que ENELVEN. Lo que si veo es como la desinformacion y la corrupcion puede mantener
y desplazar al software libre como lo ha hecho en Paraguay.
http://www.microsoft.com/latam/educacion/arandurape.aspx Y estas situaciones solo se pueden resolver en la vision publica. Como
lo hace Ecuador al tener un sistema de alertas sobre gestion publica
donde se han podido revertir estas licitaciones propietarias.
http://www.asle.ec/portal/node/82 Creo que como revista publica tienen una gran responsabilidad, te
aseguro que los nuevos medios y los blogs debaten esto todos los dias,
pero el gobierno y sus elementos NO forman parten de esta sociedad de
la informacion. Ellos NO estan en sintonia con twitter, facebook, o
blogs. Su vision tecnologica es muy limitada y las ventanas de interaccion
recaen en medios tradicionales. Asi que como cuello de botella,
depende de ustedes pasar esta informacion del web a versiones de
arboles muertos (papel). Tambien es su responsabilidad incentivar a los gobiernos a ponerse en
esta sociedad informatica que realmente sean parte de la conversacion.
El problema claramente no es tecnico sino de cultura. Espero que esto
destape la conversacion o por lo menos la alimente asi que copio esto
a la blogosfera y que esta decida que rumbo tomar.
Ideas, thoughts and Free Software 