An indepth look at OpenOffice.org Office Suite

OpenOffice.org is arguably the finest office suites available in the public domain. It is a direct competitor of Microsoft Office. It includes a Word processor (OpenOffice.org Writer), a Spreadsheet (OpenOffice.org Calc),a Presentation program (OpenOffice.org Impress), a Drawing program (OpenOffice.org Draw) and a Database (OpenOffice.org Base).


While it might seem ironic to blog about this fabulous piece of open source software now, especially owing to the recent developments of Oracle taking over Sun Microsystems, fact remains that this is one office suite that has stood its ground against Microsoft Office - and even posed a threat to it.

But for a first timer, like any software, there is a learning curve involved in mastering OpenOffice.org. It involves getting to know the interface, knowing the equivalent functions of the suite vis-a-vis Microsoft Office, and being productive. This is where a well balanced tutorial gains importance.

WorldLabels.com blog has posted an in-depth article explaining the various features of OpenOffice.org and also comparing OpenOffice.org Writer with Microsoft Word (2003 & 2007). But that is not all, the article elucidates on the 6 step process involved in shifting from using Microsoft Office to using OpenOffice.org in an organization, which is really enlightening to say the least. While the article is essentially Windows centric, the functions and tips explained in it are applicable to even Linux users as OpenOffice.org is a truly cross platform software. The article is dotted with a vagary of links to very useful plug-ins and templates. For instance, do you know how to reduce the size of your presentation in OpenOffice.org ? This article teaches you that.

Sun Microsystems merges with Oracle

Sun Microsystems gets acquired by Oracle. This is the hot news making rounds on the net. This is a news which could have wide ramifications for the Open Source crowd. Why? Because Sun Microsystems creates some of the most well received, robust open source software around. Just to put it in perspective, let me list some of them which come to my mind.

• MySQL - The most widely used database online.
• Java - Was released under an Open source license.
• OpenSolaris - The free as in beer and freedom UNIX operating system.
• OpenOffice.org - The robust office suite which is a part and parcel of any Linux distribution.
• VirtualBox - The virtualization software that most open source enthusiasts have grown to love.
• Netbeans - The Java IDE
• Sun xVM Server - The open source virtualization software for data centers.
  

Sun Microsystems is no doubt a pro open source company. Will it stay that way under its new master namely Oracle ? Only time will tell.

The following is the official press release from Oracle. And read the press release from Sun Microsystems. The transaction is valued at approximately $7.4 billion.

The following is a nice video showcasing the legacy of Sun Microsystems.

GNOME Do - An intelligent launcher tool for GNOME

GNOME Do is an intelligent launcher tool which makes all your default menus and panels in GNOME redundant. Since last time I had written about GNOME Do, it has gotten only better. Just a glance through the numerous plugins available for GNOME Do will be enough for any sceptic to fall in love with it.

Just to give you a feel of what can be achieved with this marvellous tool, do yourself a favour. After installing GNOME Do in your Linux distribution within GNOME, start it and open the GNOME Do preferences dialog box. Click on the plugins tab and glance through the diverse plugins available for GNOME Do - right from Twitter, to Google tools and more.

Another neat trick is to use GNOME Do as a dock, like in Apple's Mac OS X. To achieve this, the prerequisite is -

Your GNOME desktop needs to run using a composite window manager. You can enable it by opening the System > Preferences > Appearance GUI tool. Then click Visual Effects tab and enable the special effects.

Once you have enabled visual effects, you can use GNOME Do as a dock by simply changing it's theme to "Docky" in the "Appearances" tab of GNOME Do preferences dialog.

The blog I'Been To Ubuntu has a fabulous article on how you can use GNOME Do and a few other packages available in Ubuntu Launchpad repository to transform GNOME into a Mac OS X like Desktop. Really inspiring.

Of course, in Linux, we have another option for a dock such as Avant Window Navigator. Or you can transform your traditional KDE desktop into a Mac OS X.

Can you name a GNOME Do equivalent tool in Windows, Mac OS X and KDE respectively ?

Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope makes its debut

Ubuntu 9.04 code named Jaunty Jackalope has made its debut as a release candidate. This is a pre-release of Ubuntu which is almost ready for general use. On first glance, this release of Ubuntu looks very promising.

Ubuntu 9.04 includes the latest version of GNOME (2.26) desktop environment, the latest Xorg (1.6) server, Ext4 file system support (Though Ext3 is still the default file system used unless you choose otherwise at the time of installation), improved handling of multiple monitors and so on.

But what really caught my fancy was a remarkable improvement in boot time. Ubuntu 9.04 boots much faster than it's predecessor Ubuntu 8.10. On my computer with 2 GB RAM, it took Ubuntu under 20 seconds to boot from GRUB menu to the GUI login screen.

You can download the release candidate of Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope from the official Ubuntu website.

Debian ceases to be just a Linux distribution

Take the name of Debian and the first thing that comes into ones mind is a robust, user friendly Linux distribution which has helped spawn numerous other Linux distributions. But things have subtly changed. Recently, Debian team added two new architectures to Debian, namely - kFreeBSD for i386 and x64. That is right, Debian can now use the FreeBSD kernel. The tools surrounding the kernel are the same GNU tools found in Linux. So the end users running Debian with the BSD kernel won't find much of a difference in the feel of the operating system. But then, if you are running Debian using a FreeBSD kernel, you can seldom call it GNU/Linux .... you should call it GNU/kFreeBSD.

Source : Debian Announce List

What does it mean to be free ? - We're Linux contest winner announced

Linux is Free. Do you know what that means ? If you don't, the following video will teach you the true meaning of Free.

What does it mean to be Free?

(Transcript)

Free is being able to choose. Choose your own space to be in. To form your surroundings in a way that will make you take the best out of you. Free is to say NO. It is to be able to choose your limits, to stretch them to a place only you can create, and change them when you feel they no longer fit you. Free is to say what ever you want, to whomever you want, and however you want. Free is to know you have a different option. Do you know you have a different option? Linux! Get your freedom.

We're Linux Video Contest

The above video is the winning entry for the We're Linux contest run by Linux Foundation, which saw over a 100 entries. Apart from the winner, two best videos were chosen as runners up. Check out the runner up winners in the "We're Linux" contest.

Adobe's free gift to unemployed developers

Are you an unemployed developer? Did you get the pink slip because your company found it costly to retain you after the economic down turn? Then cheer up because Adobe has decided to provide some succor by releasing it's flagship product Adobe Flex Builder Professional for free. The catch is that - of course, you have to be unemployed and, you can use the software only for personal use to improve your programming skills.


So if you fit the criteria, head over to Adobe Flex Builder page and download your legal copy of Adobe Flex Builder Professional. Don't forget to thank Adobe for this present ;-).

New features in Linux kernels 2.6.28 and 2.6.29

Linux kernel has in recent times seen numerous advances. And the latest versions of the Linux kernel namely 2.6.28 and 2.6.29 have some fabulous features in-built into them.

Topping over 10 million lines of code, the current day Linux kernel is no push over and is forming a serious threat to its competition.

Some of the features that are there in the more recent Linux kernels are as follows:

• New file systems - Linux kernel supports a new file system called Ext4. Ext4 supports large number of files of greater size and deeper directory structures. Another file system which is still in experimental mode but is soon going to be a choice for Linux users is the Btrfs file system which competes with ZFS in features.
• Better memory management for the Linux kernel graphics stack.
• Boot tracer - This is a feature in built into the new kernels, which will allow the developers to find possible ways in which they can further reduce the time taken for the Linux kernel to completely boot up.
• Freezer - This new feature helps you to easily migrate your operating system to a new host.
• Improved virtual memory scalability
• Disk improvements - Such as better support for solid state devices, improvements for ATA hard disks and so on. For instance, Linux kernel now provides protection against sudden jolts and shocks in ATA hard disks.

M. Tim Jones has a more in depth explanation of all the above mentioned features in the following article. Linux kernel is going places, no doubt. And we the Linux users are its happy recipients.

Install Linux in your Dropbox account using VirtualBox

Dropbox is a very popular online storage service which provides 2GB of free space to store all your files, and selectively share them with the public. What is really nice about Dropbox is that it provides tools which integrates with Windows, Linux and Mac OSX and makes uploading and downloading files to and from your Dropbox, and act as a conduit for backing up all your important files - a seamless affair.

LinuxHaxor has a nice writeup on how to use your free 2GB Dropbox account to install your choice of Linux distribution via Sun's VirtualBox. Make sure the Linux distribution you choose is less than 2GB in size when installed as you will be limited by the 2GB space on Dropbox.

The writeup walks one through the installation of Damn Small Linux on Dropbox using VirtualBox. Read the article.