OpenOffice's developers have not yet released a fix for the bug (update: the bug does not exist in version 2.3 or newer), but the firm that discovered it is advising OpenOffice users to "be careful" with attachments received from unknown sources. Good advice--whether you run OpenOffice, Microsoft Office, or Wordstar.
New OpenOffice bug affects Mac, Linux, as well as Windows
OpenOffice's developers have not yet released a fix for the bug (update: the bug does not exist in version 2.3 or newer), but the firm that discovered it is advising OpenOffice users to "be careful" with attachments received from unknown sources. Good advice--whether you run OpenOffice, Microsoft Office, or Wordstar.
Native Mac OS X version of OpenOffice.org coming in 2008
This summer, the development team offered the first alpha of a native version of OpenOffice.org for OS X. In other words, there's a standalone installer and you the applications are themed to look like native Mac apps. But as with any alpha software, install at your own risk and expect many bugs. For example, you couldn't print documents at first. That might be a dealbreaker.
Now the team has announced that they plan to have a fully functional version working for OS X by the time OpenOffice.org 3.0 is released in September 2008. The new version will include support for Apple's Aqua interface.
Of course, if you can't wait that long, you might want to check out NeoOffice, an independently produced OS X port of OpenOffice.org.
[via ComputerWorld]
Download OpenOffice.org 2.3 a few days early
![OpenOffice.org 2.3](https://web.archive.org/web/20071012140017im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/09/openoffice.org-2.3.jpg)
All you have to do is select OpenOffice.org 2.3, choose your operating system and language, and away you go. There are a ton of bug fixes and feature updates since OpenOffice 2.2 was launched. Here are just a few.
- New export filter for writing Wiki pages
- Spell check 1 letter words
- New chart wizard
- A whole slew of new local data including Jewish holidays in the US, and updated currency in Venezuela
- Language guessing for unknown text
[via Ejoh]
IBM joins OpenOffice.org developer community
![OpenOffice.org](https://web.archive.org/web/20071012140017im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/09/openoffice.org-startup.jpg)
While OpenOffice.org is open source, the software is based on StarOffice, which was developed by Sun. So IBM is hardly the first major corporation to get involved in developing the Microsoft Office alternative.
The partnership is not one way. While OpenOffice.org applications will likely benefit from IBM's expertise, the open document format is gaining wide acceptance as a standard. The more companies that partner with OpenOffice.org, the better support there will be for ODF in other applications.
[via Once More Unto the Breach]
How to speed up OpenOffice
The open source Microsoft Office alternative is great if you're looking for a low cost word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation application. But it takes so long to load up, especially if you don't enable the quick start application.
Here's how to cut down OpenOffice.org's startup time:
- Start OpenOffice (it doesn't matter which application you load, Calc, Impress, or Writer will all work)
- Click Tools>Options
- Select Java menu and uncheck "Use a Java runtime environment"
- Select the Memory Tab and change the following options:
- Number of steps: 30
- Use for Open Office: 128
- Memory per Object: 20
- Number of Objects: 20
[via gHacks]
Web 2 Cool for school - A rundown of online applications for students
![Web 2 Cool for school - A rundown of online applications for students.](https://web.archive.org/web/20071012140017im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/08/stanford.jpg)
From free document creation applications, online to-do's and organization applications, users are faced with a decision, go for the costly desktop versions and upgrade every few years, or stay ahead of the curve with free web based applications that are constantly updating with new growing feature sets. The choice has never been easier.
Continue reading Web 2 Cool for school - A rundown of online applications for students
Switching your family and friends to Linux
Last weekend at BarCamp Portland, I gave a brief talk on switching family and friends to Linux. I hear you asking, why would you want to do that? Well, for a number of reasons really: cost, principle, maintenance, all of the above, or any reason what so ever. In my case, my father's work PC was a constant source of trouble for him (and me). So, with his agreement (and my assistance), he made the switch to Ubuntu Linux. So far it's been a success, barring a few minor problems (printing envelopes from OpenOffice, for example). It might also be good to note that my own personal affinity for computers does not, to the best of my knowledge, come from Dad (thanks Mom!).
However, I don't want to give the whole story away. Instead I invite you dear readers to take a look at my presentation slides. Do you have family or friends that you have given thought to switching? Have you already switched someone? Let me know your experiences in the comments. I'd also enjoy any feedback or additional ideas that you may have.
OpenOffice 2.2 patches up vulnerabilities
![OpenOffice 2.2](https://web.archive.org/web/20071012140017im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/03/openoffice-22.jpg)
So what's new? Well first off, there's a couple of vulnerability fixes. Users who open untrusted WordPerfect or StarCalc files with OpenOffice 2.1 could leave their systems compromised. And Linux/Solaris users running OpenOffice from a shell terminal could have malicious code executed if they open an untrusted URL. Those problems have all been fixed in OpenOffice 2.2.
Some other changes include improved text display, stability improvement on Intel-based Macs, Impress has improved handling of hidden slides, and Base has improved SQL editing functions.
[via CyberNet]
Open Office goes a courting Dell
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20071012140017im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/03/open-office-open-letter.jpg)
However, If you're pining to see Linux on Dell's desktops, the tea leaves aren't giving many clues. Michael Dell, in a March 7th interview with DesktopLinux.com, cited the various number of Linux distributions and the lack of a clear favorite as being an obstacle to pre-loading on Dell's. However, in a pandering moment, Mr. Dell said if customers want Linux, "Dell will give it to them." Ummm. Isn't that what Dell's very own customer feedback website Idea Storm is saying?
OpenOffice is a free, open source office suite providing a practical alternative to Microsoft's Office.
Gearing up for NeoOffice 2.1 on March 27th
![NeoOffice](https://web.archive.org/web/20071012140017im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/03/ship2.jpg)
NeoOffice is a OS X port of OppenOffice.org by a group of developers who have thought from the beginning that the Main OO.o team was taking the wrong tack in offering X-11 support on the Mac. Early NeoOffice releases were all-Java wrappers for OO.o (and were known as NeoOffice/J); recent releases have been Aqua native and, as of version 2.0, included both Intel and PPC binaries. NeoOffice 2.1 will include all the features of OpenOffice.org 2.1, including support for Office 2007 XML documents and Virtual Basic (VBA) macros. And, of course, possibly the coolest icon of any app on any platform.
NeoOffice also includes NeoLight, a plugin that allows Spotlight to index both content and metadata of OpenOffice and OpenDocument files. Users of main openOffice.org distribution can download NeoLight as a stand-alone application.
NeoOffice releases are named for the OpenOffice releases they're based on. Since this isn't an official OpenOffice.org release but a project based on OO.o, NeoOffice releases tend to lag a little behind their official brethren, so NeoOffice 2.1 will correspond to OpenOffice.org 2.1, which has been out for a while. While that sometimes means not being on the cutting edge, the NeoOffice release cycle does have a couple of advantages for uses. The most important, of course, is that NeoOffice is a native app. A less obvious benefit is that by the time a Neooffice release is rolled out, it contains the first several rounds of bugfixes to the OO.o codebase.
For those of you who just can't wait, there is still a NeoOffice 2.0 version available for download, and an Early Release version of NeoOffice 2.1 is available to people willing to support the project with a donation of $25 or more.
Dell and Linux - the people's choice
![](https://web.archive.org/web/20071012140017im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/02/delllinux.gif)
So far, the suggestion getting the most votes is the one that offers one of the 3 top free Linux versions pre-installed on all Dell PCs.
The second vote getter is having Open Office, an open source alternative to Microsoft Office pre-installed on your machine. My favorite idea on the list, though, was saying no to foreign tech support! What do our readers think of the people's choice so far?
French students to be given open-source software
![Eifel Tower](https://web.archive.org/web/20071012140017im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2007/02/towerblog.jpg)
The software expected to include Firefox and Thunderbird as well as an office suite; instant messaging software and an audio video player will be put on a USB flash drive and passed out to students at the beginning of the school year. The USB drive will give students the ability to check email and surf the web with personal preferences without purchasing each child their own personal laptop.
An expected 175,000 USB sticks will be passed out this year at a cost of around 3.4 million dollars. Should the program be a success the Greater Paris Regional Council plans on continuing it in following years.
The company that wins the bid for the USB sticks will determine the exact software included on the stick. All of the software is required to be open-source.
[via Yahoo!]
OpenXML Translator launched
Version 1.0 of the OpenXML document translator launched this past Friday. This initiative translates native document formats into OpenOffice and Microsoft Office. The translator will work between Microsoft's OpenXML, and OpenOffice's OpenDocument formats. The project took eight months to complete and ensure it met a high quality and standards level. So far, over 8,000 copies of the translator have been downloaded on SourceForge. Although the translator is not being shipped within Office products, Microsoft said that it has tested it with Office 2007-2003, and Office XP. The next version of OpenOffice will carry the translator, which is currently available on SourceForge. The decision for Microsoft to be involved with the translator has stemmed from customer demand. Support for both Excel and PowerPoint documents are scheduled for November 2007.
WordPerfect to support ODF and Open XML
![corel wordperfect](https://web.archive.org/web/20071012140017im_/http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.downloadsquad.com/media/2006/11/wordperfect.jpg)
Microsoft has decided to join the Open Document movement
In a move to join the massive open document communities, and to grab some additional business, Microsoft has announced support for the ODF formats through plug-ins and translators.
Microsoft will create tools that will work to enable the communication between Microsoft Office Open XML formats and Open Document formats. The tools in question will be free to download, and licensed as open source software by the end of 2006. Support for Excel and PowerPoint are to be expected sometime in 2007.
Microsoft has stated that its Open XML document format is superior, and compromises to this format, will require customer disclosures as a necessary portion of the translation between the two document formats.