Showing headlines posted by Scott_Ruecker

I've been using OpenOffice.org Calc for a while now, but I recently decided to give KSpread a try after getting frustrated with Calc's slow load times. It rarely bothered me on my desktop system because I have 4GB of RAM and usually leave the program open, but my work laptop runs Windows XP, forcing me to run Kubuntu in a virtual machine. Unfortunately disk access is significantly slower and memory capacity is much smaller so the Calc startup time is painfully slow. KSpread is very fast, but are its other features good enough for me to stick with it?

We just passed a quiet milestone at the beginning of the month. And while the milestone does not seem to affect Linux, it could be mark the beginning of the worst assault on desktop Linux to date.

After the recent switch to the Ubuntu code base, Freespire announced that it has restarted its development process with the first alpha release of Freespire 2.0, Alpha1U (1.2.42). The new revision sports a 2.6.20 kernel and the KDE 3.5.6 desktop environment, according to the project team.

Is a flaw in the Firefox browser fixed or not? A security research claims that it's not. Mozilla says it is. Last November security researcher Robert Chapin discovered a zero day flaw in Mozilla Firefox's password manager. The flaw could potentially allow a maliciously crafted page to auto-fill a form with credentials intended for another site. Mozilla claimed that it fixed the flaw in its most recent Firefox 2.0.0.2 update. Chapin doesn't quite agree.

Netherlands-based Acropolis Automation will debut four models in its Athena thin client series, at the CeBIT tradeshow in Hannover, Germany next week. The new T3000 clients are based on 1GHz Via Eden processors, and offered with a choice of Linux, Windows CE, or Windows XP Embedded.

Most computers are programmed to automatically change to daylight saving time the first Sunday in April, and only machines manufactured within the last year or so have been updated to reflect the new daylight saving time plan. Microsoft and Apple have issued automatic updates. However, users of other types of devices cannot necessarily rely on their machines to make the change on their own.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales is targeting the fourth quarter of this year for the unveiling of an open-source search engine that he hopes could challenge the dominance of market-leaders Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc..

Explore how to remotely debug a FreeBSD kernel that is running on a target machine without affecting system performance.

Intrusion-detection and prevention software developer Sourcefire Inc is set to launch its initial public offering in a rare excursion on to the public markets for an open source-based technology vendor.

The newest Linux-based PMP (portable media player) from Archos is much larger than most, but its bright, detailed, 7-inch screen justifies the extra bulk, according to several early reviews. At $550, the 704 features an 80GB hard drive, a 802.11b/g WiFi radio, and an Opera browser.

Arabella Software, a San Diego-based PowerPC microcode and embedded Linux specialist, will be acquired by Entropic Communications, a privately held Israeli company that makes coaxial cable networking equipment for the digital home entertainment market. Entropic says the deal with strengthen and expand its Linux and embedded software capabilities.

Although OpenOffice.org has an HTML/XHTML export feature, it is not up to the snuff when it comes to turning Writer documents into clean HTML files. Instead, this feature turns even the simplest Writer documents into HTML gobbledygook, and while it attempts to preserve the original formatting, the results are often far from perfect. Moreover, publishing static HTML pages is so '90s: today, blogs and wikis rule the Web. So what options do you have if you want to convert your Writer documents into tidy HTML pages or wiki-formatted text files? Quite a few, actually.

The good news, according to an HP executive, is that the company sees "the Linux desktop nearing critical mass." The bad news, for would be off-the-shelf Linux desktop buyers, is that it's still not there yet. Doug Small, HP's worldwide director of open source and Linux marketing, explained that while "the number of indicators we look at -- the noise level, the interest in the products on the market, the interest in our forums -- are all tending to heat up for Linux during the last six months or so." However, "It's still not been enough to get a pre-configured Linux desktop or laptop on the price list."

Linux distributions are known for evolving quickly, but it looks like MEPIS is trying to set a new speed record. Yesterday, MEPIS announced the release of the feature-complete RC1 (release candidate) of SimplyMEPIS 6.5.

It seems to be a trend among some proprietary software vendors: attacking open source with lies. The latest appears in this week's Network World's Face-off, which features a slop-bucket full of self-serving hogwash by Ipswitch's Roger Greene entitled "Don't trust your network to open source."

One of free software's premier applications, KDE's CD and DVD burning suite K3b, is about to hit the big 1-0. This milestone touts rewritten DVD video ripping and a refocused interface design. The new release represents a level of feature-completeness and stability that surpasses all previous K3b releases and, perhaps, all free software competitors.

The Free Software Foundation has begun an online petition urging Apple chief executive Steve Jobs to remove protections from the iTunes Music Store. "As the largest purveyor of digital rights management [DRM] protected music, Apple carries a large part of the responsibility for the situation in which consumers now find themselves," the petition reads.

Mandriva has announced the launch of the beta program of Corporate Desktop 4.0, the brand new version of its enterprise-dedicated work station, which it punts as ergonomic, secure, comprehensive, easy to use and easy to administer.

Bug stamp-out list for March 9, 2007

Sun launches products for web infrastructure on Solaris 10. Sun Microsystems has announced a new set of products and services targeting developers, startups, and internet companies seeking to build and deploy their web infrastructure on Solaris 10.