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The OpenDocument Foundation, founded five years ago by Gary Edwards, Sam Hiser, and Paul "Buck" Martin (marbux) with the express purpose of representing the OpenDocument format in the "open standards process," has reversed course. It now supports the W3C's Compound Document Format instead of its namesake ODF. Yet why this change of course has occurred is something of a mystery.

I am writing this article on a Windows laptop borrowed from a friend. But fear not, dear reader, for I have not abandoned my free software principles. For while the hard disk of this laptop contains the Windows operating system, I have used a USB key as the boot device, and the laptop is currently running Fedora 8, codenamed “Werewolf.”

Document design is all about space -- the space allotted to an element, and the space between and around elements. This concern is especially obvious when you are setting up paragraphs and page spacing.read more

Open source is moving beyond the real worlds of business and consumer systems into the more experimental sphere of personal gadgetry. Start-up Bugs Labs has said it plans to base the software element of its forthcoming range of "plug-together" hardware modules on Linux with Java and OSGi used further up the software stack.

CCP, one of the world’s largest independent game developers, and TransGaming Inc., a leading developer of software portability products for the electronic entertainment industry, today announced the availability of EVE Online, a leading massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), on the Macintosh and Linux platforms. With this release, EVE Online is now available on the most widely used operating systems – Microsoft Windows, Macintosh and Linux.

The OOXML document standard being pushed by Microsoft has caused a certain amount of stress within both the development and commercial sides of the free software community. In some quarters it is seen as the latest attempt by a monopolistic firm to co-opt free software and the move to more free file formats; they would like to limit our involvement to opposition to the adoption of OOXML as a standard. Others see it as an attempt by Microsoft to come to terms with the demand for more open formats and to promote, in its own special way, interoperability.

You already know Pacman, the Archlinux software manager. Now it’s time to meet AUR and yaourt, the extra tools that can bring a fistful of apps on your desktop within just a few console commands. This article is part of the “Arch tools” series on polishlinux.org.

Larry Lessig gets TEDsters to their feet, whooping and whistling, following this elegant presentation of “three stories and an argument.” The Net’s most adored lawyer brings together John Philip Sousa, celestial copyrights, and the “ASCAP cartel” to build a case for creative freedom. He pins down the key shortcomings of our dusty, pre-digital intellectual property laws, and reveals how bad laws beget bad code. Then, in an homage to cutting-edge artistry, he throws in some of the most hilarious remixes you’ve ever seen.

In an unprecedented announcement, the VA has signed a 9 year deal with Cerner to replace laboratory information system at 150 hospitals and 800 clinics.

One of the enduring soap operas this year has involved the ongoing patent infringement threats by Microsoft against “Linux, OpenOffice, email, and other open source software.” According to Microsoft, 235 of its (unnamed) patents are being infringed, and it should be entitled to be paid for this use of its intellectual property. Steve Ballmer believes that Microsoft owes it to its stockholders to file patents to protect its innovations, and then to assert these intellectual property rights in this way, and at this time.

Yesterday, thousands of people in Germany gathered in about 40 towns and cities to protest and demonstrate against data retention. I was one of them.

This article explains how to set up a two-node load balancer in an active/passive configuration with HAProxy and heartbeat on Debian Etch. The load balancer sits between the user and two (or more) backend Apache web servers that hold the same content. Not only does the load balancer distribute the requests to the two backend Apache servers, it also checks the health of the backend servers. If one of them is down, all requests will automatically be redirected to the remaining backend server. In addition to that, the two load balancer nodes monitor each other using heartbeat, and if the master fails, the slave becomes the master, which means the users will not notice any disruption of the service. HAProxy is session-aware, which means you can use it with any web application that makes use of sessions (such as forums, shopping carts, etc.).

South African Linux and open source specialist Synaq has been contracted to manage and maintain the Linux-based network infrastructure for The Pro Shop, a national supplier of golfing product and services. The Pro Shop is one of several divisions of MoreGolf. Each division of MoreGolf runs off a Linux-based infrastructure and connects with head office in Woodmead through ADSL VPN. There are ten sites that form part of this VPN and each site runs a Linux firewall.

By now all of you have likely heard of the Google concept call the 'Gphone.' Yet there remains a lot of speculation in regards to its future.

Read all the way to the bottom of this iTWire article about low-cost pre-loaded Linux systems -- the Asus and Everex -- and you'll learn, as I did, that Everex is planning a pre-loaded Linux laptop.

When the OLPC first made news, a prominent official in the HRD ministry of the Indian government had gone on record snubbing the OLPC project ($100 laptop), even making a preposterous claim that work was under way to create India's own $10 laptop. But as things have worked out, OLPC has already made an entry into India in the form of a pilot project in a rural primary school in a village in the state of Maharasthra.

Want to start an internet cafe but not willing to fork out handfuls of cash to get going? We've written about OutKafe before and now a new version of the cafe management suite has been released.

I’ve always wanted to try and take panoramic photographs using my dad’s Nikon Coolpix 5200. That day finally arrived when I finally have the free time to do so last week when I’ve to accompany my dad traveling to the countryside of my hometown. I was excited and about to use a Windows computer to stitch those photograph using software supplied with the camera when suddenly I thought of searching for a panorama maker software on my trusty Ubuntu box. To my delight I found Hugin! An open source panorama maker software which I use without hesitation to create a my first ever panoramic photos.

Many people are giving up blogging to try their hand at podcasting -- creating a downloadable audio file that will play on any standard MP3 player. Recording, editing, and packaging a session isn't very difficult but, until recently not very many tools existed to help you get the job done. Now Linux-friendly applications are starting to pop up everywhere. The basic tools you'll need haven't changed much since podcasting began. At the very least, you'll need a good microphone and headset, and a sound card equipped with a line-in port. There are several high-end hardware products on the market, but for general podcasting needs, some basic equipment paired with good editing software will meet most people's needs.

Every once in a while, something new comes along that is both a bit confusing and amazingly cool all at the same time. Upon discovering the new product aptly called Splashtop, DeviceVM allows a user to browse the Web, talk on Skype, and access other PC functions without the need to boot into your computer's OS.