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After yesterday's blog about the relevance of feature bloat, I figured that I would follow up with some quantitative analysis on the performance characteristics to measure resource bloat. This isn't the first time I've measured Office CPU and memory consumption of Microsoft Office and Open Office. I have a whole series on it dating back to 2005. This time, I'm pitting Microsoft-backed OOXML (Office Open XML) versus the OASIS-backed ODF (OpenDocument) format with Microsoft Office 2007 and Open Office 2.2.

It is my privilege to announce on behalf of the team members of the PCLinuxOS Magazine Project sponsored by MyPCLinuxOS.com, the May 2007 issue (#9)  is available for download!

Some highlights include:

1. KDE User Guide Part 2
   
2. Scroogle and Konqueror Integration
   
3. Top Ten Reasons for Using Linux
   
4. Linux in Education
   
5. Using Settings from a Previous Linux Install
   
6. As always, much more
   

Download May 2007 Issue 9

Mirror Download May 2007 Issue 9

Low-Fi Version

According tothis announcement, WorldVistA EHR/VOE 1.0 is now CCHIT certified. Formerly VistA Office EHR (VOE) there has been a name change due to entanglements. It is now known as WorldVistA EHR.

This article describes techniques you can use to create new levels of usefulness in your dynamically generated charts with Perl and GD.

Many people have embraced Google's Gmail service due to its slick interface and ample storage -- but like any application, Gmail leaves a few things to be desired. To trick Gmail out to your specifications, take a look at Lifehacker's Better Gmail, a Firefox extension that brings all sorts of extra goodness to Gmail.

How many developers run for the post of leader of the Debian GNU/Linux project and cite as part of their platform a desire to make Debian sexy again? None that I know of - except Sam Hocevar who won the recent election for leader of the project.

Google and MySQL are close to finalizing a deal that could find the open-source database vendor incorporating powerful features created by the search giant into future versions of the popular database. Google is widely believed to be the largest MySQL user in the world, with hundreds or even thousands of MySQL servers running in data centers around the world.

In 1991, Richard Stallman's great project, the GNU operating system, was made whole when Linus Torvalds developed the kernel, Linux, that it had lacked. The next year, there was a marriage. Today, GNU/Linux is arguably the most popular server operating system, and the GPL is the dominant license for revealed source code software.

The EMC E-Lab, together with Oracle engineering, has tested and qualified Oracle Enterprise Linux on core EMC platforms and software products to help ensure ease of deployment and use. EMC Corporation and Oracle today announced several key areas of joint support as part of the Oracle Unbreakable Linux program.

why couldn’t a billion dollar company provide support for previous versions of Windows? so that users would be forced to use Vista?! and oh not everyone would be able to do so since you would need at least 1GB of ram and a graphics card that supports directx 10 to run it!

Sam Hocevar recently became the next Debian Project Leader (DPL), defeating seven other candidates while running on a platform that emphasized ways to improve how project members interact. Hocevar's election comes at a time when Debian may be losing mindshare among both users and developers to Ubuntu, and looking for ways to improve its efficiencies and to mend internal divisions. Recently, Linux.com discussed these challenges with Hocevar via email in his first interview since his election.

As women gain visibility in the blogosphere, they are targets of sexual harassment and threats. Men are harassed too, and lack of civility is an abiding problem on the Web. But women, who make up about half the online community, are singled out in more starkly sexually threatening terms - a trend that was first evident in chat rooms in the early 1990s and is now moving to the blogosphere, said experts and bloggers.

[Not Linux related, but probably of interest after Carla's recent articles — Sander]

Yeah, Wiimotes aren't the only motion-sensing game controllers that can be hacked for fruitless new uses. Take the new SIXAXIS Linux integration project, which, so far as we can tell, is an incredibly effective means for maneuvering small, custom robots in need of a good 3D controller for manipulating, um, a small flat plane.

Xbindkeys is a program that allows you to launch shell commands with your keyboard or your mouse under X Window. It links commands to keys or mouse buttons, using its configuration file. It does not depend on the window manager and can capture all keyboard keys.

The Australian federal government backed IPv6 for e-Business project has yielded an Ubuntu-based IPv6 router that is now being trialed in business. The device is a modified Ubuntu Linux distribution with the aim of allowing straightforward, inexpensive IPv6 connectivity, without complex site-by-site deployments on an open standards server.

One problem open source advocates seldom acknowledge is the disrespect many people have toward what’s held in common. You see it in the world with "street spammers" nailing ads to trees in public parks. You see it online, in the attitude spammers take when caught. The question is, how does the commons enforce its ethics on the unethical?

Governments are beginning to realize that perhaps the Internet really has changed everything, at least for them, and that standards represent one of the elements they are going to have to deal with as they begin to grapple with what to do about their new responsibilities.

Microsoft addicted many of the first billion users to its proprietary platform using the ruse of encouraging software piracy in developing nations. Now the software giant intends to hook the next billion users by providing a cheap hit of $3 software. These are the claims of a longstanding open source advocate, who has started a campaign urging third world governments to reject Microsoft's offer of cheap software.

According to a recently uncovered filing in the long-running SCO v. IBM case, SCO tried to have Groklaw—along with a handful of people associated with the open-source movement silenced back in 2004. SCO suggested that all parties involved in the litigation be subject to a stipulated gag order. The company then stretched the definition of "involved parties" to include SCO, Columbia Law professor Eben Moglen, OSS advocate Eric Raymond, and Linus Torvalds.

A project that aims to deliver low-priced laptops with string pulleys to the world's poorest children may have a new market: U.S. schools. The nonprofit "One Laptop per Child" project said on Thursday it might sell versions of its kid-friendly laptops in the United States, reversing its previous position of only distributing them to the poorest nations.