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As an Excel user, you may have looked at OpenOffice.org and found that it doesn't support Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), the Microsoft Office macro language. If you've spent years building hundreds of Excel macros, the fear of losing them all could keep you locked in to Office. If so, it's time to look again; Novell has taken OpenOffice.org's source code and create a version of its own that supports Excel VBA.

Web hosting provider VPSLink.com (http://www.vpslink.com) has announced the addition of new versions of Fedora Core 6, Debian Etch, and Ubuntu 6.10 (edgy) Linux to its service offerings. Each technology will be available through each of VPSLink’s hosting plans.

Here's a collection of links about Kaiser's problems with its electronic medical record: (links omitted) quote from one:'Kaiser is the tip of the iceberg. I wonder how much money has been wasted in the US on EMR and so-called electronic health records? Kaiser isn't the only organization to waste tons of money based upon false hopes for unproven systems. Unfortunately, the billions of losses are paid by health care consumers.

What can you do with a tiny 200MHz computer? We tested such a computing dwarf, the Epatec eTC thin client, and found you can save big money with this box by using it as a thin client.

Running Linux on Sony's PS3 console isn't just allowed, it's encouraged. PCBurn has a quick overview of the PS3, Linux, and links to the relevant information.

Black Duck, the provider of software compliance management solutions, has given the thumbs up signal to Sun Microsystems’ decision to open source Java. Many organisations are using open source code to develop software, and the Sun announcement means that any company using Java will need to understand the implications of the licensing terms of the open source General Public License (GPL) and the impact on software that is developed with Java, the company said.

The Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA) Ontology has been released under an open source license locatedhere. From the announcement:'In response to the increasing demand from the life science and biomedical informatics communities and the private industry for an anatomy ontology that can empower computer applications in biomedicine and provide a basic science framework for the integration of biological data from different sources, the University of Washington and the FMA Ontology Research team hereby release the open source license for the Foundational Model of Anatomy (FMA) ontology and grant licensees a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, copyright license to reproduce, publicly display, publicly perform, prepare modifications of, and distribute the FMA ontology with or without modifications. For more information on the availability, terms and conditions of the license and on how to access and download the Release version of the FMA ontology please visit the FMA Ontology Research Project site [url=athttp://fma.biostr.washington.edu/license...']athttp://fma.biostr.washington.edu/license...'[/url]

The long-awaited open sourcing of Java is finally upon us, with Sun announcing the first of a set of releases planned through into 2007. The question of which license Sun would adopt is now settled: it's the GNU General Public License version two. However, key questions are yet to be answered - namely whether the move will help Sun's revenue, and whether open sourcing Java may be a step too late.

Some time toward the end of this year, FortiusOne plans to open a public data repository and social network for data sharing to encourage the creation of dynamic online map mashups that combine multiple data sets

In its attempt to educate its existing customers as well as prospective clients about the evolving role of Linux, Novell organised a multi-city event. We had covered the Mumbai leg in an earlier issue. Here we write about what happened at Delhi and Bangalore—there were different speakers in each city.

In the second part of his interview with News.com, Bill Gates talks about his favorite feature in Vista, why he'll keep pushing for a new file system and the role of open-source software.

Books about management techniques rarely mention how to lead computer programmers. The few that do sooner or later reach for a cliché and compare the effort to herding cats -- J. Hank Rainwater, for instance, uses the phrase as his title. Partly, the comparison reflects how much the topic is outside the corporate mainstream. However, the comparison also reflects the conflicting nature of the job. The typical IT department represents a separate culture within a company, and a successful manager must both understand that culture and act as a bridge between it and the rest of the company, trying to explain each to the other.

In a question-and-answer session after his keynote speech at the Professional Association for SQL Server (PASS) conference in Seattle last Thursday, [Steve] Ballmer said "Linux[™]"uses our [Microsoft Corp.] intellectual property" and "Microsoft Corp. wanted to "get the appropriate economic return for our shareholders from our innovation."
Now, as a Linux user and editor of a Linux users site, I have some questions about this remarks.

[ I sent the thing to WagEdds Rapid Response Team, look forward to hearing from them - hkwint ]

Last week at the Ubuntu Developer Summit, I spoke with Carl Ritchell, co-founder of System76. For years I've been seeking the Nirvana of a company that would ship me professional, high-quality, Linux-only hardware. Various large companies offer half-hearted Linux options. Several sketchy-looking resellers offer brand-name hardware with Linux installed over the top, but it's either a distro I don't want, or it's all old hardware.

SA Linux company Obsidian partners with international PHP company Zend to market products, training and services in the local market.

Phil and the other do-it-themselfers at MAKe have hooked up with artist and designer Raphael Abrams to make their own open source MP3 player. How it works: the Daisy, the mp3 player, can be interfaced and built pretty much however you like. It's licensed with "minimal protections reserved via a Creative Commons license", which means you can use it to build your own iPod look-alike.

LinuxBIOS is a project which aims to replace the normal BIOS found on PCs, Alphas, and other machines with a Linux kernel that can boot Linux from a cold start.Recently it made news with Google deciding to sponsor the LinuxBIOS project. This article takes a look at what is so unique about the LinuxBIOS project. You can also watch a video of Linux BIOS booting Linux on a rev board.

In comments confirming the open-source community's suspicions, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Thursday declared his belief that the Linux operating system infringes on Microsoft's intellectual property.

There's an interview on LinuxInterviews.com with Mark Webbink, PR at RedHat, concerning the Microsoft-Novell deal. It's a response to the Novell interview posted just to days ago on the same site. Mark Webbink tells the Linux crowd if RedHat would have accepted a similar deal with Microsoft, "Why "Open Source Assurance" and why now?" and what will the company do now that RedHat is facing competition from two sides...

Red Hat Inc. had planned to release RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) 5 Beta 2 on Nov. 21, but engineering finished the job early and the beta is already being released to the company's partners and customers. The release boasts the latest open-source technologies for improved performance, security, and flexibility, according to the company.