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Congress is set to conduct hearings on the proposed Free Open Source Software (FOSS) Act of 2006, which mandates the use of open-source software in government. If enacted, the law is likewise expected to benefit small companies.

In previous OOoBasic crash course articles we've created a few simple macros. If you're ready for more advanced stuff, let's create a macro that allows you to save the currently opened document in several formats. This macro can come in handy for archiving purposes and for exchanging files with other users.

European businesses are only considering migrating to Linux when they decide to deploy new applications, but most currently have no intention of moving to Windows Vista either, according to a survey released this week.

A study commissioned by Mozilla claims that the anti-phishing filter in Firefox 2.0 beats Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 hands down.

On the same day that the company's Chief Financial Officer Charlie Peters said Oracle's (nasdaq: ORCL - news - people ) push into the Linux market--as well as Microsoft's (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) recent partnership with Novell (nasdaq: NOVL - news - people )--may hurt the company near-term, shares fell 3.3%, or 57 cents, to $16.96.

Sun'sannouncement that it would be releasing Java under the GNU GPL confounded many of its critics (including myself) who had feared that the company was incapable of making such a bold move.  Quite rightly, it has garnered praise from across the hacker world.  But Sun's relationship with free software has not always been so idyllic.

Akaza Research is pleased to announce the availability ofOpenClinica 2.0, the open source clinical research software platform. OpenClinicaâ„¢ is an open source web-based software platform that enables sponsors and investigators to manage clinical research data in multi-site studies. It facilitates protocol configuration, design of case report forms, electronic data capture, and study/data management. OpenClinica supports HIPAA and 21CFR Part 11 guidelines and is designed as a strictly standards-based, extensible, and modular platform. OpenClinica was initially released in October 2005 and is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).

Legal advice for all. Free software developers now have a "legal guardian" they can turn to for advice and guidance on GPL copyright law and patent infringements.

You've probably seen the many articles infesting computing publications that blather on about comparing TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) and ROI (Return on Investment) for Linux and Windows, and trying to figure out which one costs less to run. I'm no analyst, nor am I a Fellow at some Institute, nor am I a pundit who is paid to pontificate. I'm just an old country system and network administrator who has been running mixed Linux and Windows networks for lo these many years, and since everything works OK and my customers keep sending me checks that don't bounce, I figure I'm entitled to a punditry or two of my own. The bottom line is Linux costs way less to run and works better. That's why I prefer it.

Superior user interface speeds up UML modeling, boosts productivity.

A study commissioned by Mozilla Foundation claims that the anti-phishing filter in Mozilla's Firebox 2.0 browser has outclassed similar tools available in Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7. The study found that Firefox 2.0, which is said to be a more secured version than the earlier browsers, had blocked 81.5 per cent of all phishing websites, while IE7 prevented 66.35 per cent of the phishing operations.

Reg Technology Panel Not yet convinced. Following the acquisition of PeopleSoft and Siebel Systems, only a short time after PeopleSoft had itself acquired JD Edwards, software giant Oracle became the proud owner of four ERP and three CRM product lines, all originally developed on different platforms and having different tooling to manage configuration and implementation.

Optimized for distributed network infrastructure applications spanning multiple processors and operating systems, version 2.0 of the Element high-availability middleware from Enea is now available for MontaVista Carrier Grade Linux, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fedora Core, and CentOS (Community ENTerprise Operating System). Element 2.0 also works out of the box with Kontron's XL8000 AdvancedTCA system and provides standard interfaces for AdvancedTCA and the SA Forum's Hardware Platform Interface

This "Covenant" is designed for nothing but to instill fear and doubt into millions of enterprise Linux Users...the fear that if they do not use Suse, the Linux tainted by Microsoft, then they just may be open to lawsuits for IP violations. This barely if at all, falls short of rape.

First International Computing (FIC) is to ship a completely open, Linux based, ARM powered GPS-equipped quad-band GSM/GPRS mobile in the first quarter of 2007. The Neo1973 is the first phone based on the open-source OpenMoKo platform and is expected to ship direct, worldwide, for around $350. OpenMoko is an integrated open source mobile communications platform which its developers claim will create an explosive growth in mobile applications to rival the diversity and size of the ringtone market and foster new income models for carriers.

Lineo Solutions has confirmed that it will begin including CodeSourcery's Sourcery G++ development tools in Lineo ELITE development kits for the ARM architecture. Sourcery G++ includes the entire GNU Toolchain, including the GNU C and C++ Compilers, GNU Binary Utilities, and GNU Debugger.

A few days ago, I got the new ‘icedove’ package, which succeeds the not-so-free Mozilla® Thunderbird® in Debian. What was still missing was the integration with / the packaging of a new Enigmail package for encryption. Now that step is done as well.

Funambol, an open source Java-based SyncML application, reached a milestone in September with the release of v3.0. The software provides calendar and address book linkage for groupware and mobile devices. Funambol started out more than three years ago as Sync4j, with a project on SourceForge.net. From humble beginnings, Funambol has today become a company that sells commercial support contracts, but still makes its software available under the GPL.

In an online interview on LinuxInterviews.com, Justin Steinman, Director of Marketing for Linux & Open Platform Solutions for Novell declared that "negotiations on the Microsoft agreement started in Spring 2006." Find out what Novell's point of view is on the buzz the recent agreement they signed with Microsoft started on the Internet. Justin Steinman explains what this deal means for Linux and Novell and how does this affect the competition between Novell and Microsoft. Novell sais there's no link between Oracle and their recent announcement.

Depending on who is commenting, the recently announced agreement between Microsoft and Novell is either the ultimate victory or the beginning of the end for Linux. If there is anything that is clear about this new arrangement, it's that nobody really understands what it means yet. Perhaps, in the end, it means less than most people hope or fear.