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StarOffice is a suite of interoperable "office" programs that use the same software shell as their basis. The programs include a word processor, spreadsheet, drawing application, presentation creation program, and database front end. All are feature-rich and capable of providing adequate desktop functionality for business and home use. The latest version, StarOffice 8, is not perfect, but it is an excellent value for businesses that do not depend on proprietary Microsoft formats for production work.

What a difference a year and $2.6 billion makes. The renegade cool that once surrounded Skype Technologies SA among its peers in the Internet telephone industry has been replaced by mockery and awe.

The personal computer is a relic, said Jonathan Schwartz, president of server and software maker Sun Microsystems.

This week's CLI Magic will be a little different from the norm. It's still about magic happening at the command line, but this time it's magic from the dark side. P0f is a passive OS fingerprint tool written by The Evil Twin, a.k.a. Michal Zalewski. Don't worry, we won't be doing anything illegal, just making our own personal version of Netcraft's "What's that site running?" survey.

As the largest iSeries user group and certainly the one that is most heavily attended by IBM and the iSeries business partner community, the semi-annual COMMON iSeries user group gathering has always been a place where IBM gets to tell the OS/400 community where the platform is going and where it has been, and vocal end users get to tell Big Blue a thing or two. The latest COMMON in Orlando, Fla., was no different, and the top brass in the iSeries Division as well as some guests from other IBM divisions were on hand to talk up the iSeries.

3D System consists of Sourcefire Intrusion Sensors and Agents, Real Network Awareness (RNA) Sensors, and Sourcefire Defense Center. Built on Snort, an open-source rules-based detection engine, the intrusion sensors use signature-, protocol- and anomaly-based inspection methods to detect threats. The technology comes as easy-to-deploy security appliances.

Much of the Firefox bashing is the result of Symantec's most recent Internet Security Threat Report (registration required). Symantec found that during the first six months of 2005, the volume and the severity of Firefox's reported vulnerabilities was greater than that reported for Internet Explorer. Much greater. On the surface, that sounds pretty bad, and it gives the Firefox naysayers fresh ammo, but I have a copy of the Symantec report myself. Does it give me pause to rethink our Editors' Choice for Firefox? Hell no.

The end of the world is near. At last that of the Unix world. That’s the prediction of Donald Feinberg, vice-president of Gartner. “Linux is coming, Unix is dead.” But there’s no need to panic. Not just yet. The end is not going to come overnight or even in next week or year, but it is certain, or as he puts it, “an absolute”.

You know, its fascinating watching people approach Open Source in so many different directions. Some people are engulfed by the ethical advantages, some by the technical prowess, and some because it is just interesting and strange. Irrespective of the basis for the attraction, it can also be fun to observe those who think they understand Open Source.

Though down four positions from last year, Linus Torvalds for the first time ranks above rival Bill Gates on the Agenda Setters list

Content is the lifeblood of any organisation that relies on information. If documents are lost in filing cabinets or hidden away on hard drives, the knowledge they carry is buried. But when content is organised and searchable that information lives on. It does useful work over and over again as it is referenced, consulted and combined with other information. The two CMSes (content management systems) in this review create organised and searchable repositories of digital documents. At first glance, both products appear similar and, fundamentally, they are. Both, for example, make extensive use of XML. Closer inspection, however, reveals that each is designed for somewhat different uses of content.

Windows is broken and Microsoft has admitted it. In an unprecedented attempt to explain its Longhorn problems and how it abandoned its traditional way of working, the normally secretive software giant has given unparalleled access to The Wall Street Journal, even revealing how Vice President Jim Allchin, personally broke the bad news to Bill Gates.

RIO DE JANEIRO - Although Brazilians live with Third World levels of poverty and violence, they are emerging as trailblazers in the kind of high technology that is propelling First World economies. Fields such as open-source software, online banking and social networks are finding a welcome home in this nation of more than 180 million people. So are legions of sophisticated hackers who regularly make international headlines with their exploits. That combination of high-tech savvy and lawlessness has pushed Brazil to the front line of some of the day's hottest technology debates, such as those over intellectual property

The upcoming Open Source Desktop Workshop in San Deigo is fast approaching. Slides are being prepared, tutorials developed and registration is filling up fast.

Storekeeper 1st Class Shawn Millang of the U.S. Coast Guard Academy was selected as Serviceperson of the Month for August, and was honored by the New London Kiwanis recently at the Lighthouse Inn. Millang is also active with the New London Linux computer users group, which helps low-income families obtain computers at low- or no cost

IBM will conduct twelve technical briefing in North America in October. For a briefing near you, we've provided access to IBM's page where you can also register for the events. You should consider attending. (ED)

I missed going to mass last Sunday because I was too sick to go to church and I slept through TV mass for the same reason. But I won’t miss a sermon again because there’s this priest who podcasts his sermon, reflections, and other thoughts on his website. One such priest is Fr. Stephen Cuyos, a member of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart who podcasts from Rome while on sabbatical. Father Stephen is a certified Pinoy, a certified techie, a blogger, a Cappuccino-lover, a Linux user and an open-source devotee.

Business Software Alliance (BSA), the global organisation dedicated to promoting a safe and legal digital world, has resolved to intensify its campaign against software piracy in the Middle East in coming months, in collaboration with regional governments committed to providing a momentum to the IT industry.

Very few commenters seem to be able to look out of the box during discussions. If you follow the news about google's activities on CNET, you will see how things add up. History repeats itself, they say, and here'show
1> Microsft is floundering today just like IBM was in the 1980's PC market
2> Google seems to be coming up with all the path breaking ideas just like MS did (basically MS fulfilled the need for cheap personal OSes).

IBM has kicked off this morning the fourth Middle East CIO Conference hosting over 50 of the leading players in corporate technology deployments in Dubai as part of the company’s strategic initiative to work more closely with customers across the region. The CIO conference sees the Chief Information Officers (CIO) of some of the Middle East’s leading government and corporate entities converging in Dubai’s Park Hyatt Hotel just before the GITEX 2005 exhibition.