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News.OSDir.com
Linux & Open Source News from Across the Community
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Software: WordPerfect is Back, but for Linux
C|Net News: "Corel plans to test the waters later this month for a Linux version of its WordPerfect productivity software.
A Corel representative said the company's online store will begin selling a "proof-of-concept" Linux-native version of WordPerfect on April 15. "This pilot project is designed to determine the feasibility of developing future Linux versions of WordPerfect or WordPerfect Office," the representative said.
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Software: Gnome 2.6 Released
Gnome.org: "What's New In GNOME 2.6 Desktop
The File Manager
Nautilus, the GNOME file manager, has several significant improvements in GNOME 2.6. In particular, it now has a simpler and more intuitive user interface, and has improved responsiveness. This should make users feel more comfortable and productive.
This new "spatial" user interface presents just one window for each folder, and remembers their location and size. The user can then think of the window as being the folder. When the user opens a folder again, it will appear just as it did before, so that the user can recognize it. If it is already open, it will just be brought to the front.
Simplified file management - the window is the folder
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Open Source: Sun: Door Not Closed on Open Source Java
While speaking at a Sun Software summit in Menlo park, VP of developer platforms Rich Green stated that Sun would still be open to open sourcing Java if compatibility, branding, and license management issues could be sorted out.
From InfoWorld: "'Neither IBM nor Sun knows if it’s feasible to fulfill the [open source goal] and meet the constraints,' Green said. However, Sun continues to talk with IBM about the idea, he added.
Another Sun official, John Loiacono, senior vice president of operating platforms, expressed a less-optimistic viewpoint. He noted previous Sun pronouncements that Sun would make Java open-source as soon as IBM opens up its products such as WebSphere.
Green, though, retorted, 'We’re not going to do anything out in the open until we have some clarity.'"
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Software: Ximian Drops Red Hat & Fedora Support; Focuses on SuSE
OSNews: "As there were no updates in xd-unstable for a long time now, some people started asking what's going on. In a mail posted on the xd-testers list, Luis Villa of Ximian, announced that they are droping Red Hat/Fedora support and they are focusing on the product Novell is building around Ximian and SuSE."
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Business: Mandrake Exits Bankruptcy!
This morning from MandrakeSoft co-founder Gael Duval: "Great news today: the Court today accepted Mandrakesoft's exit plan from 'redressement judiciaire' (Chapter 11 like protection).
The plan was approved as proposed by the company and its court appointed administrator. This signals the return to normal operations for Mandrakesoft after a 14 month observation period and is a direct consequence of Mandrakesoft's return to profitability."
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Advocacy: Africa Source 2004 Wrap-ups
Slashdot: "Africa Source 2004 has wrapped up and the last of the stragglers have packed their bags and headed home. Africa Source 2004 was a gathering of pan-African Free and Open Source software developers held in Okahandja, Namibia. Organized by Tactical Tech, All Africa and Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA), Africa Source was a mixture of structured and semi-structured discussions with loads of good 'ole hacking thrown in to boot. With workshops ranging from i18n to wireless hacks to running a MOSIX cluster, there were plenty of hands-on sessions for folks to attend. The first ever Kiswahili spell checker was developed and released during the conference, a testament to the activity of those involved."
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Announcements: Novell Standardizing on Qt -NOT- True
Rumours (NewsForge) of Novell standardizing on Qt are untrue.
Note: After the 'story' broke Nat Friedman wrote the following to set the record straight: "We're not really sure where the rumor came from that Novell is standardizing on Qt as its desktop platform. Chris Stone said no such thing during his keynote; the video for the keynote is available here:
http://www.novell.com/brainshare/keynotes2004.html
Novell supports GNOME and KDE, Qt and Gtk. We have not decided that we are standardizing on Qt for the desktop. First of all, most software developed for the Linux desktop is developed by the broader community, and Novell could never impose a standard platform on the community at large. We support development with a variety of toolkits, and our internal development is done using the right tool for the right problem. This includes Qt, Gtk, VCL, XUL and others, depending on the application.
We do not regard the variety of toolkits and platforms in the Linux world as a problem, as long as there are standards and shared code which allow applications to work together.
And frankly, today's Linux toolkits and platforms are one of the least interesting topics on the Linux desktop today. The important issues for this industry and market are our opportunity to innovate in information management and collaboration, improving interoperability with Windows users and services, bringing more ISVs and developers to the Linux platform, enhancing the usability and consistency of the various components that make up the desktop, enabling Windows migration with tools and training and documentation, and creating a manageable Linux desktop to enable large-scale deployments.
We see freedesktop.org as one of the most important and central elements of the Linux desktop for the next several years. The desktop today is made up of a number of components, including OpenOffice, Mozilla, Evolution, and of course GNOME and KDE. Over time we hope to work with freedesktop.org to unify the key interfaces and functionality of these components, to improve integration for users and provide a common open
source desktop platform.
Nat Friedman
Novell/SUSE Linux Desktop Lead"
Miguel de Icaza added the following: "As Nat has posted elsewhere, the Heise article is wrong.
My team and other teams within Novell continue to develop and use Gtk as their toolkit (recently open sourced Simias/iFolder for instance) and all of the Mono GUI development tools.
The only use of Qt that am aware of today is SUSE's recently open sourced YAST.
Btw, if you have been following my posts on my blog and on the desktop-devel-list, you will know that my feeling is that all of the existing toolkits today (Gtk, Qt, XUL and VCL) will become obsolete and we need to start looking at the next generation toolkit system. "
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Software: OpenOffice.org 1.1.1 Released
OOo: "OpenOffice.org 1.1.1 is a bugfix release following version 1.1.0. Prior to OpenOffice.org 1.1.1 a beta version and release candidates 1, 2 and 3 were released to ensure a high quality product. OpenOffice.org 1.1.1 is identical to 1.1.1rc3."
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GNU/Linux: Fedora Core 2 Test 2 Available
Fedora Project: "A test release of Fedora Core 2 is now available from Red Hat and at distinguished mirror sites near you, and is also available in the torrent. Fedora Core has expanded in this release to four binary ISO images and four source ISO images, and is available for both x86-64 and i386. This test release is specifically designed for SELinux testing, as well as testing the 2.6 kernel, GNOME 2.5, and KDE 3.2.1. Please file bugs via Bugzilla, Product Fedora Core, Version test2, so that they are noticed and appropriately classified."
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Business: Zend Nabs $6M in VC Funding
Israeli Business Magazine Globes is reporting that Israeli Company and dear friend of PHP developers everywhere Zend has received $6M is VC funding. "Reports of the death of the Internet have been greatly exaggerated, as Israel start-up Zend Technologies demonstrates. The company’s founders helped develop the new programming language PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), and Zend sells the main component needed for programming. PHP is used to develop web-based applications. The backbone of PHP is a Zend engine, which has been installed at over 12 million sites and Internet applications. Zend has reached profitability, with 2003 sales estimated at a few million dollars.
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Open Source: Switzerland Approves New Open Source Software Strategy
According to Swiss Government IT site Europa, Switzerland has approved the use of a new open source policy in government. "Pointing out that the Swiss Federal Administration must base its software choices on grounds of interoperability and cost-effectiveness, and that open source software “stimulates competition in the software sector”, the strategic paper defines three priorities for the Federal OSS strategy.
The strategic priorities are equality of treatment (both open source and proprietary software must be put on equal footing when evaluated or procured by the Federal administration), sharing of software (federal agencies should whenever appropriate share software developed in-house, according to a licence model similar to the OSS concept), and the implementation of pre-requirements for OSS adoption (federal authorities must work towards establishing certain pre-requirements for successful OSS implementation).
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Open Source: McNealy: No Open Source Java
Government Computer News is reporting that Sun's CEO Scott McNealy, despite the presure from IBM, other competitors, open source advocates, and some of its developers is declining to open source Java. "Despite urging from competitors and open source advocates, Sun Microsystems Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif., will not open the source to its Java programming language anytime soon, said Sun CEO Scott McNealy during a news conference at the 2004 FOSE conference. 'We’re trying to understand what problem does it solve that is not already solved,' McNealy said."
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Software: Novell to Combine Best of KDE and Gnome
eWeek: "Novell's Linux-oriented divisions, Ximian and SuSE, will work together to make one common Novell Linux desktop from Gnome's and KDE's best features, Novell Inc. CEO Jack Messman revealed in an eWEEK.com interview at the company's annual BrainShare trade show here.
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