LinuxJournal ran an article on OpenOffice.org Extensions a couple of months ago. They link to the project wiki and summarize a few extensions, including a grammar checker, Wikipedia integration, and a blog posting tool.
Though he starts the article with a rant about RTFM, he then says:
Post-mortem, I believe that I caused the problem by setting a keyword in/etc/make.conf to ~X86. That told Portage that using unstable code was fine with me. I made that change because one of the packages I wanted to emerge required it, and I didn't know the correct way to allow test/unstable code in a single package.
For those who haven't used gentoo, here's what TFM has to say.
But, in short: The dems lost both the first count and the machine recount (which they were legally entitled to). They did, however win the hand recount (which they were also legally entitled to).
The GOP's lawsuit contesting the election was dismissed by the Chelan County (a republican county) Court.
What was really disgusting is the GOP made personal attacks against the democrats for asking for a recount when the GOP was winning by a narrow margin, but then immediately started acting like the dems when they lost. I think that the WA vote was handled as well as could be expected other than this hypocrisy.
I also mostly use evince. Neither test worked. They triggered this message: "** (evince:18185): WARNING **: Unimplemented action: POPPLER_ACTION_UNKNOWN, please post a bug report with a testcase."
Note that a different implementation only gives you DIFFERENT bugs and holes, as anyone who has followed exploits in xpdf knows.
The article has two testcases. The second uses Windows ODBC so, unsurprisingly, fails. The first is supposed to open a web page automatically, but I'm presented with a dialogue asking me if I really want to open it (and the URL is identified in the dialogue). This seems to be good behavior. Did Adobe get things right on Linux & not on Windows? That's got to be a first.
When I was in Japan I picked up a spare external battery for my Z.
This could be useful, but there's obviously a size/weight tradeoff. Since I still own my Z: how large was the battery & how long would the extra juice last?
I find it easier to type things... and be able to load them into my PC immediately when I want,
Indeed--when my Z wasn't being used as a toy (wireless, seeing which esoteric apps I can run, etc.), I'd be TeXing someting up or coding a bit on it. But typing stuff you intend to keep like this is generally slow & requires some amount of thought & is probably best done in quiet privacy (where you'd have access to a larger computer) wherever possible.
Addresses? Notes at a conference? Free flow (rough) writing, diagramming, and outlining? "Paper is great." Note these are precisely the things PDAs were originally supposed to do! Sure, Korganizer on the Z syncs with my desktop agenda, but it is so tedious to get the data in there in the first place (compared to flipping open a pad & scribbling down a todo). I see "PDAs" being used as mini-computers--word processors as you use yours for & media players. That's great if you need something smaller than a laptop. It isn't if you want to "get organized."
I dig the index cards--they're cheap & provide "random access" and allow for easier "beaming" to other people. Two downsides for me: 1)I like my paper gridded (though you can get gridded index cards). 2)Not durable enough (although you can get various coverings and briefcases, but most will make it less quick to access.
While the moleskines address those points, I never understood the fad. It is so completely overpriced & overhyped. I've received & diligently used a couple as gifts. The paper isn't all that great. The smallest moleskines are made of even cheaper materials & the larger ones aren't pocket sized. Art geeks shell out too much money!
Rhodia pads are also over priced, but not as sickingly overpriced as moleskines. They have a decently durable cover, can cleanly detach, and come in various sizes. The paper is the same as in or clairefontaine pads, but is gridded. It is heavy & stands up to more pens than the moleskine pads. I splurge on these, but honestly a few notebooks from a dollar store would be almost as good.
One of the big trends floating around with the "GTD" nerds is carrying a small paper notebook or a pile of index cards. This works quite well--you never run out of batteries & can trade info for people. Some nerd chick thought it was "cool because it was like a lab notebook."
I've gone through the PALM, Clie (which runs Palm OS), and the Sharp Zaurus. The Zaurus is good, but the batteries would always die on me. Paper is great!
If the plugin saves to ODF by default, why don't they switch immediately? The resolution was on using that file format and using a suite which would produce it by default--NOT to switch the state to OO.o.
To the best of my knowledge, OO.o works well with all accessibility aids that work across all programs in the operating system. It is true that there are a few applications which only work with Microsoft Office (and, particularly, only work with Word), but it is my impression that those tools are in the minority. However, where are the holes? Why can't the disabled use some of these other applications (just as other workers are being asked to use StarOffice or OO.o instead of MS Office)?
This article begs other questions too:
Who will be making the decision (presumably the accessibility lab of ITD)? By what criteria will they make it? Is there a deadline for the decision? Can the ODF plugin for Office be configured to save ODF by default?
Myself (and a number of my fellow students) love the 'track changes' features in Word.
In collaborating with many authors, I've found that this is often accidentally left off, so it is really of marginal benefit.
When writing academic papers in LaTeX, I had a tough time understanding how the edits my advisors made improved the paper.
Not only can you use 'diff' on.tex files, but you can store them in version control repositories (such as cvs or subversion). This kind of change control really can't be matched in Word documents. (I currently keep revisions of Word docs in subversion too, but it is less optimal than working with a text format.)
The visual nature of track changes
Try latexdiff. The visual markup works quite well.
However, I do agree that I wish this could track multiple revisions & color based on the commiter (a'la Word) & that there was a more formal mechanism for "human-readable comments."
And that's the problem right there. You have to learn, and read, the syntax yourself.
There are "WYSIWYM" editors for LaTeX, as well as programs which help you write it. I agree that the learning curve is what prevents adoption, but it isn't an insurmountable barrier. Another barrier is the added time of processing the document
That's a lot of work for just marking up documents, especially since Word or WordPerfect can do a decent job with a lot less of a learning curve.
WYSIWYG line optimization doesn't look as good as page optimization. These formats are quite fragile & don't look the same when rendered by other installations of the software & sometimes other installations won't even be able to open them. Furthermore, there is a learning curve involved in using these "properly" (with styles & contents generation). This might be fine for short documents, but these don't scale well.
LaTeX makes some sense if you are doing lots of documents professionally
Or even a single, complex document (such as a thesis).
but for someone who's likely to only write a handful of papers it's overkill.
Depends on what is happening with those papers. Many journals now strip away all formatting & so it doesn't matter if you give them a Word Doc or a LaTeX article--the two should look nearly the same in print. Sometimes, the author is burdened with making sure everything looks fantastic & a minimal amount of time can be spent to make a document that DOES look better. Some journals will only take DOC or only take LaTeX, which decides the format you should use. LaTeX still has a place in academia.
You might try Portable Firefox. This doesn't require installation & is set to keep all needed files in a subdirectory. You could keep it on a USB stick, your roaming profile, some other network drive, or individual workstations.
Installed is better, but there is a work-around for some users (though certain workstations may be configured such to not allow unknown apps to be executed or allowed network access).
zmanda and other amanda hackers have been actively developing AMANDA. While the comparison of bugs in new code and legacy code might be interesting, one wouldn't really see this by just counting projects.
Those that follow amanda-hackers will know that there was less than a week between when coverity released the report on March 6th and it was announced that all bugs were fixed in AMANDA on March 12th.
They control the fact that they have no legacy components & can take advantage of recent technologies. Every MacIntel has SSE3. If Apple (or any other dev) wants to make an app that takes advantage of that (sucha as Rosetta), they'll be able to. They don't have to test on low-end PC hardware or every single component you can shove in a PCI slot from manufacturers that have died. The minimum hardware for a MacIntel is considerably higher than the average PC that is on someone's desk right now.
To shrinkwrap OS X & sell it to the Dell users of the world, they'd have to either develop & test like crazy on the lowend hardware (and pull out their hair when asked why low-end systems can't do some of the really cool stuff) or they'd have to specify minimum system requirements which the average user might not be able to see if they meet.
I'm rather stumped what this wide variety of configurations is that you speak of.
One easy example is that Rosetta relies on SSE3. Apple has released an OS that takes advantage of features not found on "legacy" chips (including rather recent ones). While allowing a "designed for Mac!" brand could be useful, but I doubt anything would be branded that wasn't also high-end & so wouldn't be that much cheaper. (And, to respond to other posters:the markup on bleeding edge hardware is quite high.)
I think that the outright sale of their O.S. to the unwashed masses who don't have the hardware to run it (and run it well) would be suicide. They might develop a rather small niche geek market, who wants a lower-end new PC (rather than a new high end one direct from Apple) with OS X, assuming that piracy in this demographic wouldn't be rampant.
But they'd have many, many more people who would buy it & just couldn't run the damn thing or would refuse to buy it (or a Mac) after hearing of others who couldn't run the damn thing.
If you're trying to argue that the hardware market is somehow more profitable than the software one I think you're sadly mistaken.
That isn't what I was suggesting at all. You can develop high ROI & loyal repeat customers by providing an end-to-end solution. The game is to sell iPods, iBooks, and OS X to their customers, just as Microsoft's game is to sell Windows+WindowsMobile+Office. Even microsoft does sell hardware where they can. With the commoditization of the PC, there isn't a lot of space for that. They play where it is profitable & there aren't hugely dominant players & where the average customer is willing to get something better than a commodity (such as input devices).
Development and support of OS X is eased by the fact that Apple controls the hardware.
No one will believe me, just as no one believed me when I said as soon as Apple releases OSX intel, it'll run on commodity hardware -- but it'll happen. Because Steve is smart dude.
I might agree that it can happen, but it isn't going to happen soon & there's no business reason to make OS X available on commodity PCs anytime this year like you want (which is why they didn't--Steve is, as you say, a smart dude).
Apple own't Open source OSX, but they will eventually put it on shelves. Because Dell would like to sell it to you. And I would like to buy it.
Apple doesn't cater to the commodity market. So, no they won't do this.
but I also have a reasonably high end wintel workstation that I've already sunk thousands into and is a year away from needing replacement. If I could buy OS X for intel to run on it I would
And I thinkthey'd rather sell you a new $1000+ computer rather than selling you the $100 software (which would increase their costs by having to develop, test, and support a wide variety of configurations).
There are only two reasons: "because you can" (e.g. you get "cred" & can try to hac OS X to run on white box hardware (in violation of the license), etc.) and driver development for Macs.
Darwin isn't designed to be run without OS X for desktop usage & it certainly shouldn't be used in production.
Numbers? Sure, how many popular desktop apps are written in Python? Zero, right?
The original BitTorrent client & a lot of the derivatives kept that language. MusicBrainz Picard. Various podcatchers. There are few popular desktop apps, but it isn't zero.
And how many in Java? Well, only Java IDEs really, then you have that BitTorrent clientAzureus. But most other popular clients are in Python.
and I think LimeWire used to be written in it. Maybe still is.
ztree is a clone of XTG & still uses a CLI. The XTree Company did release an officical XTG for windows, which did very poorly (as it was a poor product). The XTree Company was aquired by Central Point Software and then by Symantec, who was pushing Norton Commander (which also eventually died).
We use Mozilla Sunbird and a WebDAV server here. It isn't perfect, but it is a good enough calendaring application. Lightning integrates this with Thunderbird.
Evolution, a decent Outlook alternative from Novell, has been ported.
Aethera seems stalled, but includes native windows ports of KOrganizer.
Finally, there are some versions of Kontact which can run under Cygwin.
Slashdot Mirror
LinuxJournal ran an article on OpenOffice.org Extensions a couple of months ago. They link to the project wiki and summarize a few extensions, including a grammar checker, Wikipedia integration, and a blog posting tool.
Wikipedia has a nice summary.
But, in short: The dems lost both the first count and the machine recount (which they were legally entitled to). They did, however win the hand recount (which they were also legally entitled to).
The GOP's lawsuit contesting the election was dismissed by the Chelan County (a republican county) Court.
What was really disgusting is the GOP made personal attacks against the democrats for asking for a recount when the GOP was winning by a narrow margin, but then immediately started acting like the dems when they lost. I think that the WA vote was handled as well as could be expected other than this hypocrisy.
I also mostly use evince. Neither test worked. They triggered this message:
"** (evince:18185): WARNING **: Unimplemented action: POPPLER_ACTION_UNKNOWN, please post a bug report with a testcase."
Note that a different implementation only gives you DIFFERENT bugs and holes, as anyone who has followed exploits in xpdf knows.
The article has two testcases. The second uses Windows ODBC so, unsurprisingly, fails. The first is supposed to open a web page automatically, but I'm presented with a dialogue asking me if I really want to open it (and the URL is identified in the dialogue). This seems to be good behavior. Did Adobe get things right on Linux & not on Windows? That's got to be a first.
There are versions of nice and renice for windows. One set is in Cygwin--in the sh-utils package.
They've already written a follow-up: An open letter to Microsoft: Why you shouldn't kill FairUse4WM.
This whole thing reminds me of Cory Doctorow's DRM and MSFT: A Product No Customer Wants.
Addresses? Notes at a conference? Free flow (rough) writing, diagramming, and outlining? "Paper is great." Note these are precisely the things PDAs were originally supposed to do! Sure, Korganizer on the Z syncs with my desktop agenda, but it is so tedious to get the data in there in the first place (compared to flipping open a pad & scribbling down a todo). I see "PDAs" being used as mini-computers--word processors as you use yours for & media players. That's great if you need something smaller than a laptop. It isn't if you want to "get organized."
I dig the index cards--they're cheap & provide "random access" and allow for easier "beaming" to other people. Two downsides for me: 1)I like my paper gridded (though you can get gridded index cards). 2)Not durable enough (although you can get various coverings and briefcases, but most will make it less quick to access.
While the moleskines address those points, I never understood the fad. It is so completely overpriced & overhyped. I've received & diligently used a couple as gifts. The paper isn't all that great. The smallest moleskines are made of even cheaper materials & the larger ones aren't pocket sized. Art geeks shell out too much money!
Rhodia pads are also over priced, but not as sickingly overpriced as moleskines. They have a decently durable cover, can cleanly detach, and come in various sizes. The paper is the same as in or clairefontaine pads, but is gridded. It is heavy & stands up to more pens than the moleskine pads. I splurge on these, but honestly a few notebooks from a dollar store would be almost as good.
One of the big trends floating around with the "GTD" nerds is carrying a small paper notebook or a pile of index cards. This works quite well--you never run out of batteries & can trade info for people. Some nerd chick thought it was "cool because it was like a lab notebook."
I've gone through the PALM, Clie (which runs Palm OS), and the Sharp Zaurus. The Zaurus is good, but the batteries would always die on me. Paper is great!
If the plugin saves to ODF by default, why don't they switch immediately? The resolution was on using that file format and using a suite which would produce it by default--NOT to switch the state to OO.o.
To the best of my knowledge, OO.o works well with all accessibility aids that work across all programs in the operating system. It is true that there are a few applications which only work with Microsoft Office (and, particularly, only work with Word), but it is my impression that those tools are in the minority. However, where are the holes? Why can't the disabled use some of these other applications (just as other workers are being asked to use StarOffice or OO.o instead of MS Office)?
This article begs other questions too:
Who will be making the decision (presumably the accessibility lab of ITD)? By what criteria will they make it? Is there a deadline for the decision? Can the ODF plugin for Office be configured to save ODF by default?
However, I do agree that I wish this could track multiple revisions & color based on the commiter (a'la Word) & that there was a more formal mechanism for "human-readable comments."
You might try Portable Firefox. This doesn't require installation & is set to keep all needed files in a subdirectory. You could keep it on a USB stick, your roaming profile, some other network drive, or individual workstations.
Installed is better, but there is a work-around for some users (though certain workstations may be configured such to not allow unknown apps to be executed or allowed network access).
zmanda and other amanda hackers have been actively developing AMANDA. While the comparison of bugs in new code and legacy code might be interesting, one wouldn't really see this by just counting projects.
Coverity's own site shows how many defects each product has fixed. the number of outstanding defects on AMANDA is now zero. zdnet reported the fixes back in April.
Those that follow amanda-hackers will know that there was less than a week between when coverity released the report on March 6th and it was announced that all bugs were fixed in AMANDA on March 12th.
They control the fact that they have no legacy components & can take advantage of recent technologies. Every MacIntel has SSE3. If Apple (or any other dev) wants to make an app that takes advantage of that (sucha as Rosetta), they'll be able to. They don't have to test on low-end PC hardware or every single component you can shove in a PCI slot from manufacturers that have died. The minimum hardware for a MacIntel is considerably higher than the average PC that is on someone's desk right now.
To shrinkwrap OS X & sell it to the Dell users of the world, they'd have to either develop & test like crazy on the lowend hardware (and pull out their hair when asked why low-end systems can't do some of the really cool stuff) or they'd have to specify minimum system requirements which the average user might not be able to see if they meet.
I think that the outright sale of their O.S. to the unwashed masses who don't have the hardware to run it (and run it well) would be suicide. They might develop a rather small niche geek market, who wants a lower-end new PC (rather than a new high end one direct from Apple) with OS X, assuming that piracy in this demographic wouldn't be rampant.
But they'd have many, many more people who would buy it & just couldn't run the damn thing or would refuse to buy it (or a Mac) after hearing of others who couldn't run the damn thing.
Development and support of OS X is eased by the fact that Apple controls the hardware.I might agree that it can happen, but it isn't going to happen soon & there's no business reason to make OS X available on commodity PCs anytime this year like you want (which is why they didn't--Steve is, as you say, a smart dude).
There are only two reasons: "because you can" (e.g. you get "cred" & can try to hac OS X to run on white box hardware (in violation of the license), etc.) and driver development for Macs.
Darwin isn't designed to be run without OS X for desktop usage & it certainly shouldn't be used in production.
ztree is a clone of XTG & still uses a CLI. The XTree Company did release an officical XTG for windows, which did very poorly (as it was a poor product). The XTree Company was aquired by Central Point Software and then by Symantec, who was pushing Norton Commander (which also eventually died).
We use Mozilla Sunbird and a WebDAV server here. It isn't perfect, but it is a good enough calendaring application. Lightning integrates this with Thunderbird.
Evolution, a decent Outlook alternative from Novell, has been ported.
Aethera seems stalled, but includes native windows ports of KOrganizer.
Finally, there are some versions of Kontact which can run under Cygwin.