Applications: Linux and open source news

Mozilla slates first Firefox 3.5 patch

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

Mozilla will patch the just-released Firefox 3.5 later this month to stamp out several bugs that went unfixed in the final version of the browser, the company said.

No to SQL? Anti-database movement gains steam

2009-07-02T00:00:00Z

The meet-up in San Francisco last month had a whiff of revolution about it, like a latter-day techie version of the American Patriots planning the Boston Tea Party.

PostgreSQL 8.4 released, focus on admin, monitoring

2009-07-01T00:00:00Z

The PostgreSQL project has released version 8.4 of its namesake open source database system with some 300 new or improved features and a renewed focus on administration and monitoring tools.

Mozilla launches Firefox 3.5, starts kill clock for older 3.0

2009-06-30T00:00:00Z

Mozilla launched Firefox 3.5 today, ending six months of delays to wrap up its newest browser almost exactly a year after its last major upgrade.

The many faces of OpenOffice

2009-06-30T00:00:00Z

A chameleon: That's what I think of when I ponder the myriad variations on the OpenOffice.org theme that have cropped up in recent years. Ever since Sun Microsystems decided to release the StarOffice source code into the public domain, ambitious open source developers have been actively tweaking, tuning, and spinning the bits into ever more specialized iterations. And while the majority of these variants have achieved only niche status, a few commercially driven projects have had a direct impact on the broader OpenOffice community.

Office-compatibility torture test

2009-06-30T00:00:00Z

In InfoWorld's tests using complex Word and Excel documents, OpenOffice.org 3.1 failed to deliver on its promise of better Microsoft Office interoperability, severely mangling our Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel test data files. By stark contrast, SoftMaker Office showed excellent compatibility with Office 2003 file formats, making it a safe choice for heterogeneous environments -- at least where external data access wasn’t a priority. Neither OpenOffice.org nor SoftMaker Office was able to preserve links to an external SQL data source in imported Microsoft Excel documents. (See the review, "The better Office alternative: SoftMaker Office bests OpenOffice.org.")

The better Office alternative: SoftMaker Office bests OpenOffice.org

2009-06-30T00:00:00Z

In the kingdom of business productivity, Microsoft Office reigns supreme. Its dominating position atop the word processing, spreadsheet, and presentations heap seems virtually unassailable. Its file formats define an industry, and its component applications are often synonymous with the underlying tasks they perform. That's not a presentation file you're displaying -- it's a PowerPoint deck. You don't punch numbers into a spreadsheet; you update your Excel Workbook. And if you're going to send out that memo company-wide, better make sure it's attached as a Word doc.

Group pitches Linux for free netbooks from mobile carriers

2009-06-30T00:00:00Z

Mobile carriers may start giving away netbooks for free, and Linux-based application stores could help them profit by doing it, the head of a Linux advocacy group told Chinese companies on Monday.

Mozilla sets Firefox 3.5 final release for Tuesday

2009-06-29T00:00:00Z

Mozilla plans to ship Firefox 3.5 on Tuesday, bringing the long-awaited upgrade in under its own deadline wire, the company said.

Firefox 3.5 eyed for Tuesday release

2009-06-26T00:00:00Z

Mozilla is expected to release its Firefox 3.5 browser on Tuesday morning, a company representative said on Friday afternoon.