There’s a good writeup on what OpenOffice.org could learn from firefox. It raises some interesting points. One of which is that software can be designed to meet the needs of say, 60% of the market, the framework firefox has for extenstions helps that other 40% find a way that the browser can meet their needs.
Category: Software
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Multiseat X under linux
Think about it: one pc, 3 monitors, 3 keyboards, 3 mice, 3 users all on the same machine at the same time doing different things. Ah yes, some of you are saying terminal clients, been there… Think of a standard whitebox pc powering it and a full graphical user interface and you have what’s known as multiseat X. There’s a mini-howto up at blog.chris.tylers.info on setting this up with XR11 v. R6.9/7.0
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DRM incompatibility
… and the true reason behind that… is the focus of an article today at freedom-to-tinker.com. Continuing on the whole Sony DRM mess… they take a look at the competing DRM methods, some of the “competition” between companies using different approaches and ultimately come to the conclusion that different DRM methods are used not as a tool against pirates, but as leverage against other media companies.
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Google tightens Google Desktop security to avoid IE bug
Last week there was word of a bug in Internet Explorer that would allow users of Google Desktop to be vulnerable to having the files on their machine viewed from a malicious website. Today, there is news that Google has made changes on thier site that prevent that flaw from being exploited through their software.
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IBM to support OpenDocument format
IBM’s “Workplace” will support the OpenDocument format according to ZDNet.uk They’re expected to aggressively promote their Workplace hosted productivity suite to governments in developing markets. The software will support OpenDocument early next year. The Workplace suite gives people ways to edit documents through a web browser. Files are stored on the server and there, rules can be set to allow/share/disallow access.
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How accessible is the Open Document Format?
Part of the big debate in Massachussetts over the Open Document Format has been it’s accessibility by persons with disabilities. The opponents have maintained that it will increase the difficulty of those people with disabilities in gaining access to vital public information. It’s also claimed that a Microsoft solution would be more accessible.
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Microsoft conceds on ActiveX changes to appease Eolas
Microsoft will be releasing an update to Internet Explorer that changes the way embedded ActiveX controls are loaded. The method of loading embedded controls was at the heart of a lawsuit against Microsoft from smaller Eolas Technologies.
Software affected by the patent would include Macromedia Flash, QuickTime, RealOne Player, Acrobat Reader, Sun’s Java Virtual Machine, and Windows Media Player among other applications that embed into Web pages.
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SSH tips and tricks.
This linux.com article will make a handy reference for anyone who’s a bit fuzzy on what ssh can do other than just something that looks like telnet, although encrypted from end to end. It’s from their CLI Magic series. Among the topics covered.
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Online music locker
The Oboe service has launched. It’s a project that Michael Robertson of Mp3.com and Lindows/Linspire fame has been building interest in for the last 6 months or so. (Maybe a bit longer). The idea is that for a $39 per year subscription you can have an unlimited amount of space online to store your music files (.mp3, .wma, .ogg or .acc are autodetected in download links by the firefox plugin.) Then you can stream them anywhere. What’s interesting about the browser plugin is – let’s say you’re buying a track at the web site of whichever online music store, an icon appears next to the download link, you click and it “sideloads” the file into your online storage locker (bypassing the step of downloading to your pc, then uploading to the storage locker.)
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Zoneminder for a linux based home security DVR system
This is filed under security, but a slightly different angle than the usual computer security articles. I just ran across a link I’ve kept to Zoneminder. Zoneminder is a neat linux application to help you setup your very own DVR (digital video recorder) for a security camera type (CCTV ?) setup. I originally came across the page by way of a livecd that uses the mklivecd tools that I was working with for a couple projects. Typically a CCTV type security camera system can involve some expensive software for the monitoring of cameras.