cairo release 1.6.0 now available

The cairo community is quite pleased to announce the 1.6.0 release of the cairo graphics library. This is a major update to cairo, with new features and enhanced functionality which maintains compatibility for applications written using cairo 1.4, 1.2, or 1.0. We recommend that anybody using a previous version of cairo upgrade to cairo 1.6.0.

The most significant new features in this release are dramatically improved PDF and PostScript[*] output, support for arbitrary X server visuals (including PseudoColor), a new Quartz backend, and and a new "win32 printing" backend. See below for more details on these and other new features.

Have fun with cairo!

-Carl

The new cairo 1.6.0 release is now available from:

http://cairographics.org/...

which can be verified with:

http://cairographics.org/...

49d9d4c4796021c3ed02e5072e8ffe3a00ee4a77 cairo-1.6.0.tar.gz

http://cairographics.org/...

(signed by Carl Worth)

Additionally, a git clone of the source tree:

git clone git://git.cairographics.org/git/cairo

will include a signed 1.6.0 tag which points to a commit named:

d6263bec89bcd1565fb0f56a9840cd6f7761097f

which can be verified with:

git verify-tag 1.6.0

and can be checked out with a command such as:

git checkout -b build 1.6.0

RSA: Security Experts Debate Linux Vs. Microsoft

Like the Hatfields and McCoys, some debates are as old as the hills, and no one ever seems to win. In the IT industry, security pundits have long been arguing the question of whether Linux is more secure than Windows with similarly inconclusive results.

In a town hall-style debate Wednesday at RSA 2008 in San Francisco, Jeff Jones, a director in Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT)'s Trustworthy Computing group, and Dr. Richard Ford, a professor at the Florida Institute of Technology and a longtime Linux advocate, examined some of the canards that have settled around both sides of the issue over the years.

Both Ford and Jones agreed that the issue of default configurations plays a major role in security. "What you install, and how you install by default, turns out to be incredibly relevant to security," said Ford.

Jones agreed, noting that the security improvements that followed Microsoft's decision to turn automatic updates on by default, and to change the default setting for Windows Firewall to on in Windows XP service pack 2.

From there, however, the discussion turned to debate, although never going beyond the level of friendly repartee. Jones, who has stirred the pot in the past with claims that Windows Vista is more secure than Linux and OS X, showed figures that indicate Linux has a higher number of overall vulnerabilities than Vista.

Ford said the difficulty with comparing operating systems is that it's often an apples and oranges comparison, and that "raw vulnerability counts really don't give you a good picture," although they can't be discounted entirely.

Besides, argued Ford, even if Linux has more overall vulnerabilities, these vulnerabilities have traditionally been less severe than those affecting Windows. He defined severity as consequence plus ease of exploitation.

"Every time Windows gets a vulnerability, someone immediately writes a rootkit or a worm," said Ford. Linux, in contrast, has fewer critical issues, he added.

IDC sees $49 billion Linux server business in 2011

Austin, Texas--Once upon a time, you found Linux as a server in two places in the enterprise: on the edge, as a Web server, and in the branch office, as a file and print server. That was then. This is now.

In a speech at the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit at the University of Texas Super Computing Center here, IDC Vice President of Research Al Gillen said that Linux is now growing quickly as the heart of mission-critical enterprise application servers. How quickly? Try the Linux server business will grow to $49 billion in 2011.

In his speech, Gillen said, "While these basic workload deployments continue to grow in volume, additional workloads, including database, ERP, decision support and general business processing, are steadily advancing their share of total Linux deployments." What this means for Linux is that it quickly is becoming a mission-critical part of business.

In terms of dollars and cents, IDC expects to see Linux software spending growing from 2006 to 2011 at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 35.7 percent. The overall spending on Linux, including software, hardware, and services, is increasing over the same period at a CAGR of 24.1 percent. So if this spending continues at the rate IDC expects, the total spending on Linux will grow from 2007's $21 billion in 2007 to $49 billion by 2011.

Now, if only the economy were growing at a rate even half of that, there would be no talk of a recession.

At this growth rate, Gillen said Linux's share of the total server market "is expected to grow to more than 9 percent by 2011, or $31 billion in Linux-related software revenue in a total market that will grow to $330 billion." As in the past, much of that growth is expected to come at the expense of Unix.

Linux's growth is not uniform across different businesses. Gillen noted that "users in verticals such as government, financial services and general services are more likely to move to Linux as a replacement for existing Unix servers."

Looking ahead, "Windows continues to present a significant long-term challenge for Linux," said Gillen. At the same time, though, "Microsoft has shifted its approach to both Linux and other open-source technology and today is working both competitively and cooperatively with Linux solutions at a technology and development level. However, the company still takes a highly competitive marketing and sales approach to Linux."

Another development IDC sees coming in the next few years that may boost Linux's enterprise server growth even higher is what Gillen calls "software appliances." These are turnkey software stacks "that incorporate operating system functionality along with middleware and other infrastructure software components, and potentially with application software as well." If this happens, this will give vendors with a strong software stack--such as a Novell, Red Hat or Sun--a chance for "higher-volume deployments of Linux, even though it will reduce revenue opportunities for discrete products."

The bottom line: Linux is continuing to become the life's blood of many businesses. Or, as in the case of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, an early Linux adopter, it already is. A representative of the Exchange at the Summit said, "We're already doing a trillion dollars of trades on the exchange." What part of mission-critical ready do you not understand?

--Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Original link: http://www.linux-watch.com/news/...

Mickos, As New Sun Exec: Linux Will Stay In LAMP

The former CEO of MySQL is confident that the database technology will have continued commitment to customers and open source developers inside of Sun.

By Charles Babcock
InformationWeek
Û 10, 2008 09:00 H

As soon as former MySQL CEO Marten Mickos, now a Sun Microsystems senior VP for databases, took the stage, he was asked what was Sun's commitment to the L in LAMP?... the integrated open source stack that includes Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP.

"The commitment is complete," he responded without hesitation. The scene was The Commons Auditorium at the Austin branch of the University of Texas. It was the site of one historic commitment to Linux -- IBM's decision in 1999 to become a backer, not an opponent, of the open source operating system. The attendees at the 2008 Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit wanted to know whether Sun's preference for Solaris over Linux had changed anything inside the ranks of MySQL staffers.

"We are still committed," Mickos said. "If we are not committed, than any one of you can take the MySQL code and fork it to make a new MySQL product, which I am sure you would do" if Sun tried to converts LAMP to SAMP.

Mickos was peppered with questions from the Linux crowd. "What is Sun's Linux strategy? What degree of freedom will the MySQL group have inside of Sun?"

"There's a realization inside of Sun that the days of the monoliths are over, but the Web continues to grow." Sun wants to participate in that growth, not by sticking to Sun-only technologies, but by offering a smorgasbord of choices to its customers, including a core set of Java/Solaris/Sparc technologies.

"Sun can claim to be the biggest open source contributor in the world," Mickos said, repeating a line frequently used by Sun executives as they comment on how Sun is now an open source company. The claim springs from Sun founder Bill Joy creating the Berkeley version of Unix while attending graduate school, and Sun's early donation of the networking file system, NFS, among other things.

"Sun is more than Solaris or Sparc," Mickos told the 300 attendees to the Summit, primarily Linux developers, users and vendors. "It desires to be a major player in an online Web economy," he noted. Without Sun, MySQL had a sales and field representative force of 200. With Sun, it has access to 17,000, he said.

"It's a very positive change. We're drowning in requests from them. They will help us grow in a $15 billion [database] market," he said.

Original link: http://www.informationweek.com/n...

Zonbu Notebook Review: Part I

(Review) - When I first discovered that I going to receive a Beta testing review notebook from Zonbu, I was a bit skeptical. Despite being excited to try out one of their latest contraptions, I could not get my head around the challenges of a Linux notebook that was simple enough for the most casual PC user.

It seems that it's not only easy enough for anyone, but it's a solid notebook for the price.

Initial Boot-Up. After starting the notebook, I was immediately presented with a first run wizard, much like you might expect to see with Linspire or Windows. I was then asked to select either a wired or wireless network. Obviously, being this is a notebook, I chose the wireless options, wondering how it was going to handle my use of WPA2. To my surprise, it worked flawlessly. I was connected instantly.

Logging On. Unlike most notebooks, Zonbu is basically a network PC. So even though this model presents localized storage, in addition to network connectivity, the fact remained that I had to connect to the Internet before actually logging on.

Since I already had a Zonbu account with my Zonbu mini, I was able to log in without any issue. The first login was a bit slow, but you have to remember that it is syncing up with my existing Zonbu account, which happens to have a fair bit of data in it.

Desktop. The desktop is like any other, with the exception that for a Linux computer, it maintains a familiar Windows feel, which will suit the target market nicely. Zonbu's desktop environment provides a Start menu and you can easily find both the control panel and applications from there.

One thing that immediately makes Zonbu different from any other OS is the inability to install anything. Unless Zonbu decides to add another application to the mix and then later allow it to trickle in via some an update, you are limited to what you see here.

In reality, I suspect that Zonbu will see a large adoption base with this notebook despite its limitations on the applications because people want an Internet appliance, not a full desktop. More on this later.

It's Beginner-Friendly. Perhaps one of the biggest things that differentiate this notebook from any other is that you can't break it. Seriously, your data is intact unless you choose to manually erase it. Because of its locked down nature, Zonbu allows the user to completely destroy their hardware and then after receiving a replacement, they login and right there before their eyes, the data is back, as if nothing had happened.

Perfect Update. Zonbu updates your notebook for you, automatically when you first login. This means that new features and functionality will come to you, without you feeling like a Guinea pig (ahem, Ubuntu). Granted, as Zonbu's release of the notebook is released now as Beta, it's clearly stated and you are still protected by a 30-day money back promise, should you decide to return it. This seems fair to me.

In Part II of this series, we'll further take a look at the notebook and the variety of features it packs.

Original link: http://www.osweekly.com/index.ph...

Ubuntu Linux to Be Certified by Sun

Sun is about to become the first major hardware vendor to certify Ubuntu Linux as compatible with its products—a move that could spark increased competition for Red Hat and Novell.

By Jim Finkle

BOSTON (Reuters) - Red Hat Inc. and Novell Inc. will soon face more competition from a small rival, Ubuntu Linux, in the market for open-source software programs that run server computers.

Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu Linux, said on Wednesday that Sun Microsystems Inc. would soon certify that his software is compatible with some Sun products.

Sun is the first of the world's major server computer makers to certify that its hardware works with Ubuntu Linux, Shuttleworth told Reuters in an interview.

Such certifications are important because there are dozens of types of independently developed Linux software and many of them are not compatible with hardware and software sold by the world's largest computer and software makers.

Red Hat, which reported $523 million in revenue in its fiscal year ended February 29, became the world's largest commercial provider of Linux software for server computers primarily by through such certifications.

Red Hat Linux software is certified to work with hundreds of different software programs and pieces of hardware, a key selling point because it means that customers don't need to spend time customizing the software to work with their existing computer systems.

Terri Molini, a spokeswoman for Sun, confirmed the relationship with Ubuntu, saying she expects the certification will happen "very soon."

Molini said that her company is also working to make sure its Java programming language, tools and Java server are compatible with a new version of Ubuntu -- Ubuntu 8.04 -- that is coming out later this month and code-named Hardy Heron.

Shuttleworth develops Ubuntu with help from software programmers around the world, many of whom contribute their time at no charge. He makes money by selling contracts to upgrade the software, provide help desk support and bug fixes through Canonical Ltd, a privately held company that he owns.

Red Hat and Novell both sell subscription versions of Linux, which come with similar support.

Versions of Ubuntu for desktop computers and servers are available for free download over the Internet at www.ubuntu.com.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle)

Original link: http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Linux-a...

Norwegian Geeks Take to the Streets to Protest OOXML

Dozens of IT experts held a peaceful demonstration on Wednesday to protest the ISO's acceptance of Microsoft's Office Open XML as a worldwide computer document standard. The protest's organizer, Steve Pepper, is the former chairman of the Standards Norway committee. He stepped down after Norway decided to support OOXML despite his vote against it.


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Roughly 60 data experts staged a rare and noisy street demonstration in downtown Oslo on Wednesday to protest Norway joining adoption of Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Free Trial. Security Software As A Service From Webroot. Latest News about Microsoft document format as the international standard.

Last week, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) narrowly voted in favor of using Microsoft's Office Open XML, or OOXML, format as a world standard.

Opponents claimed the move locks out competitors and forces Microsoft customers to keep buying the American software giant's programs.
'Scandalous Behavior'
The peaceful Oslo protest was called by Steve Pepper, who stepped down as chairman of the Standards Norway committee on the issue after being outvoted in the decision that Norway will support the Microsoft standard.

Pepper said the committee ignored the advice of the vast majority of the Nordic nation's software experts. He claimed it was pressured by Microsoft and displayed "scandalous behavior."

Standards Norway has released a detailed review of the committee's decision process to rebut such claims.

"People shouldn't have to pay money to Microsoft to be able to read my documents," Pepper said. He said there was already a good ISO standard, called "OpenDocument Format," or ODF, that allows documents to be opened by programs from different software companies.
Setting the Meta-Standard

Protesters demanded reforms to the ISO to ensure "standardization of standardization."

The marchers, who included Opera Software's Chief Technical Officer Haakon Wium Lie, carried such banners as "Micro$oft: Support ODF" as they gathered in light rain on the street.

Many smiled, though some threatened legal action against the decision.

"It's not often that computer people get together outside for a demonstration," Lie said of the jovial mood.

Original link: http://linuxinsider.com/story/No...

MySQL: Sun acquisition will propel business

Although it has, for some time, been known as a global open source database systems provider, MySQL has not been actively marketing in the Philippines until recently. During the release of MySQL Enterprise Server 5.0 in the country, APAC senior vice president Larry Stefonic said they believe the Philippines is a strong market as evident in downloads being made from the country, even when they have not been heavily marketing in the country yet.

"The Philippine market is one that we have known for a long time; it's a good market which we have not addressed until today," said Stefonic. Acknowledging that, being a late entrant, it may take some time for the company to penetrate the market, Stefonic believes the company has "the right pieces to move the market," especially given the positive momentum that open source has been getting lately.

Citing a study by Gartner, Stefonic said open source has gained a lot of momentum today, adding that 70% of the respondents reported they will use open source database management systems by the end of this year. According to Stefonic, technology, media, and telecommunications industries have been traditionally good markets for them, while financial service institutions (FSI) and government segments have been showing a lot of initial adoption.

Stefonic further said that many banks want to adopt MySQL but it may take some time, especially for those whose systems are so old; while some tend to be conservative about moving between databases. "Some are starting on the edge of their enterprise, they want to move their data center operations to open source but, especially with a 20-year old application in place, you just cannot move that stuff overnight. But it is happening already," he said.

According to Stefonic, datawarehousing and Web 2.0 are currently two drivers for growth in the database market. "The reason why we see huge adoption in Web service (and e-commerce) companies, as opposed to banks and other traditional markets, is because these companies have new technologies in place; so it's a lot easier for them to adopt new technologies as well," he said.

Highly optimistic that the company will experience good growth in the country, Stefonic said Sun Microsystems' acquisition of the database company earlier this year will do "a number of great things" for the technology and the business of MySQL. "Everything gets boosted for MySQL; we go from a well-recognized player to a very credible and recognized player. Everybody is extremely positive," he said.

MySQL has appointed Touch Solutions Inc. as its authorized distributor and MySQL education center in the country, ensuring that clients will get immediate fix and efficient support from professionals. Touch Solutions now also offers classes for database administrators, developers, and MySQL 5 fine-tuning for beginners, intermediate, and experienced users.

The company's flagship software product, MySQL Enterprise Server 5.0, offers e-commerce, online transaction processing (OLTP), and multi-terabyte data warehousing applications with a fully integrated ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability) compliant database that features full commit, crash recovery, and low-level locking capabilities. Another product, MySQL Cluster, combines MySQL with a fault-tolerant database clustering architecture that allows users to deliver mission-critical database applications with 99.999% availability.

Original link: http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2...

Qlusters waves goodbye to openQRM

And then there was three? Qlusters, the former(?) open source systems management vendor has handed the development of the openQRM project over to the open source community and announced that it will no longer be involved in the project.

According to an announcement on SourceForge, openQRM 3.5 is the last release from Qlusters. Matt Rechenburg, active project manager, will lead its ongoing development.

No word yet from Qlusters on its future direction. However, it is not surprising to see changes at the company. It has been particularly quiet since former CTO William Hurley left to become chief open source strategy architect at BMC. In fact, I was more surprised to see an announcement regarding Qlusters than I was the fact that it is getting out of openQRM development.

Kris Buytaert reports that Qlusters has a new CEO in Dror Nemirovsky, so presumably there is a plan to move the company forward (although the company wasn’t in a mood to talk about it according to this ByteandSwitch update from March). Certainly the investors - Israel Seed Partners, Benchmark, Duff Ackerman and Goodrich, Charles River, and Network Appliance - will be looking to get some return from the $34m invested in the company.

One of the so-called “little four” open source systems management vendors, alongside GroundWork, Hyperic and Zenoss, Qlusters was founded by former CEO Ofer Shoshan, as well as Moshe Bar, who you may also remember from such open source vendors as XenSource, and Qumranet.

Original link: http://blogs.the451group.com/ope...

Asterisk: More Than 'Just' a PBX Powerhouse?

TORONTO -- Open source advocates have long pointed to Asterisk's ascendancy as one of the movement's great success stories. But for the founder of the open source PBX (define) solution, Asterisk's success is just the beginning.

In fact, even with growing demand and more than a million downloads under its belt, the full-featured, open source IP-PBX for VoIP is old news, according to Mark Spencer, the software's original author, during his keynote here at the IT 360 conference today.

Instead, what's exciting is the road ahead, said Spencer, who now serves as CTO of Digium, the chief corporate player behind Asterix.

While open source has made tremendous inroads over the last few years in telecom, thanks in part to Spencer and Asterisk, it still has a ways to go before mounting a real challenge to the business's proprietary stalwarts, like Avaya and Cisco.

But Spencer said open source's further success in telecommunications faces some lingering misconceptions. He said many view Asterisk as a PBX and an application -- defined early on based on its core, traditional PBX features like call forwarding, voicemail and conferencing.

But Asterisk is actually a telephony engineering platform, he said. After all, it's laid the groundwork for developers to create a slew of intriguing telephony apps, he added.

One such creation is SwitchVox, an Asterisk-based PBX geared toward small and midsized businesses. SwitchVox, which Digium acquired last year, offers a user interface based on the familiar PBX design, making it easier for people to adopt, Spencer said.

Spencer said Asterix has been tapped for applications as diverse as a multimedia Times Square billboard, which uses the technology to pipe out streaming audio.

He also described Unwired Buyer, a phone-based interface to access eBay auctions as an Asterisk application with real business applicability.

But Asterix's development community certainly isn't without its whimsical side. For instance, Spencer mentioned the "Popularity Dialer" app, which places prescheduled calls to users -- giving them a convenient excuse to, say, escape a bad date. ("Oh, sorry -- that was the boss. I'm needed back at the office immediately.")

Dell: No Plans for Ubuntu Linux Servers

Canonical, promoter of Ubuntu Linux, has plenty of momentum on the desktop. But as Canonical gears up for a server push, one key Ubuntu partner plans to sit on the sidelines. Indeed, Dell has no plans to ship Ubuntu on its servers, according to a Dell source who spoke with The VAR Guy today.

First, a little history lesson. Dell in mid-2007 began pre-loading Ubuntu on selected desktops and notebooks. (Yes, The VAR Guy now has one.)

Plenty of folks — The VAR Guy included — assumed Dell would jump on the bandwagon as Canonical makes a stronger Ubuntu server push this year. That assumption was wrong, according to a member of Dell’s Linux team who chatted with The VAR Guy today.

Dell does plan to support Ubuntu 8.04 (code-named Hardy Heron) on selected desktops this spring or summer. (Here’s an early look at Ubuntu 8.04.) But it’s hard to blame Dell for taking a “wait and see” approach to Ubuntu on the server. After all, Red Hat and Novell are both firmly entrenched in the Linux server market.

And for Ubuntu to succeed on the server, it will need a critical mass of integrators, consultants and software developers willing to sell, service and support Ubuntu-centric systems.

To be sure, some companies are testing the Ubuntu server waters. Sun Microsystems continues to get cozier with Ubuntu on the server. And servers will be a big theme at the Ubuntu Live event scheduled for this July in Portland, Oregon.

Also, Canonical has introduced an administration tool — called Landscape — that could make Ubuntu servers and desktops easier to manage.

But this isn’t going to be a sprint. For Ubuntu to succeed on servers, Canonical will need to prepare for a marathon.

Original link: http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/04...

Live from the Linux Foundation! It's sjvn!

Blog--Ever wonder what your favorite writer looked and sounded like? Well, me too. But, if you'd like to see Ziff Davis Enterprise Editor at Large Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, aka me, in action, hop on over to Linux.com, where you can see my off-the-cuff take on the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit in Austin, Texas.

While the show, in general, is low on news with a capital "N," it more than makes up for it by bringing together the movers and shakers of Linux. Everyone I've spoken with here tells me the same thing: I'm getting to talk to the people who can make it happen.

Everyone at this invitation-only event is someone who matters if you're in the Linux community: lawyers and developers, CEOs and print driver experts. It's a fascinating mix that shows how diverse the Linux community really is and at the same time how they can unite together to create a powerful operating system and software ecosystem.

As I said, there may not be much news coming from the Summit itself, but I can guarantee that in the coming months you're going to see big news and major announcements that got their start from conversations whirling around the rooms of this second annual Linux Foundation meeting.

--Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Original link: http://www.linux-watch.com/news/...

Mini-ITX vendor pre-installs Ubuntu

An online retailer specializing in mini-ITX boards, systems, and accessories has started selling mini-ITX and pico-ITX systems pre-installed with Ubuntu Linux. Logic Supply says that as a Canonical Solution Provider partner, it has staff ready to support approved systems under the popular desktop and server Linux OS.

In a posting on the company's corporate weblog, the company's resident graphic artist, Kristina Drobny, reported that the company tested many of the mini-ITX and pico-ITX products that it distributes, in order to determine which work best with Ubuntu. To be supported, boards were required to:

1. Boots without errors
   
2. All peripherals recognized and function correctly
   
3. Graphical user interface functions correctly -- desktop displays properly and standard screen resolutions are supported and display correctly
   
4. Audio device works correctly

The $300 "Artigo" pico-ITX kit -- ready for Ubuntu (Click for details)

So far, boards approved through the program include:

• VIA EPIA PX10000G (VIA VX700 chipset)
  
• MSI MS-7265 (Intel 945GM chipset)
  
• MSI MS-9642 (Intel 945GM chipset)
  
• IEI KINO-9452 (Intel 945GM chipset)
  
• Jetway J9F2-KHDE (Intel 945GM chipset)
  
• MSI MS-9803 (Intel GM965 chipset)
  
• VIA EPIA SN (VIA CN896 chipset)

The news comes just days after industrial PC vendor Ampro announced plans to distribute Ubuntu with every one of its board-level system products. Board vendors, board distributors, chip vendors... these days, everyone's a Linux distributor! And that's a good thing. I mean, 15 years ago, you paid $15,000 or more for a copy of Unix that didn't work as well as Linux does today.

Kristina's blog post with more details can be found here.

--Henry Kingman

Original link: http://www.desktoplinux.com/news...

Abiword 2.6 -- You've come a long way, baby!

I'll never forget attending the first LinuxWorld trade show in San Francisco in 1999, and getting a marketing hand-out from the Abiword team that was printed on re-used office paper. Almost 10 years later, the nimble Word clone has gotten to be "as good as they come," writes Myank Sharma in a detailed Linux.com review.

According to Sharma, the new 2.6.2 release of Abiword has closed the feature gap with OpenOffice.org's word processor, while running immeasurably faster, and taking up far fewer resources. Abiword pops up a blank new page in a second or two, regardless of the machine, he observes, while OO.org might take 15.

Don't get too excited about trying out the features in the Abiword 2.6.2 release any time soon, though, Sharma suggests, unless you're running Windows, or you're pretty good at building software. While it offers easily-installed Windows binaries, the project relies on downstream distributors to do its Linux binary packaging, and the software is "a pain to install," Sharma reckons.

Surprised to find even the unstable version of Debian stuck back in the 2.4.x zone of Abiword releases, I thought I'd try building it for myself. It was actually not that bad.

The Abiword download, complete with extras, plugins, and docs, weighs in at about 14.5MB for the source code. I was pleased to find the familiar "configure" script in the top-level directory, and so did ./configure --help to see what build options are available.

And wow, there are some neat options there! For instance, "--enable-embedded=generic|hildon|poky" would be great if you were building it for use with an embedded device, especially one running Hildon-based distro's like the Nokia-sponsored Maemo stack, Intel's Moblin, Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded, or Poky, a free distro for small-screen devices. I decided to enable gnome-vfs, which presumably allows the use of gnome dialog boxes, and gnomeui integration. I also decided to build it statically, since it wouldn't be tied into the package management system on my Debian desktop. So I typed "./configure --enable-gnomevfs --enable-gnomeui --enable-static."

Low-cost Linux-based NAS device supports RAID 1

D-Link is shipping a two-bay, RAID 1-enabled networked attached storage (NAS) device that runs embedded Linux. Based on an ARM9 "Orion" processor from Marvell, the DNS-323 2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure offers RAID mirroring, UPnP support, and remote access via a built-in FTP server.

(Click for larger view of the D-Link DNS-323)

Aimed at the SOHO and home markets, the DNS-323 is designed for sharing and backing up a variety of data types, including music, photos, and video, says D-Link. It supports one or two internal 3.5-inch SATA hard drives, and offers RAID 1 mirroring and the ability to stream media to UPnP AV-compatible network media players. The device also permits the creation of users and groups, each of which can be assigned either read or read/write permissions.


DNS-323, front and back
(Click either to enlarge)

Mobile Firefox gets speedup, design tweaks

The Mozilla Foundation says the mobile version of Firefox, planned for release later this year, has been sped up nearly 600 percent in its latest builds. The evolving product, which will run on Linux-based devices, has also received several interesting new user interface (UI) proposals.

Last week, the Foundation released its fifth beta version of Firefox 3, a new browser based on the Gecko 1.9 rendering platform. Said to include a multitude of performance, stability, and memory management improvements, Firefox 3 is expected to be available in one or more "release candidates" next month, and released in final form in June.

Meanwhile, the mobile version -- recently code-named "Fennec" after the smallest species of fox -- is under development for release later this year. Based on the same Firefox 3 codebase, it will "bring a true web experience to mobile phones and other non-PC devices," according to the foundation. It may also include a "bridge" allowing users to migrate cookies, bookmarks, history, form-fill data, and other information from their desktop browsers to their mobiles.

According to a blog posting by developer Christopher Blizzard, the latest builds of Fennec -- not yet available publicly -- have become substantially faster, especially on ARM processors. The graph below compares the performance of Fennec with the "MicroB" browser supplied with Nokia's Linux-based Tablet OS2008 operating system. The comparison is relevant because MicroB was based on code from Firefox 3, alpha 1, whereas Fennec has been treated to several extra months of development.


MicroB and Fennec performance compared (lower is better)
Source: Christopher Blizzard
Blizzard writes, "The Firefox 3-based mobile browser is a whopping 5.9 times faster than earlier versions. The really interesting fact here is that the great performance work that we've done has actually paid dividends [even] more on ARM than it has on the desktop. A great side effect."

Tiny Atom Centrino-based module unveiled

New details have emerged about Lippert's CoreExpress module, which the German firm claims to be the first board based on the Intel Atom Centrino. The 2.6 by 2.3-inch CoreExpress-ECO board comes in 1.1GHz and 1.6GHz versions, consuming only five Watts in the latter configuration, says Lippert.

(Click for larger view of the CoreExpress-ECO)

Mannheim-based Lippert is often among the first board vendors out of the gate when new Intel silicon ships. It's Thunderbird was touted as the first mini-ITX board based on Intel's Pentium M processor, for example. When Intel shrank the Pentium M to 90nm, Lippert was ready with a Dothan-based Thunderbird model. The vendor's Toucan COM Express offering was also among the first crop of Core Duo based boards.

Additionally, Lippert has hinted its readiness to support "nanoscale processors" from other vendors. That suggests the company may be readying a board based on Via's new 64-bit capable Isaiah processors, chipsets for which recently began to ship.

Formerly called the CoreExpress-Menlow module when it was announced in February, the CoreExpress-ECO is the first device to adhere to Lippert's new 65 x 58mm CoreExpress processor module format, featuring an all-digital interface. The format is aimed at automotive, medical, mobile, and point-of-service/interface (POS/POI) devices.

The CoreExpress-ECO will ship in two versions, based respectively on the embedded Z530 (1.6GHz) and the Z510 (1.1GHz) versions of the Atom Centrino (formally called Menlow), each of which has 512KB of L2 cache, a 2W TDP rating, and pricing of $95 and $45, respectively. The board carries the same minimum seven-year embedded availability guarantee promised by Intel for the two processors, Lippert said.

The CoreExpress-ECO is designed to link up with application-specific carrier boards via a 220-pin connector. It provides a processor, graphics, and memory -- the hard parts of system design -- leaving customers to design a carrier board specific to their application. The board can be ordered with up to 1GB of soldered-on RAM.

The CoreExpress-ECO's I/O includes two PCI Express-x1 lanes and eight USB 2.0 ports. Other interfaces include parallel ATA, SDIO/MMC, SMBus, GMBus/DDC (graphics and memory bus / display data channel), and LPC-Bus (low pin count bus). The all-digital device lacks analog signals like VGA or Ethernet, or any legacy I/O, such as PS2, speaker, and similar peripherals, says Lippert.


CoreExpress-ECO (reverse view)
(Click to enlarge)
According to Lippert, the tiny size of the CoreExpress format would not be possible without the Atom Centrino chipset, which encompasses Intel's Atom (formerly "Silverthorne") processor and "SCH" (system controller hub) companion chip (formerly "Poulsbo"). The chipset also includes a variety of optional storage, WiFi, GPS, and other peripheral chips.

The CoreExpress-ECO is said to measure 65 x 58mm (about 2.6 by 2.3 inches) and to weigh 28 grams. The module ships with a temperature range of -4 to 140 degrees F (-20 to 60 degrees C), with an optional extended temperature range of -40 to 185 degrees F (-40 to 85 degrees C). It includes a separate microcontroller that supports features such as a 128-bit security key, temperature recording, and recording of operating hours. The microcontroller also supports flash memory and fail-safe BIOS functions.

Lippert is providing a hardware/software evaluation kit for system integrators that includes the module mounted on an EPIC carrier board, thereby providing standard PC connectors and PC/104(-Plus) expansion. The starter kit includes a Board Support Package (BSP) with documentation for the selected operating system (OS), including Linux, QNX, Windows XP, Windows XP Embedded, and Windows CE.

Availability

There were no details on the availability of the CoreExpress-ECO starter kit, but it appears to be close to shipping. More information on Lippert's CoreExpress format may be found here.

Lippert's other recent board-level products include the Hurricane-PM EPIC single-board computer (SBC) and Cool Roadrunner PC/104-Plus module.

Original link: http://www.linuxdevices.com/news...

Yahoo to Test-Drive Google's AdSense

For more than two months, Yahoo's official line about Microsoft's unsolicited bid is that it is exploring "strategic alternatives." The pundits (and some shareholders) would argue that no viable alternative exists to the offer from Microsoft.

But today, Yahoo made a move. The Web pioneer announced that it was conducting a trial of Google's AdSense for Search product to place ads alongside Yahoo's search results.

Outsourcing search advertising to Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) has been a long-simmering rumor as one of Yahoo's few options to remain independent in light of the acquisition bid, which represented a 62 percent premium over Yahoo's value at the time.

The news carries a twist of irony. It was Yahoo's Overture division that invented the concept of pay per click contextual adverting. It even has a patent on it, which Google now licenses from Yahoo as part of a 2004 settlement.

The AdSense revelation follows an ultimatum that Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer issued to Yahoo over the weekend, giving the company three weeks to come to the bargaining table in good faith or face Microsoft turning hostile with the nomination of a slate of directors to oust Yahoo's board. Yahoo responded with a listing of the reasons why it felt the bid undervalued the company's worth. Many analysts are skeptical about how long shareholders will remain patient with the company's turnaround strategy.

Microsoft, which touted the combination of the two companies as the only viable path to creating a legitimate No. 2 competitor in search advertising, predictably blasted the announcement.

"Any definitive agreement between Yahoo and Google would consolidate over 90 percent of the search advertising market in Google's hands. This would make the market far less competitive, in sharp contrast to our own proposal to acquire Yahoo," Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, wrote in a statement.

"Our proposal remains the only alternative put forward that offers Yahoo shareholders full and fair value for their shares, gives every shareholder a vote on the future of the company, and enhances choice for content creators, advertisers, and consumers," Smith added.

To be sure, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission would take a hard look at any advertising alliance between Google and Yahoo to consider the anti-competitive pressures that might bring to the market. In its public comments spurning Microsoft's offer, Yahoo has cited the unknown expense that it would incur in making its case to U.S. and foreign regulators defending a combination of those companies.

Yahoo was clear that today's announcement is by no means a definitive commitment to enter into a business agreement with Google.

Rather, it said that it expects the trial to last as long as two weeks, and that Google's technology would place ads on no more than 3 percent of its search queries.

The AdSense trial will not apply to any of Yahoo's affiliate or premium publishing partners, and will be limited to traffic from Yahoo.com within the United States.

Original link: http://www.internetnews.com/bus-...

World's Hottest Tech Markets Voted Against Microsoft OOXML

Brazil, India, and China, which together count for more than a third of the world's population, all voted against Office Open XML last week.

By Paul McDougall
InformationWeek
Û 3, 2008 01:44 H

In an ominous sign for Microsoft's growth prospects in emerging regions, countries that represent the world's fastest growing tech markets voted against accepting the company's latest Microsoft Office document format as an international standard.

Brazil, India, and China, which together count for more than a third of the world's population, all voted against Office Open XML in voting last week before the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Russia was the only member of the so-called BRIC nations to vote in favor of ISO ratification for OOXML.

"These are areas where open source has more strength and more advocates," said Gartner analyst Michael Silver in an interview.

Seventy-five percent of ISO member nations voted in favor of making OOXML an ISO standard -- meaning that the format has won the standards body's imprimatur, barring a successful appeal by opponents.

But the list of large country's that voted against OOXML also includes Canada, Iran, South Africa and Venezuela. The United States voted in favor of the format, which is used in Microsoft's Office 2007 programs.

Developing nations like China, India, and Brazil are expected to account for the bulk of tech spending growth in the coming years. The fact that those countries rejected OOXML as a standard should be troubling for Microsoft, Silver said.

"Microsoft has long been trying to figure out the best ways to get into these countries, but those are areas where users are looking for more open source and free products," said Silver.

Silver said the market share for the Linux operating system and applications that use the Open Document Format is small but growing fast in emerging markets, where consumers and businesses lack large technology budgets. "They're much more price sensitive and don't have a pre-existing installed base that locks them into commercial products," said Silver.

Gartner estimates that the market share for desktop Linux is about 2% in the Asia-Pacific region, 4.5% in Eastern Europe, and 4% in the Middle East and Africa. By contrast, Linux holds 1.2% of the desktop market in the U.S.

Microsoft's apparent victory before the ISO could be subject to appeal.

ISO approval of OOXML comes amid widespread allegations that Microsoft improperly tried to influence voting and the EU is investigating the process.

The chairman of a Norwegian technology committee tasked with studying OOXML earlier this week filed a protest against his country's decision to approve the format. Questions have also been raised about the voting process in Germany, Croatia, and several other countries.

Microsoft last year conceded that an employee in Sweden offered to compensate local tech execs for joining the country's standards committee and voting in favor of OOXML.

The stakes are high. OOXML is the default file format for Microsoft Office 2007 applications, including Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. The ISO recognition of OOXML could open the door to lucrative government, non-profit and educational markets for Office 2007.

Critics have argued that Microsoft has failed to publish sufficient documentation about OOXML for it to be considered a truly open standard.

ISO member nations last year rejected Microsoft's initial request for OOXML approval. National bodies last week wrapped up voting on the company's follow-up request.

Original link: http://www.informationweek.com/n...

Linux security v Microsoft security, the great debate

A Linux v Microsoft security debate at this year’s RSA Conference ended in a draw despite the two opposing experts failing to agree on a concurrent metrics system.

The surprisingly humble debate kicked off with Dr Richard Ford, a Linux advocate and professor at the Florida Institute of Technology, on the back foot as his opponent Jeffrey Jones, security strategy director in Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing, unveiled a concerning statistic: Redhat WorkStation 4 Operating System had 268 vulnerabilities fixed during the full last calendar year compared to Vista which had 45 fixed.

“No matter how you look at it,” Jones said. “There’s a ton of vulnerabilities there for anybody to be able to claim [Linux] is inherently more secure.”

In Linux’s defense, Ford served a number of arguments saying it was impractical to compare different operating systems and labelled the statistics ineffective.

"Comparing the two operating systems is worse than comparing apples and oranges but more like comparing apples and bananas," he said.

“There is a problem with measuring Linux or Windows security or any two security metrics across any two completely different operating systems. So many things change when you move from one operating system to another and it’s one of the reasons why it’s been so difficult to come up with really good metrics and cost offering systems,” he said.

Furthermore, these differentiators devalue the credibility of Jones's raw vulnerability counts. He said that raw vulnerability counts were a meaningless tool of measurement, adding “raw numbers themselves show very little."

Jones’s response: "It’s unacceptable to say that it’s apples and oranges [instead] we have to take some steps to say, ok then, how do we compare small round fruits?”

Still on topic, Ford made another point of defense, this time he highlighted the importance of the severity rating of vulnerabilities.

“Vulnerabilities were not created equal, some sort of small DDOS attack is not as severe as an SQL vulnerability. You have to look at the severity,” he argued.

In response, Jones urged Ford to advise the audience -- mostly IT administrators -- that they should only worry about critical vulnerabilities. Instead, Ford declared that administrators should deal with all vulnerabilities but making sure to do the critical ones first.

Coincidentally, Jones pulled another slide out of his hat which emphasised the number of critical vulnerabilities each vendor had had in the previous year. It suggested critical vulnerabilities in 2007 found in Redhat WS 4 were 22 and 12 in Vista.

Moving on, Ford took a stab at Microsoft’s practice of public silent fixes and rendered his statistics as being skewed. Jones posed the same question to Ford who admitted Linux may also have some examples of multiple vulnerabilities being silently fixed.

Meanwhile, Ford also argued Linux was much faster at getting out patches.

“When a vulnerability comes out, within about 10 minutes somebody’s posted a patch or workaround in the code. You can have a community approved patch where you’re not sitting there like prey,” he said.

But Jones hit back noting Microsoft customers wanted fixes tested before they were made public.

After an hour of to-ing and fro-ing the two called it a tie and said: "We clearly learn from each other."

Original link: http://www.itnews.com.au/News/73...

All about Linux

You've heard about Linux. It powers everything from servers to mobile phones, can be found in schools, governments, industry and homes, and a good chunk of the internet’s infrastructure is powered by it. CHOICE Computer’s Editor even runs it at home!

Linux is a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, and traditionally the domain of hardcore computer geeks. But that’s changing. The last few years have seen rapid development in the desktop sphere for Linux, so much so that it’s now emerging as a replacement for Windows.

That’s not to say it’s everyone’s cup of tea — Linux isn’t Windows, and works a little differently. Nevertheless, it’s making inroads into mainstream consumer systems, thanks in part to low-cost Linux-based laptops such as the ASUS Eee PC (reviewed in a separate report).

If you remember your first few days with Windows, you’ll know that learning a new operating system isn’t something you pick up overnight. Fortunately it’s easy to explore Linux alongside Windows, so you don’t need to give Windows up — unless you want to!

In this report we tell you all about Linux — what it is, the various distributions, where you get it from, and what its capable of. We also provide a tutorial on how to install Ubuntu Linux alongside Windows, so you can enjoy the best of both worlds.

Reasons to try Linux:

* Tired of paying for Windows, Office, security suites, and basic applications.
* Tired of worrying about viruses and other malware.
* Want to learn more about Linux.
* Have old hardware you want to keep using.
* Want to try something different to Windows for your main desktop operating system.
* Want to support open source and even contribute to the community yourself.

Reasons not to try:

* Limited free space on Windows computer.
* Windows games or desktop publishing are a priority.
* Need to backup your data first whenever installing an OS.
* Learning to use a new operating system.
* Other people who use the computer may not share your enthusiasm!

Original link: http://www.choice.com.au/viewArt...

GNOME 2.22.1 released!

==========================
GNOME 2.22.1 Stable Release
==========================

This is the first update to GNOME 2.22. Come and see all the bug fixing, all the new translations and all the updated documentation brought to you by the wonderful team of GNOME contributors! A lot of work has been done in the stable branch to make it even more solid than it was.

The next stable version of GNOME will be GNOME 2.22.2, which is due on May 26. Meanwhile, the GNOME community is actively working on the unstable branch of GNOME that will become GNOME 2.24 in September 2008.

The GNOME 2.22 release notes are available at:
http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/2.22/

The notes that describe the changes between 2.22.0 and 2.22.1 are here:
admin - http://download.gnome.org/admin/2.22/2.22.1/NEWS
bindings - http://download.gnome.org//bindings/2.22/2.22.1/NEWS
desktop - http://download.gnome.org/desktop/2.22/2.22.1/NEWS
devtools - http://download.gnome.org/devtools/2.22/2.22.1/NEWS
platform - http://download.gnome.org/platform/2.22/2.22.1/NEWS

The GNOME 2.22.1 release is available here:
admin sources - http://download.gnome.org/admin/2.22/2.22.1/
bindings sources - http://download.gnome.org/bindings/2.22/2.22.1/
desktop sources - http://download.gnome.org/desktop/2.22/2.22.1/
devtools sources - http://download.gnome.org/devtools/2.22/2.22.1/
platform sources - http://download.gnome.org/platform/2.22/2.22.1/

To compile GNOME 2.22.1, you can use GARNOME
(http://www.gnome.org/projects/garnome/, which supports users), or the jhbuild (http://library.gnome.org/devel/jhbuild/) modulesets available at:

http://download.gnome.org/teams/releng/2.22.1/

We hope you'll love it,

The GNOME Release Team

--
Les gens heureux ne sont pas press�s.

Original link: http://mail.gnome.org/archives/g...

Should Microsoft buy RHT?

Coming back from the Open Source Goat Rodeo (OSGR) and spending excellent time with old and new friends got me thinking again about this theoretical possibility.

Here are various reasons, some of it serious, some not. It is a somewhat ordered list, but left as an open list to you the reader.

MSFT should buy RHT because:


1. they can
2. it's kind of cheap
3. RHT deserves this fate
4. my stock in RHT would go up
5. it would piss off IBM, SUN and LarryE all at the same time, it's beautiful.
6. they would integrate the business model without skipping a single beat. Contrary to popular belief the RHT model is already a proprietary distribution of OSS.
7. cloud computing a la Amazon, Google both directly compete, may bypass anti-trust regulation
8. need for those virtualized runtimes across run-times in windows, Unix. Think VMWare.
9. could provide basis for a larryE style acquisition of VMWare.
10. It kind of shocked Matt Asay, who muttered something about not being able to admit to it publicly "because it's not his schtick," but upon reflection wouldn't turn his back on a new, more powerful sugar daddy, should the opportunity arise.



OSS is just a better R/D and distribution model. You can use that and expand from there.

More than just an optimization on closed source development, RHT monetizes a community base on its own terms, including proprietary. For those of you who wondered, the model that monetizes OSS is the proprietary one. Even IBM knows that!

Also I would be singing the Spanish soccer chant "OLE! OLE! OLE! OLE!" from here for at least a good 6mo, with video and all, free of charge.

Gaming on my PS3, love you guys at the Borg, mwwaaaah!

Bill Hilf, are you listening?

Original link: http://www.thedelphicfuture.org/...

Cisco Reaches Out to Application Developers

When the Cisco Partner Summit kicked off earlier this week, The VAR Guy expected the networking giant to spend a good portion of the event talking about Unified Communications ISVs. That didn’t quite happen, but Cisco is finally making some statements to engage software developers.

First, let’s review the market landscape: Cisco and Microsoft both want to dominate the unified communications market. To do so, they will need independent software vendors (ISVs) that write applications for their respective platforms. The VAR Guy assumed Cisco would address ISVs in a big way at Partner Summit.

Cisco didn’t hit an ISV home run at the event, but the company did announce new application-centric tools for branch offices. The lineup, according to a Cisco release, includes:

* Cisco Application eXtension Platform (AXP), a Linux-based hardware module for application development and hosting to support a tighter integration between networks and applications.
* Yada, yada, yada (a bunch of other stuff that was far too technical for The VAR Guy to digest here).

Cisco’s early AXP application partners include Avocent (branch IT infrastructure management), InterComponentWare (healthcare solution provider), NICE (branch VoIP recording), OSISoft (utilities infrastructure monitoring), Precidia Technologies (IP payment processing), ProSyst (management), Sagem-Interstar (IP fax), Verint (branch VoIP recording), and Workbrain (workforce management), according to the Cisco release.

Powerhouse ISV names? Perhaps not. But on the other hand, they are the early movers in the unified communications ISV space. And that may wind up counting for quite a lot in the years ahead.

Original link: http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/04...

HP goes bundle mad with quicker HP-UX

Hewlett-Packard's Unix team has rolled out a fresh release of the HP-UX operating system, and has yet again fiddled with the various flavors of the software that customers can acquire.

HP-UX 11i v3 Update 2 (no, seriously) features some tweaks to the kernel and elsewhere, providing what HP claims is a 20 per cent performance boost over v3's initial release. HP also claims Update 2 can double the network speed for certain workloads.

The biggest change, however, is arguably how HP is dividing the bundles for its Operating Environment (OE) packages. For those keeping score, HP has already offered HP-UX in several different degrees.

Previous versions were divided into: Foundation OE, Enterprise OE, Mission Critical OE, Technical Computing OE, and Minimal Technical OE.

In a nutshell, Foundation was the basic OE, Enterprise added virtualization, Mission Critical had virtualization and clustering software, Minimal Technical OE was a chopped-down version of HP-UX for workstations, and Technical Computing OE was Minimal OE with added graphic applications and math libraries for compute-intensive workstations.

(We'll pause to let you gasp for air after suffering the above Proust-sized sentence.)

HP has now divided its HP-UX offering into four new parts, which the company reckons makes the whole proposition more digestible.

* Base OE: provides the HP-UX 11i operating system just like Foundation OE.
* Virtual Server OE: adds HP's VSE suite of virtualization software.
* High-Availability OE: provides HP ServiceGuard clustering and other HA software for business-critical applications.
* Data Center OE: is the whole shebang. Everything in HA-OE and VSE-OE bundled into one.

Or if you prefer a Venn Diagram (and who doesn't appreciate one now and again?):

The major difference being that a customer can get clustering software without buying virtualization software they might not need. Here's HP's own page detailing the differences.

Update 2 is available on both HP 9000 (PA-RISC) and Integrity (Itanium/Itanic) servers now. HP still intends on releasing further updates every six months, and major new version revisions every three years.

HP isn't giving out the prices of the bundles, which is always aggravating. In the meantime we'll keep hounding them to dish.

Original link: http://www.theregister.co.uk/200...

OOXML approved by ISO: What next?

by Jonathan Robie

Contributing author: Melanie Chernoff

Over the past year, the OOXML debate launched a worldwide discussion about what an open standard should be, how it impacts the technology industry, and why open standards are important.

Last week, OOXML–an XML format designed for Microsoft’s office suite–was approved as a standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). In past articles^{1 2}, we have discussed problems with voting irregularities, the use of a fast-track process without adequate industry review, proprietary Microsoft technologies used without specification, and other problems. Now that OOXML has been approved despite these objections, let’s take a look at the standardization process and the impact that OOXML’s approval will have in the office suite space.

A credible process?

The OOXML debate has raised many concerns about the ISO standardization process, especially for fast-track standardization. Voting irregularities were reported in nearly one-quarter of the “P” countries that voted to approve OOXML. In a highly publicized statement, Norway requested to retract its vote. This compounds the issues raised in earlier rounds, such as new countries and technical committee members joining at the last minute in order to influence the vote, or incentives offered to Microsoft business partners to encourage them to vote for OOXML³.

Even without such irregularities, the ISO fast-track process was not designed allow adequate review of such a large and complex standard. Clearly, ISO needs to examine how such standards are approved, ensuring that they receive thorough and fair technical review, and that politics does not trump this review.

The fast-track review process used for OOXML required over a thousand technical issues be resolved very rapidly. It was simply not possible to adequately review these resolutions in time for the vote. Some of these issues clearly were not addressed well³.

Here’s one example: Microsoft’s date format incorrectly calculates leap year and days of the week for the year 1900, and cannot represent dates before 1900. Instead of fixing this problem, Microsoft added the standard ISO date and time types as another option. Thus, the same date can be on different weekdays depending on which date format is used to store it.