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The OpenDocument Foundation, founded five years ago by Gary Edwards, Sam Hiser, and Paul "Buck" Martin (marbux) with the express purpose of representing the OpenDocument format in the "open standards process," has reversed course. It now supports the W3C's Compound Document Format instead of its namesake ODF. Yet why this change of course has occurred is something of a mystery.

I am writing this article on a Windows laptop borrowed from a friend. But fear not, dear reader, for I have not abandoned my free software principles. For while the hard disk of this laptop contains the Windows operating system, I have used a USB key as the boot device, and the laptop is currently running Fedora 8, codenamed “Werewolf.”

Document design is all about space -- the space allotted to an element, and the space between and around elements. This concern is especially obvious when you are setting up paragraphs and page spacing.read more

Open source is moving beyond the real worlds of business and consumer systems into the more experimental sphere of personal gadgetry. Start-up Bugs Labs has said it plans to base the software element of its forthcoming range of "plug-together" hardware modules on Linux with Java and OSGi used further up the software stack.

The OOXML document standard being pushed by Microsoft has caused a certain amount of stress within both the development and commercial sides of the free software community. In some quarters it is seen as the latest attempt by a monopolistic firm to co-opt free software and the move to more free file formats; they would like to limit our involvement to opposition to the adoption of OOXML as a standard. Others see it as an attempt by Microsoft to come to terms with the demand for more open formats and to promote, in its own special way, interoperability.

In an unprecedented announcement, the VA has signed a 9 year deal with Cerner to replace laboratory information system at 150 hospitals and 800 clinics.

Want to start an internet cafe but not willing to fork out handfuls of cash to get going? We've written about OutKafe before and now a new version of the cafe management suite has been released.

Many people are giving up blogging to try their hand at podcasting -- creating a downloadable audio file that will play on any standard MP3 player. Recording, editing, and packaging a session isn't very difficult but, until recently not very many tools existed to help you get the job done. Now Linux-friendly applications are starting to pop up everywhere. The basic tools you'll need haven't changed much since podcasting began. At the very least, you'll need a good microphone and headset, and a sound card equipped with a line-in port. There are several high-end hardware products on the market, but for general podcasting needs, some basic equipment paired with good editing software will meet most people's needs.

As more and more traditional publishers accept digital images, artists are turning to free and open source software (FOSS) tools to create cartoons and illustrations.

Struggling to monitor global weather patterns or stars in the galaxy on your home machine? Perhaps the Cray XT5, the world's most scalable Linux-based supercomputer, is what you need? Well, probably not, but its fun to dream.

Best known for enterprise-focused Windows Mobile handsets, HTC's phone using Google's Linux-based platform will extend its consumer portfolio.

SSH (Secure SHell) is well known to Linux administrators as the de facto method for connecting to other systems. SSH long ago supplanted other connection methods because it strongly encrypts the connection between the hosts, ensuring that passwords and any transmitted data are safe from prying eyes. On Fedora® and Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® systems, and many other Linux distributions, the OpenSSH suite provides the programs for this purpose. An administrator typically runs SSH to login to another system, often to run a shell on the remote host and issue commands. SSH, however, has many extra tricks up its sleeve beyond simply securing a connection.

Phoenix says its new firmware product, called Hyperspace, allows PCs to quick-boot into a Linux environment for users to check their email, instant message, browse the web, or even play videos before Windows has got its boots on.

flvorful.com brokers online video ad space and creates commercials for clients to embed in existing content, similar to television advertising. flvorful.com CEO Jake Varghese calls his company "AdSense for videos. It's a way for video publishers to monetize their work." Publishers can create their own commercial content, or hire flvorful.com to create it for them, and then insert it before or in the middle of the videos. Varghese is a big proponent of open source; he says he wouldn't use anything else to build his business.

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) exam fees for South Africa have been drastically reduced in a bid to promote local certification.

The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), which allows you to access and search a directory (another name for a specialized database or data repository that stores typed information about objects), is becoming a common component in Linux environments. If you're looking for a Linux option to search a directory with LDAP, check out Luma.

Here, for the first time, are pictures of the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) coming off the production line at the Quantas factory in China. Thanks to Morgan for the tip-off.

In his latest blog post the chief executive of Sun, Jonathan Schwartz, offered "heartfelt congratulations" to Google on the announcement of its new Java/Linux phone platform, Android.

When you're programming a shell script, you often only need the current directory name, not the whole path that the pwd command returns. Here are four ways you can extract only the current directory.

Open standards always cause security problems and Google's OpenSocial API introduced last week is no exception. Not only was an early application based on the standard hacked within minutes, it quickly became evident that OpenSocial is vulnerable and offers an open door to anyone who wants to put a little effort into pushing it open.