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OpenOffice.org's Calc isn't only about rows and columns. If you look long enough at the empty spreadsheet, you will soon realise that it looks like a map grid, and, indeed, with a bit of imagination you can use Calc to create a simple yet handy mapping application. This how-to guides you through building a Calc-n-map -- an application for marking points of interest on a city map.

It's been slated as one of the most significant Linux projects in years, but can Mono really succeed in providing an open source equivalent to Microsoft's much-hyped .NET? David Braue separates fact from fiction.

Red Hat yesterday said its sale rose 55 per cent during its third quarter of fiscal 2005, reaching $50.9m from the year-ago total, $32.8m. Q3's sales were ten per cent higher than Q2's.

Unpatched Linux systems are surviving longer on the Internet before being compromised, according to a report from the Honeynet Project released this week.

It's not really as bad as it sounds, but the article does point out some reasons that Free Software and OSS by association may have a hard time staying the course and really "seeing us through."

The BBC has created a network protocol testing platform written in Python and made it available as an open source application

There are several word processors in GNU/Linux, each with different goals and features. Some are free software, some are based on free software, some are proprietary. What do you, as an amateur or professional writer, need to consider in such programs when moving to GNU/Linux? If you're not entirely satisfied with your current word processor or if you're wondering what's available on the GNU/Linux platform in terms of word processors, this article's for you.

Modernization is coming to the General Public License, a legal framework that supports a large part of the free and open-source software movements and that has received sharp criticism from Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

Linux seller Red Hat reported on Wednesday that its third-quarter net income jumped 155 percent year-over-year to $10.8 million as its software business matured.

Microsoft today lost its appeal of the European Union ruling which requires it to -- among other things -- unbundle the Windows Media Player in order to level the playing field with other firms offering the same functionality for streaming audio and video. It must also make public the information required to allow others to interoperate with the Windows platform. But don't break out the champagne just yet. According to Jeremy Allison, the lead Samba.org developer, if the ruling doesn't preclude royalties then the whole effort by the EU will turn out to have been a waste of time.

If it's your first time with Linux, you want it to be with someone who is gentle, someone who really cares about you. Yet, the gruffness of a good number of Linux pros is enough to scare off all but the most ardent Linux pursuers. Maybe that's Linux's way of ensuring survival of the fittest. Not everyone who's experienced with Linux is rough and rude, though. Michael Davis knows what it's like to be a Linux virgin who needs to be treated with tenderness. With that in mind, Davis created LinuxVirgins.com, a gentle guide for first-time Linux users.

Looking back at all the Linux stories in 2004 still elicits eye-popping, head-scratching and, sometimes, fist-pounding reaction. So as the year closes, here's a rundown of some of the biggest stories in Linux and open source

US software giant Microsoft Corp scored a victory against open source software in India after the Indian state of Karnataka chose its software to power a major e-governance initiative.

The investment is part of the company's - Japan's biggest mobile phone carrier - plans to assist Japanese handset vendors develop more models that use the Linux OS, said spokeswoman Tomoko Tsuda. "The investment will help us have a direct relationship with MontaVista so they can help mobile phone makers get products to the market faster," she said.

This week at OSDir.com we had the following screenshot tours on our agenda Vine Linux 3.1, Overclockix 3.7, Novell Linux Desktop 9, FreeSBIE 1.1, and PCLinuxOS Preview 8. Check it out!

A complete listing of our Linux and Open Source screenshot tours is here: shots.osdir.com.

A number of European research institutions and open source software companies have launched a project to manage complexity in open source software. Called the Environment for the Development and Distribution of Free Software or EDOS, it will research and implement new ways to manage the complexity. The team includes six research and academic institutions and four software and services companies.

Paul Ferris speculates that the time is ripe for a couple of heavy-hitting retail vendors to embrace GNU/Linux in the sales arena. This FeriCyde Chat continues last weeks rant, suggesting that there's cash on the table for the first vendor that matches todays security opportunity with a Linux desktop alternative.

I'm not certain that this is entirely on topic here. But Linux Weekly News, a very high quality Linux news site, is running a story on the life (and recent death) of James Barry Corbet, by all accounts an exceptional human being, and father of Jonathan Corbet, the very dedicated editor of that site. Many members of the community are expressing their condolences.

Welcome to this year's 50th issue of DWN, the weekly newsletter for the Debian community. The Oxford University's computer centre will complete its move to PostgreSQL running on Debian as the back-end database over the next year. The next stable update is being prepared and expected before New Year's eve. For those of you who celebrate Christmas we wish you a Merry Christmas.

Novell Linux Desktop 9 is a desktop operating system and office-productivity environment that enables businesses to use Linux and open source with confidence. - novell.com

After a long struggle with this distro and VMWare, we finally got Novell Linux Desktop 9 installed at OSDir, and grabbed some screenshots, running both KDE and GNOME.