Open XML Translator project announced

July 6, 2006 Leave a comment

Brian Jones recently announced that Microsoft will be releasing an ODF converter for office. The Open XML Translator project is hosted at SourceForge and is available under the BSD license. From the post:
While we still aren't seeing a strong demand for ODF support from our corporate or consumer customers, it's now a bit different with governments. We've had some governments request that we help build solutions so that can use ODF for certain situations, so that's why we are creating the Open XML Translator project. I think it's going to be really beneficial to a number of folks and for a number of reasons.
There has been a push in Microsoft for better interoperability and this is another great step in that direction. We already have the PDF and XPS support for Office 2007 users that unfortunately had to be separated out of the product and instead offered as a free download. There will be a menu item in the Office applications that will point people to the downloads for XPS, PDF, and now ODF. So you'll have the ability to save to and open ODF files directly within Office (just like any other format).
This should be seen as a fairly large step for Microsoft, who had strongly opposed ODF in the recent past. We may have finally reached a time when Microsoft is no longer able to force its customers into a direction they don't want to go. What's more, they may even be realizingly that interoperability is the way they'll be able to have a bright future. It will be a slow change to be sure, but if this is the seed finally planted it will be looked back on as a water shed moment.
On a different topic, while this should be seen as good news for the consumer it could actually end up being bad news for OOo. Had Microsoft stood their ground and not supported ODF, OOo would have certainly seen rapid mass adoption in some segments. With Microsoft promising to support ODF, that's a lot less likely to happen. But that begets the question – is this just a promise? Has Microsoft really started a turn-around, or is this just an opportunity for them to claim to support ODF, make the implementation so bad and so much of a pain that ODF looks like garbage (as people are unlikely to realize it's the implementation and not ODF itself that is at fault) and then make a large push for a new and improved OXML with the next Office release. I have to say that they seem genuine on this one, but they do of course have quite a track record with these things. Our only option at this point is to wait and see, while proceeding with caution.
The other potential problem is that companies and government agencies have a purchasing edict that all documents must be saved in ODF format, but no real operational procedure that mandates actually using ODF as the final format. ODF is of no use if people simply continue saving documents in the OXML native Microsoft format. Could ODF become another POSIX type situation where support for it is something that companies list as a feature that their product has checked off, while in the real world it's not actually used. The fact that “save” will get you OXML, while ODF will require that you “export” could lead in this direction. Let's hope that doesn't happen (and as this case is a little different than the POSIX one, I'm optimistic that it won't happen the same way).
–jeremy
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Filed under Linux, Main Page, Microsoft, Open Source

LQ ISO Hits 2,000,000 Downloads

July 3, 2006 Leave a comment

Launched about 20 months ago now, LQ ISO has now facilitated over 2,000,000 Linux ISO downloads. The site currently has 342 distributions versions available for download from 602 mirrors. The site also boosts improved statistics on the homepage, RSS feeds and email notifications for newly released versions and even suggests the fastest local mirror based on where you are browsing from geographically. If you're looking to download a Linux distribution, be sure to check out LQ ISO (and also be sure to suggest it to those looking for a place to quickly and easily download Linux).
–jeremy
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Filed under Linux, Main Page, Open Source

Google Launches Checkout… and other Google Musings

June 29, 2006 Leave a comment

After months of speculation, Google Checkout has finally been officially launched. The release is, as you'd expect, being covered pretty much everywhere, including the New York Times and TechCrunch. One thing that I'd say is being consistently misreported (at least by the mass media type outlets), in my opinion, is that this is a direct PayPal competitor or “PayPal killer”. While it's true that Checkout is a way to accept payments, it doesn't have the person-to-person functionality that PayPal has, nor many of the other features. It's simply a slightly different beast and is more akin to Microsoft wallet. That being said, this does target many merchants that currently do use PayPal and there is clearly a good amount of overlap. I've had my personal problems with PayPal in the past, and if nothing else this should serve to make PayPal clean up it's act. It will be interesting to see if either PayPal or Google eventually move their respective services to be considered as a banking service, which would open them up to quite a bit of regulation, but also quell the fears many people have with this kind of service. That stands especially true for PayPal, which allows you to store money and carry a balance. The one thing that worries me about the system is that, as Google adds new services to their lineup, they continue to do so under a unified Gmail username. That means that if your email username and password get compromised, you could be in a world of trouble. Considering that most people are way too lax with their email credentials and even use unencrypted protocols over shared wifi, this could be a recipe for disaster.
On to the actual service, Checkout is “a checkout process that you integrate with your website, enabling your customers to buy from you quickly and securely, using a single username and password. And once they do, you can use Checkout to charge their credit cards, process their orders, and receive payment in your bank account”. Unlike PayPal, you can't use the service to pay for goods without an account (recall that PayPal was like this for a long time also). Like most Google offerings, the API to this looks pretty nice. What's more, if you participate in Google AdWords, which generates the lions share of current Google revenue, you stand to potentially use Checkout for free. For every $1 you spend on AdWords, you can process $10 for free with Checkout. It should be noted that an AdWords account is not a requirement of using Checkout. This marks a turning point for Google I think. While Checkout is clearly very tied to AdWords and will certainly increase the amount of users that advertise with the Google network, this represents the first real alternative income stream that Google has added in a long time. This could be good and bad. Of course you don't want 100% of your revenue coming from one place, but that setup does allow you to focus your energy with laser-like precision. The more revenue streams you have, the less focused you become. I think Google struck a pretty good balance here, considering the two stream are so intertwined.
This focus issues brings up another interesting point with Google though. Google has traditionally been a very nimble company that has a corporate culture all its own. As they continue to grow and continue to add “seasoned veterans” from the likes of Microsoft and other big players, one has to wonder if they can keep their culture intact. These seasoned veterans come with a lot of history and a way of doing things that is steeped into who they are. It's hard for people to change and there is a very real chance that as the number of these type of employees grow, Google will becomes less nimble and more stodgy. There's certainly no sign of it yet and Google somehow has a way of avoiding pitfalls that it seems certain to fall into, but it has to be something that's on the minds of both the Sergei/Larry/Eric triumvirate and the lower level Google employees. It's a topic I'll certainly keep my eye on moving forward.
–jeremy
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Filed under Google, Main Page

(Another) Microsoft Exec Jumps to Google

June 29, 2006 1 Comment

That's the title of this Business 2.0 article. From the article:
Another prominent Google-fighter leaves Redmond. This one concludes: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.
Vic Gundotra, a general manager for platform evangelism at Microsoft and a 15-year employee, has agreed to join Google after first spending a year working on charitable endeavors, Business 2.0 has learned.
While not as high on the org chart as some other recent departures, Vic was integral in the recent Microsoft push to attract developers. He's also the one who hired Scoble, whose last day at Microsoft is today. Vic won't be able to start at Google for one year due to a non-compete clause and his role at Google isn't even defined yet. Mini-Microsoft is also reporting on the departure, but also adds that a wide spread reduction in force may be coming to Microsoft. Alone with the news yesterday that Microsoft is moving a bunch of existing execs around and the writing on the wall is clear – some major changes are going to be taking place at Microsoft in the short term. Whether those changes revive the company or are the beginning of a slow decline into a maintenance mode company remains to be seen.
–jeremy
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Filed under Main Page, Microsoft

LinuxQuestions.org Turns Six

June 29, 2006 1 Comment

As a just announced in the forums, LQ recently turned six. The site continues to grow at an astounding rate. It's not just the 2,311,325 posts and 254,019 registered members either. LQ ISO is just about to hit 2,000,000 downloads and we have almost 3,000 articles in the LQ Wiki. That not what's remarkable to me though. What is remarkable, is that despite our long term rapid growth, we've managed to stay both true to our roots and extremely friendly to the Linux Newbie. True, your post may scroll off the main forum page quicker that it used to, but the site still has much of the feel it did five years ago. That is something I'm truly proud of.
–jeremy
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Filed under Linux, Main Page, Open Source

EU poised to rule against Microsoft

June 28, 2006 Leave a comment

After being successfully prosecuted by the DOJ, but escaping any serious punishment by a new incoming administration, it looks like the EU may actually follow through with some bite to its bark. With the $2M Euro per day fine (about $2.5M USD) potentially being back dated to December 2005, the amount could be substantial. One item I've seen incorrectly reported in multiple venues is that the EU is forcing Microsoft to open the code for Windows. This is categorically not the case. They are asking for open and usable documentation on API's and interfaces that are not license encumbered along with the unbundleing of media player. In fact, Microsoft offered the code under an NDA and that was turned down as an unacceptable resolution. After the DOJ case, it appeared that once a company reached a certain size, even the US Government couldn't do much to monitor and govern its actions. It's good to see the EU at least taking a stand. One comical sentiment I continue to see in comments are things like “Microsoft should just pull out of the EU”. That is so astoundingly short sighted and ethnocentric that I find it hard to even rebuke. It should be obvious that pulling out of a market that is so huge would immediately spawn the adoption of alternative operating systems and applications that it's asinine to even consider as an option. The day they pulled out would be the day every hardware manufacturer announced preload support for Linux and the day nearly every software maker would announce their port. There's no way Microsoft is prepared to let that happen.
Another article has the following:
Commenting on the report, the Americans for Technology Leadership, a consumer group of 40,000 members, said that “All American companies doing business in Europe should be concerned. This development makes clear that successful American companies will face a higher regulatory standard in Europe and that their entire global business strategy may be hostage to the whims of a few European regulators.”
The “hostage to the whims of a few European regulators” is a bit dramatic, but if you are an American company who chooses to compete in the EU, why would you not expect to have to comply with the regulatory standard in the EU. You think the EU is bad, wait until you see what it takes to get into China.
–jeremy
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Filed under Main Page, Microsoft, Open Source

Marvell Buys Intel's Handheld Processor Unit

June 28, 2006 Leave a comment

Looks like Intel has divested its “communications and application processor units” to Marvell Technology for $600 million. Intel had invested significant amounts of cash into some of these units and the PXA Xscale-based line was particularly popular in Linux-based products. They also powered the latest Treo and Blackberry. The processors failed to generate the market share Intel had hoped for though. With nearly a billion cellphone due to ship next year and countless billions in investments already sunk into the projects, Intel finally decided to pull out of the market (which TI dominates with 69% of the market). I guess Apple isn't going to get that one stop shop I had speculated about a while back. What may be worse for Intel though, is that their little foray into this market may have taken their eye off the ball just long enough for AMD to gain the ground they have been vying for in Intel's core market for ages. Luckily for Intel, they have a cash cow to fall back on.
–jeremy
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Filed under Linux, Main Page

Novell Names Ron Hovsepian To Succeed Jack Messman as CEO

June 22, 2006 Leave a comment

Continuing the recent rash of high level departures, Jack Messman has been ousted by the Novell board. Taking his place is long time IBM'er Ron Hovsepian. The market reacted well to the news, with NOVL up over 10% on the press release (although still down sharply for the year). I think it's clear that Messman just wasn't the right guy to turn Novell around. He didn't seem to understand their Linux/OSS strategy very well and the company was subject to a fair amount of internal strife (with multiple high profile departures, including the Suse founder) and a lack of overall vision and direction. The prospects seem to be better for Hovsepian from what I've read, which should be encouraging for Novell. He had the following to say:
“Going forward, we will maintain a sharp focus on meeting customer demand and delivering value through Linux-based, enterprise-wide solutions and identity and resource management products. We have innovative technology, a strong roster of customers and business partners and an extremely talented group of employees. I look forward to continuing to work closely with our business partners and customers.”
They have some nice products, but have failed to gain real traction compared to Red Hat. They seem to want to focus more on the Linux desktop, while Red Hat has all but abandoned that in favor of the enterprise server market. Which will work out better in the long term is unclear at this point. The Linux market, however, is eager to have two solid performers to avoid the pitfalls that became clear with the Microsoft monopoly. How much time remains for Novell before someone else steps up as the clear number two remains to be seen.
–jeremy
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Filed under Linux, Main Page, Open Source

The Microsoft Exec Exodus

June 21, 2006 1 Comment

On a topic I've covered multiple times recently, more execs are stepping down from Microsoft. Both Martin Taylor and Ted Hase are already gone, in fact. From the respective articles:
Microsoft did not give details on why Martin Taylor left the world's biggest software maker after the 13-year company veteran was appointed in March to lead marketing efforts for Windows Live.
“After 16 exciting, interesting years in one place challenging conventional thinking, introducing fresh approaches, creating new businesses opportunities, and managing, leading and being influenced by some of the brightest minds in the industry I've decided that it's time for a change,” Hase said.
As you can see, both have been with the company well over a decade. Both of them seem to have come to recent hasty decisions or were pushed out. Cringely has some interesting ideas on what we'll see in the coming months. I agree with a lot of what he says, and I came to the same conclusion – Ballmer has to go. He takes that assessment further though and says “several dozen of his (Gates) closest and oldest associates” must also leave for this to be done correctly. The “Microsoft Way” must fundamentally shift in a major way, which in essence means a regime change at this point. Shift away from what you ask? I think this recent comment from Bill is telling:
When they invented radial tires, they should have shot the guy,” he said. “The whole industry went through a crisis, because it took nine years to squeeze out the extra factory capacity, because the tires lasted longer.”
That's what Microsoft has thought of innovation recently. Anything that cuts into sales, even if it saves lives is bad. I hope you're no longer wondering why Microsoft doesn't innovate. Whether they can pull a fundamental paradigm change off in a company the size of Microsoft remains to be seen, but a lot of longtime Microsofties will have to go in the process for them to have any change at all. This one could get ugly.
–jeremy
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Filed under Linux, Main Page, Microsoft, Open Source

Why Oracle Isn't a Member of the OSDL

June 21, 2006 Leave a comment

In an interview with InternetNews Wim Coekaerts, who is the Director of Linux Engineering at Oracle, goes into some details on how Oracle is utilizing Linux. It's fantastic to see that “almost half of Oracle Application Server 10g Release 3 shipments were on Linux in the first three months of 2006”. I knew that Oracle penetration on Linux was really gaining traction, but almost half is extremely impressive. When the topic of the OSDL came up, Wim has this to say:
Let's just say that one part of the OSDL is trying to represent businesses to the Linux community. I know that a number of the members aren't heavily involved in Linux but still are members.
We basically know where to go. We have a good relationship directly with people in the Linux community. We have all our partners. So there is no immediate advantage to being a member for us. Not to sound arrogant, but we know how to deal with the Linux community.
The thing that was really kind of revolting is that OSDL goes out and basically says that they represent the Linux community while there is no direct feedback line back to the community.
Now, it's true that a number of the members aren't heavily directly involved in Linux but still are members. Beyond that though you have to remember that for Oracle, Open Source is not core. One of the main points of OSDL is to share R&D costs and Oracle certainly doesn't want to do that. I'd have thought “Why isn't MySQL AB not in OSDL” would come up before Oracle. His last comment, however, is the one I felt was poignant here. The OSDL really seems to be taking a beating on this point lately. I've not seen a ton actually change though. Greg KH seems hopeful now that some of the things that were proposed will be adopted, which is encouraging. I had offered (both personally and on behalf of LQ) to help the OSDL with their community efforts not too long ago. While some people from within OSDL did contact me and some useful discussion took place, nothing ever came of it. The offer, of course, still stands…but I still don't have a clear picture of exactly what we could do.
–jeremy
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Filed under Linux, Main Page, Open Source

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