The KDE Project has announced the release of KOffice 1.1.1, an update to the official KDE office suite. The new release promises better stability, which could help make KOffice the suite of choice for light productivity needs.
According to a report at CNet.com, Sun has been saturated with so many comments from beta testers for StarOffice 6.0, they will be ending the beta program December 31st. “'We've got all the feedback we can handle here,' spokesman Russ Castronovo said. 'We are at saturation point. I think we've satisfied the requirements of the program.'”
Linux Journal has an interesting article on Caldera's Volution Messaging Server, a Microsoft Exchange replacement for the SMB market. “Caldera's VARs, picked up with the acquisition of SCO last year, had a problem: Microsoft Exchange. Microsoft's notoriously complex mail server package was impractical for small and mid-sized businesses, but in order to sell those customers on a replacement, VARs had to offer compatibility with the shared address books and calendars that are part of the popular mail client Microsoft Outlook. “
TuxPPC has a review of SuSE Linux 7.3 for PPC. If you've been looking for a way to move towards PC's, or mix PC's with your Macintosh computers, this might be ideal for you. “Well, now that SuSE 7.3 has been released…and I have to admit, it was worth waiting.”
Computerworld has an opinion piece on a recently leaked memo from Microsoft. The memo, bemoaning the fact that many people are migrating from RISC UNIX to Linux rather than Windows, gives Nick Petreley a chance to delve into the advantages of the X Windowing System. “X11 is essentially a graphical user interface library, but don't make the mistake of thinking it's anything like Win32. X11 and the Win32 application programming interface are as different as night and hot. They're not even similar enough to deserve a comparison like night and day or cold and hot.”
Ximian, the creators of numerous enhancements to the GNOME desktop environment, announced the development of Ximian Connector today. According to the press release, Ximian Connector will add Microsoft Exchange client functionality to Evolution, Ximian's e-mail and information management package.
CRN is carrying a report on moving to an entirely Linux-based environment. They found that moving to Linux proved more than adequate for most Small to Mid-sized Businesses, and at a substantial cost savings. “After constructing a practical solution, the Test Center reached the following conclusion: Linux and associated Linux applications can accomplish many of the same tasks as the Wintel standard at a much lower initial cost,in this case, for 93 percent less than the software cost of a similar Windows-based network”
NewsForge is carrying an article on the available options for running Windows software in Linux. This may be helpful if the main thing holding your company back from a Linux migration is legacy software. “There are already several Windows and Linux (WAL) programs out there. The three most popular are VMWare's VMWare 3.0 Workstation 3.0; NeTraverse's Win4Lin 3.0; and WINE.”