New open source Calligra Suite release enhances ODF document support

Calligra is a fairly young open source office suite that shows promise, an expert said

Calligra has published the second stable release of its open source suite that includes word processing, spreadsheets and a sketching program. The new version greatly improves the support of Open Document Format (ODF) documents, said one of its main developers on Tuesday.

The Calligra Suite is an application suite for Linux that includes programs not found in traditional office suites, so the development team prefers to call it an "integrated work applications suite."

"Calligra is for the kind of people that are allergic to the word 'office'," said Boudewijn Rempt, maintainer (head developer) of Calligra's Krita sketching program.

Calligra 2.5 is the second stable version of the suite. The team also released a QML (Qt Modeling Language) -based version for tablets and smartphones called Calligra Active, and said that Calligra Active will be the main mobile version of the suite going forward.

Calligra is currently developing a version of Calligra Active for Android, Rempt said.

Krita was updated with a new composition docker that is useful for storyboard generation. And Krita added textured painting and performance improvements among other enhancements, Calligra said on its website. Database program Kexi, diagram application Flow and presentation program Stage were also updated, as well as spreadsheet program Sheets.

Version 2.5 also brings improvements that benefit all the suite's applications. For instance the management of autosave files is improved, there is a new system for managing user profiles and there is a new system connecting shapes like diagrams or flowcharts, according to Calligra.

Rempt said that Calligra could still use some other improvements. "The next step is Windows," he said, adding that the installer for Calligra for Windows isn't perfect. The main problem is finding open source developers that want to make Calligra available on Windows, according to Rempt. The Windows effort may require financial backing instead of relying solely on volunteers, he added.

Calligra's actual user base is hard to estimate, Rempt said. However, at the moment there are between two and three million Nokia N9 phones that use a documents app based on Calligra. Krita is downloaded about 20,000 times every month on a Windows machine, and the experimental Windows installer for the whole suite is downloaded about 5,000 times a month, he said, Besides that, Kubuntu, a popular Linux distribution, has decided to make Calligra a default application, according to Rempt.

One of Calligra's biggest competitors is open source office suite LibreOffice, according to Rempt. "That really is a good and mature suite," he said, adding that while Calligra currently has a fraction of LibreOffice's user base, it has more applications and is not as dependent on big vendors such as Novell and RedHat as LibreOffice is.

That Calligra does not attract as many users as LibreOffice is "perfectly alright at this moment", said Rempt, since the team would like more time to improve the functionality of the suite.

Calligra is a relatively young but promising suite, said Michiel Leenaars, vice chairman of the OpenDoc Society, an organization that promotes the use of ODF and open document standards in the Netherlands. "The market for Office suites is dominated by a small number of solutions that originated from the eighties and nineties of the past millennium," he said in an email. Calligra does not have that ballast since it is from this century, it was forked from KOffice in 2010, and was built from scratch, he added

Calligra's Krita competes at the moment more with specialized software than with simpler editors in other office suites, Leenaars said. One other plus for Calligra is that it is developed keeping touch devices like tablets and mobile phones in mind, he added.

Open-source attitude in the Internet Era

The road of history appears to be leading steadily towards a more open-sourced vision

The term ‘open source’ comes from computer programming. It refers to a computer program that isn’t owned by any company and is freely available to the general public. Microsoft Word, by contrast, is ‘closed source’ — the Microsoft Corporation owns the code for its software and will never make it available or give it away for free.

A little-known program called Open Office is a freely available alternative to Microsoft Office with many of the same features. A loose group of programmers around the world created Open Office and constantly tinkers with it to make it better. They do this for free with no benefit besides the pleasure of providing a useful service for anonymous users.

The motivation for developing open-source software can be puzzling, but they are becoming increasingly ubiquitous. Many phone users, for instance, opt for closed-source versions of Apple iPhones or BlackBerries. However, people using Samsung and other devices are running an open-source operating system — Android. (Google leads the programming effort, but doesn’t own the source code.)

Phones running Android operating systems tend to be cheaper because no money must be earmarked for the development costs. Of course, many people are quite happy to pay a little more for the features of closed-source iPhones and BlackBerries.

Freedom to innovate
But increasingly, both BlackBerry and the Apple iPhone flirt with open-sourced systems — allowing independent programmers leeway to produce apps for their closed-source platforms. In fact, in many other areas open-source alternatives are increasingly embraced.

Wikipedia, for instance, continues to grow in popularity while Encyclopedia Britannica recently announced the end of its print edition. The open-source Wikipedia allows users to modify any entry, but a team of editorial volunteers tends to keep material fairly accurate and well-balanced.
Only the editors of the closed-source Encyclopedia Britannica can make changes to their entries, meaning they should be more accurate. However, some research has found that Wikipedia and the encyclopedia both contained roughly the same amount of erroneous material. While it does have some drawbacks, Wikipedia is praised for the speed with which it updates information as well as its insistence on the verification of information.

Websites such as YouTube and Digg (which allows users to rate the value of new stories) represent open-source versions of television networks and newspapers. While a select few gatekeepers once made decisions about what to air or publish, these sites and many others now allow users to collectively make the decisions. The impact of these open-source sites on ‘traditional media’ cannot be understated.

Online alternatives
Many prestigious universities are now promoting open-source research. Academics are avoiding the costly peer-reviewed journals where research is kept behind a paywall in favour or free, online alternatives. The move will help equalise research globally, allowing poorer nations to have access to the same information as richer countries.

While some may debate whether open-source or closed-source systems are more beneficial, the road of history appears to be leading steadily toward a more open-sourced vision. The benefits of an open-sourced systems include an increased acceptance of new ideas and a quicker pace toward innovation — far more so that in closed systems.

Open-source projects also tend to benefit from the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ with ideas and innovations that could be missed in closed environments. Most importantly, open-source systems are transparent — nothing is hidden from view, allowing anyone to offer their input equally.
Even nations seem to fall on one side of the open-source versus closed-source structure. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently remarked that countries would no longer be divided along lines such as East or West or religious beliefs. Rather, they would be judged on their relative approach toward openness.

She said that countries closed to “change, ideas, cultures and beliefs that are different from theirs will quickly find that in an internet world they will be left behind”.

Her reference to the internet is an important point — societies could more easily afford to be ‘closed-source’ before the internet. Many attribute the recent upheaval in the Arab world to an increase in the open-source information flow afforded by YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

The UAE is already making efforts to be more open-source. The government of Abu Dhabi, for instance, has pledged to create a transparent regulatory environment as part of its 2030 economic vision.
And, as Federal National Council (FNC) member Noura Al Kaabi has noted, the FNC is also leading the way toward openness. The FNC often raises critical issues into the sphere of public discussion and provides added transparency and accountability to workings of the UAE government.

But the UAE could do more to increase its openness. For instance, some government agencies make decisions without much scrutiny or explanation leaving residents in the dark or puzzled.

Similarly, many government and business spokespeople aren’t empowered to truly provide answers and information to the public. In effect, they’re trapped in a ‘closed-source’ mentality.

Hopefully, the UAE will address these problems and continue making strides toward being more ‘open-sourced’.

Much of the world seems ready to embrace the wisdom of the crowd.

Google concentrate on Android development and sales

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Google is going to radically shift how it works with its partners in developing and selling Android.

For all its popularity, Android programming, sales, and marketing has been… chaotic. Every hardware vendor makes its own Android mix, which more often than not is based on an older version, and each company sales and markets their smartphones and tablets independently of each other. That may be changing now. According to a Wall Street Journal report, “Google is shifting its strategy for its Android mobile operating system, in a bid to create a united front with smartphone and tablet makers to take on rivals like Apple and prevent wireless carriers from controlling the devices.”

Wall Street Journal reporter, Amir Efrati reports that “Google plans to give multiple mobile-device makers early access to new releases of Android and to sell those devices directly to consumers, said people familiar with the matter.” In the past, Google would pick a single vendor to introduce major Android updates in lead devices, and then all the other vendors would follow. These devices were then, as now, sold to end-users through wireless carriers or retail outlets.

By the holiday season though, there were be as many as five manufacturers creating a portfolio of “Nexus” lead devices that include smartphones and tablets. While the old sales channels will still be there, Google will sell the gadgets directly to consumers in the U.S., Europe and Asia via its website. These will run on be running Google’s next version of Android, Jelly Bean.

Google did not respond to a request for comments.

So who might these companies be? We don’t know. At a guess, Motorola has to be in there. ASUS, HTC, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson would also seem like natural partners.

This news comes ahead of final approval for Google’s acquisition of Motorola. Many people are speculating that Google is trying to centralize Android programming, sales, and marketing to reassure its partners that Google is going to use Motorola devices to compete with them.

Apple, Android’s only real rival, on the other hand, offers a single, unified software stack. Users who buy an iPad or iPhone don’t have to worry about it they’ll get the newest update. Until Apple stops supporting their particular device, which Apple does do, they’ll know that they’ll get the latest and greatest version. By contrast, Android’s newest shipping version, Ice Cream Sandwich, after first shipping seven months ago, is still on only 5% of Android devices.

Apple is also fighting with Google’s Android partners in courtrooms around the world on various intellectual property (IP) issues. A united Android front could potentially, if nothing else, cut down on Google’s partners’ legal bills.

Put it all together and there are many reasons why a more united Android effort would make sense both for Google and its partners. So, while we don’t for certain that is what Google will really be doing, this centralized development, marketing, and sales plan does make sense. If Google is to get this off the ground by the 2012 holiday season, we’ll soon see if this indeed what Google has been working on.

In Android case US judge demand for more consideration

A U.S. judge urged jurors to resume deliberating Oracle Corp's copyright claims against Google over the Android mobile platform, after they indicated there was unanimous agreement on all but one of the questions they must decide.

"It's worth you going home over weekend," U.S. District Judge William Alsup told the jurors, adding that deliberations in the federal court in San Francisco should continue next week.

Oracle sued Google in August 2010, saying Android infringes on its intellectual property rights to the Java programming language. Google says it does not violate Oracle's patents and that Oracle cannot copyright certain parts of Java, an "open-source," or publicly available, software language.

Alsup had been prepared to allow the jury to deliver a partial verdict on Friday. But he changed his mind after one juror said others on the panel thought further deliberations might be useful.

"We should take advantage of that hope," Alsup said.

The trial has been divided into three phases: copyright liability, patent claims, and damages. It began in April and was expected to last at least eight weeks.

If the jury cannot agree on one question, Alsup has indicated he would allow them to deliver a partial verdict and move on to hear evidence in the patent phase of the case. Another jury may then have to resolve the unanswered copyright question on a retrial.

The case in U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, is Oracle America, Inc v. Google Inc, 10-3561.

ANDROID BASED GOOGLE MOBILE FUTURE

Google has made its clear ambitions with his 1st phone which is launched by Google with co-operation of HTC and will sell by the T-Mobile as T-Mobile G1. The mobile is touchscreen and has great features in the competition of iPhone.

Android has been created by Andy Rubin who is the Google's director of mobile platforms. Mr Rubin says, "What Android enables for third party developers is the kind of programming we see on the Internet. What it enables is agility and rapid innovation and the same kind of innovation that happens on the Internet”. He announced that Android is a Open source operating system and with it developers have more freedom to innovate, and more scope also.

Andy Rubin also announce that Symbian and Microsoft also two companies that also build mobile operating systems and announced that the operating system which they have launched are also open. But Mr Rubin says the reality of that, “There's a distinction we have to make - and it's an important one - between open source and open APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). APIs are essentially documentation, they're the way that somebody like Symbian or Microsoft will allow third party developers to develop for their platform.” Mr. Rubin says all the things with news.bbc.co.uk in a interview.

Read More..

Google Android is now open source

Android is the first free, open source, and fully customizable mobile platform. Android offers a full stack: an operating system, middleware, and key mobile applications. It also contains a rich set of APIs that allows third-party developers to develop great applications.

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Google's open-source Android now actually open

Less than a year after announcing Android, the open-source phone operating system intended to jump-start the mobile Internet, Google began sharing the project's underlying source code.

The Android Open Source Project site includes a project list, a feature description, guides to the roles people can have in the project and how to contribute, and of course the Android source code itself.

Google has one team of programmers building the software and another professional services group to help support phone makers building Android phones. Now, though, as T-Mobile's G1 arrives on the market, Google hopes to multiply that by drawing upon the collective energy of outside contributors to the project.

"Our plan is a launching point for a much more vibrant open-source community," said Rich Miner, manager of Google's mobile platforms group. "For the past almost four years, this has been a large effort between Google and our partners. There have been a lot of people working on the code, but that's going to be multiplied by several orders of magnitude." Read More..