Death of Linux desktop

Linux operating system was the hope of a new generation of adventurous youth in 1990s and early 2000s. It was the "freedom" software ecosystem, built on open standards, rock solid, a fortress of security and offered a diversity of "distros". Linux went on to dominate the server space and and other massive systems such as mainframe computers and supercomputers. It can be found as embedded in a lot of devices around us, including the ubiquitous Android phones and tablets.

 
Linux Mint desktop running Windows 7 and 8

But only 1.5 % of the desktop/laptop users are comfortable with Linux. Though Linux is made by hundred thousands of coders working on their own time, they themselves could be using a Mac or a vastly inferior Windows machine today.

What went wrong?

While a lot of efforts went in to make appealing to desktop user, many hardened supporters - the "fan boys" - made sure that Linux was effectively killed on the block. The PC revolution was ushered in by Apple, which created a machine that could be accessible even to the most uneducated. Though this vision did not translate into a business success for Apple (another spectacular example for lack of perception), personal computing revolution never looked back.

Linux flag wavers singularly lacked the perception on what the accessibility and adaptability mean to desktop users. "Linux was not designed for idoits (sic) like you. People who do not know what they are doing should not be allowed near a computer," rants one Linux fanatic.

One small example will illustrate this point better. Nautilus, the file manager seen in many Linux desktops, used to have a nifty and useful function. Hit F3 and you could split the window into two and use it to move or copy files from one folder to another. In one of the recent upgrades of Nautilus, the team decided that managing files in this manner is too simple an affair for clever people to indulge in. So they removed this feature and now the user has to open two windows of Nautilus, one after another, position them side by side, to get the same effect.

You can change by doing many things, but you need perceive the change to really succeed. "You have to think about what the actual user experiences when he or she sits down to do actual stuff, and you have to think about it from the user's point of view." Though "fan boys" will be fast with rebuttals, but the 1.5% usage limit testifies something.

More reading:

Linux's chance has gone

Desktop Linux: The Dream Is Dead

The Luxury of Ignorance: An Open-Source Horror Story

Major Linux Problems on the Desktop or Why Linux is not (yet) Ready for the Desktop, 2015 edition

Is the Linux desktop becoming extinct?

Desktop wars weakens Linux adoption

As new releases continue to roll out, distros remain undecided where the desktop should go. This confusion and indecesiveness could prove to be the most serious undoing for the linux desktop adoption. If famed 'choice' in linux ecosystem is proving to be a mirage, trouble free installation and usage has become the major casuality.

Gnome 3 Shell on Linux Mint 15 

With Ubuntu in its new release 13.04 claiming to stabilize Unity, but in the same breath saying that this version will be obsolete in 6 months, leaves one wondering when Canonical will really become serious about reaching its 200 million user target. Unity Next, a magnificant dream of unifying desktop, tablet, television etc., is set to takeover from the next release.

Attention at this time therefore was prudently only on stability and performance issues of Unity. This undoubtatly will be a welcome development to all Ubuntu users. The dash has become more responsive. Social media integration brings in tweets and posts to the 'social lens'. I am not sure how many users will like using 'social lens' as a twitter client.

However, much of the features and issues remain the same. Very little attention has been paid to improvements to anything outside the dash, including the omnipresent laucher, calander, quicklist etc. The predominant reaction is that Canonical is focusing only on the left side of the destop.

Ubuntu Next, the next generation user interface integrating desktop, smart phones, tablets and televisions is an ambitious project. This will run on Mir display server, abandoning the venerable X Windows system. Together this is a formidable challenge, and many users doubt whether Cananical has the critical developer mass to pull through a seamless transition. 

Gnome Shell has come out with a few cautious reforms with its 3.8 relase. Search in the overview mode has improved to include documents, files and contacts etc. A new 'classic mode' brings the traditional Gnome 2ish destop to those who sorely miss the traditional desktop and has gone after Cinnamon and MATE. More online accounts integration has been provided.

The major downside is the continued slaughter of Natutilus. Feature after feature is being removed in the name of improvement. Now it is no more possible to right click and create a new file. Nemo is an good alternative, but it seems to be not fit for Gnome 3.8 as yet.

I am not particularly floored either by MATE or Cinnamon. Basically both are poor substitutes for Gnome Shell, though a shade better than Unity. With the 'classic mode' in Gnome 3.8, Nemo file manager remains the only serious project that has some value. The Cinnamon menu still needs some 10 seconds to think before opening.

I was using Cinnamon with Linux Mint 14 before upgtading to Linux Mint 15. Cinnamon refused to run on my laptop, Dell XPS 17z. I had to install Gnome Shell, and later when I upgraded to Gnome 3.8, I lost Cinnamon and Nemo. Otherwise, the system is fine. Heating issue persists, but under control using TLP, as Jupitor is no more supported.

KDE continues to have an entusiastic crowd around it, though it is more and more receding to be the main stream DM. The most feature rich desktop, is also the most buggy one. But, many continue to love it. XFCE and other minor players also have a vociferous crowd around them.

Confusion that is seen all around continues to distract users. I am shifting from learning to align with one workflow after another. In Linux Mint 12 I had used Gnome 3. It was Gnome Shell in Linux Mint 13, Cinnamon in Linux Mint 14, and I am back to Gnome Shell in Linux Mint 15. Though I like Gnome Shell, it is not the main desktop of Linux Mint. I like Linux Mint more than any other distro due to its polish, but I am not sure I can have a working Gnome Shell in the next release. 

With no clear path forward, desktop Linux mainstreaming will remain a mirage.

Related articles:

• Linux Mint 15 Review - Close to Perfection
• Linux Users Have a Choice: 8 Linux Desktop Environments
• Cinnamon 2.0 in Linux Mint 16, no GNOME back-end

Gnome 3 and Gnome Shell - Why reality has to be accepted

I had made my rants organist Gnome Shell, as with Unity. I thought moving out of Gnome 2, an unnecessary adventure. I still believe that users should be left at peace with the tools and interfaces they are used to instead of asking them to worry every six months to adjust to new interfaces and user experiences. After all, users should have the ease to do what they want to do in a PC or a laptop - write an document, create a presentation, manage personnel finance, do image creation and editing, code a piece of software, browse the web, manage their chats and communications etc, etc.

I am basically that sort of an user. I expect that my creative impulses should not be drowned by a volley of OS or DM related maintenance tasks. I do indulge in maintaining OS and the computer. I like to have my PC running the latest version of everything, all patches applied with nothing potentially left for a cracker to crack. Not that I have a lot to hide, except maybe my passwords. I don't want a wannabe explorer to lock me out of my on-line accounts.

Giving freedom to user to pursue her volitions in whatever manner she feels right, or what she feels comfortable is of one of the freedoms that should be guaranteed. Unless, security is a major factor, this should be sought to be ensured by any ope source project. I, as a controller of a software ecosystem -such as the Linux Kernel community or the FSF – should not seek to dictate which software or platform I should be using, based on biased views on the project preferences.

I had this hate – love relationship with Gnome 3 / Gnome Shell due to the fact that I felt it was threatening my basic freedom to choose. It was questioning my freedom to use software tools, I was was long accustomed of using in the name of moving forward. I was simply unacceptable at that point of time – a typical case of user inertia. An inertia, borne form the realization that I will have learn and adjust to new work-flows from now hence forth.

I had a choice to use Gnome Shell or move back to KDE, an environment I had left back long ago. Alternative was to choose a few non – production ready Unity, MATE and Cinnamon. The latter three are still non-production ready, though good progress have been done with the development of each of them. Only Gnome Shell and KDE could be touted as fairly stable DMs, that could satisfy the demands of users who want rock-solid systems, that don't interfere regressively with their day-to-day tasks.

Major mainline distos like Fedora and OpenSUSE have decided to make a happy living with Gnome 3. Ubuntu was disenchanted, and decided to have their on Unity, which helped driving a lot of users away. Linux Mint, mulled and came with MGSE -an instant success - which they quickly abandoned in favor of MATE and Cinnamon With Linux Mint 13, they are unable to decide which is their main system. I predict that this is going to be disaster for LM users, and they are going to be driven out fast. Abandoning an mass-favorite like MGSE could turn out to be the biggest folly from the LM stable.

Ububtu, is sort of recovering from it Unity folly. It is now targeting something that is that will be Gnome Shellish in their 12.10 avatar. If that happens, and if that is effective, it will be a welcome development for all the Ubuntu fans, LM users included.

I also did rant against the gate-crashing of touch screen devices. But of it holds true today. But with the device prices crashing – you have Kindle Fire for $200 – users can now have the luxury to chose between a device of content creation (PC / Laptop) and content delivery (tablet). I too came to own a tablet, apart form a smart phone today. Both to little to help out with my content creation tasks, even write out a longish e-mail. Touch interfaces are taking over laptops, and maybe I will also end up with touch screen laptop a few years down the line. So, user interfaces have to evolve.

Linux Distros will have realize that Gnome Shell is the way forward. Hanging on to the past with MATE and Chinnom is esapism. KDE is not the main DM of any of the popular distros. Gnome 3 / Gnome Shell is what we have and popular distros will have to make a choice now. This choice is going to be difficult. But it will make or kill the Linux OS.

Gnome Shell extensions do break with very upgrade, and often you are left with a most basic DM. Ubuntu's decision to embrace Gnome Shell seems to offer some hope for us users. But, ultimately all users will look forward for an hassle free DM!

Related articles:

• Linus Torvalds finds GNOME 3.4 to be a "total user experience design failure"
• Ubuntu 12.10 Will Have a Gnome Shell Flavor

Unity and Gnome 3 - Between the devil and deep sea

 

Most of us like to have a computer which looks professional, can do most of the things we like to do, offer something new to learn and do, and finally don't crash around too often. We will like to have the system a bit light on the pocket. Windows 3 and then Win 95 offered the professional touch, but fell short of the expectations for the razor's edge. Mac was hard for a struggling student or a start-up professional.

Then came Linux. It had everything one wanted for a good adventure. The system was robust and often productive. The GUIs were a sort of amateurish. Back then the system crashed often, though we saw that less than the blue screen of death. Yet we loved it. Linux occupied a separate partition on the hard drive, coexisting with Windows. And when things got better we kicked Win 98 / XP / Vista out and let Linux occupy the entire hard disk. The fight now was with the Mac, which we knew was always better, but could never afford to have.

All the popular distros,especially openSUSE, Fedora and the newcomer Ubuntu, based on Debian gave us a whole new desktop experience. We really did start having the Mac experience - or better than that. The desktop became glossy, faster, responsive and really professional in appearance. Users could never remember when the systems crashed last. I don't have an instance of my computers crashing in the last 3 years. We are starting to be there - the ultimate desktop experience.

Things started breaking when the whole lot of new devices called 'tablets' started appearing on the horizon. These are pricey things that could pretty do not much more than opening your Facebook chat or stream your favorite Youtube video. You could also read a e-book for 20 minutes, until your eyes grow too tried. If you are in the the beach or the park the 'pad' did not seem to offer a good reading experience, unless you have opted for audio books as your choice of 'reading' experience. You can listen to the music you have purchased over the music store, but with a sinking feeling that you don't need to lug a 'slate' to do that.

The web has transformed long back from a read-only web to read-write web. I see some guys at airports trying to do the read-write act with their 'slabs'. By and large I belive the 'book' that came along recently are the worst technology spoilers. They are platforms of digital media consumtion, which tries to act as if they could be points of content creation. I have seen a couple of guys lugging a small key board and a 'slate' and try to deal with their e-mails. This gets a bit complicated when you on a air plane. A small net-book could have done that with a higher level of elegance.

The producers of linux distros however got caught in the 'pad' madness and came to belive 'touch' is going conquer the world and beyond. Gnome makers moved on to touch oriented Gnome 3 Shell and Ubuntu makers dissatified with the Gnome efforts forked into Unity. Both belive touch is the thing to go. Even the makers of Windows became sedated to believe that will be future of computing and they are furiously preparing of the release of Win 8 - by end 2012.

Being a LinuxMint user I was spared from the agony of an early adopter of Unity in Ubuntu 11.04 or Gnome 3 Shell in Fedora 15. By now also the major distros including Ubuntu clone LinixMint has decided to be Gnome 3 Shell friendly, leaving Ubuntu alone with Unity. I installed Uubuntu 11.10 on a virtual box to see how it actually is. I also installed Gnome 3 Shell on Ubuntu 11.10 to see it compares with Unity.

Both are rough around edges. Both look amateurist - a throwback into the good old days of Linux. Both crashes often. Unity is supposed to be a bit slow, but in my 3 GB RAM Virtual Box, it seems to run fine. Unity tries to ape Mac as much as it can, starting from the default desktop background. Overall I find Unity better than the plain minimalist Gnome Shell.

In Unity I found it was not possible to pin applications to the 'left-only'dash - that feature do not seem to work. I am not sure I could have icon on the desktop if I want that. You have a standard four desktops in Unity. It is hard to find how more desktops could be added. In Gnome Shell you can have infinite desktops. There are no minimize / maximize icon on the application window in Gnome 3, but apprently you can have a scaled view and maximize by clicking on the window bar.

Unity has a unified application menu bar on the desktop top edge. Even if the application runs from a smaller scaled window, the menu will span the whole desktop on the top edge. The friendly dock sit only in one position - left. Both assumes that computers users are pretty dull-witted, therefore provided only one approach to do anything. The Gnome Shell dock is seen only inside the dash. So you will have click minimum twice to luanch a application.

Both look a bit of ameturish attempts to mimic Mac and will have a long way to go before they start doing better. In comparison the Win 8 Start looks a whole lot better. It is unfortunate that Linux users will have to be transported back to good old days where Linux interfaces looked half finished and crashed around a lot.

 

Related articles:

• Linux Desktop Faceoff: GNOME 3 vs Ubuntu Unity

• Unity is the end of Ubuntu

• Linux Mint Will Soon Get a GNOME 3 Edition

• Yet Again the Year of Linux on the Desktop?

Linux Mint 11 Katya - Quo vadis?

Claimed to be the fourth popular desktop operation system in the world, Linux Mint (LM) release 11 has additional reasons to be talked about. With this release Linux Mint decided tread a different path from Ubuntu - by shunning Unity.

Ubuntu, the base of Linux Mint, introduced Unity after a famous break from Gnome 3, the ubiqutous DE in most popular Linux distributions, and a competitor to KDE. Unity's collective licensing methodology faces a strong criticism from the open source developer community.

Some years back KDE faced similar ethical questions due its use of QT as the development platform, as QT was not open source then. Later QT became open source, but later KDE 4 release was initially shunned by most main stream distributions. SuSE/SUSE/OpenSUSE was a major distro to dump KDE somewhere in 2005 and make Gnome as a default DE. Today, KDE 4.6 awes many.

LM 11 was supposed to have come with Gnome 3 - without Gnome Shell or Unity. But it did not happen. So for atleast next six months there will not be any Macish effects on the LM desktop. Perhaps either of Unity or Gnome 3 will make an appearance in the next release.

For most users lack of Unity or Gnome 3 is not a big disappointment. Unity is alleged to be a net-book DE masquerading as a mainstream DE, a no-go for power users. Surprisingly for a net-book avtar, Unity is alleged to be a big battery drainer on laptops. Its whole interface is supposed to be oriented for touch screen users, something many users are not eagerly looking forward to.

Gnome 3 Shell on the other hand has something of a DE for idiots kind of approach. Instead of having many ways of doing things, and hence confuse users, Gnome 3 insists that users should have only one way of doing anything. When an application launches it will be maximized, and user will have to work on the maximized windows. There is no minimize button, as it is not required - user just has to switch desktops to go to another application.

Given the state of affairs at Unity and Gnome 3, LM's play-safe policy might encourage many Ubuntu users to jump wagon. The next few months will prove how this poly is going to pay off for LM. But otherwise LM 11 is quite a flaw less release. Installation of LM 11 is quicker, booting is faster, most of the new applications are here: Firefox 4, Libre Office 3 etc. Software installer and system updater are slightly improved.

After becoming a Ubuntu and then a LM convert since 2009, I have become used to six monthly rite of system updating. I have two different partitions with root of 100 GB and /home of 400 GB. I will not forgot to have my /home backed up in an external drive, to play it safe. My installation will format only the root and install the new system, and /home is left intact. This takes approximately 20 minutes.

After rebooting I will have all my configuration files intact. I will have to re-install all the extra applications, but it is only a dozen or so and doesn't consume much time. I found the system backup application of LM very slow to be of any practical help, and software back and restore too risky to use.

The system overall performs better after the update and I not desperately missing Unity and Gnome 3. However I will be playing with Ubuntu and Fedora live CDs to see how both are faring compared to the old and trusted Gnome 2. The final crossing the bridge will happen in six months when LM decides what to do with either of these. Whole world will be watching with bated breath when it happens!

 

Related articles:

• Three Alternatives To Unity For Ubuntu 11.04
• GNOME 3 VS Unity For Ubuntu
• Juha Siltala: The Grand Review of three new desktops, pt. 1: topyli stumbles upon KDE after a decade of GNOME

Clash of Desktop Environments: Unity, Gnome 3 or KDE 4?

Discussion threads are abuzz with the advantages and cons vis-a-vis Ubuntu Unity Vs Gnome 3 Shell. Being a Linux Mint 10 user, I was waiting for some news on what Linux Mint will chose for the next release (LM 11). I was a bit disappointed when LM 11 choose not to embrace either of them. For the time being Gnome 2 will be continued. I can live with that with my PC for some time, but meanwhile I thought about buying a new laptop. I would like to have the cutting edge Linux OS for the new laptop, and perhaps Linux Mint 11 would be a no go, though touted as very good otherwise.

 

Linux Mint 11 rejects both Gnome 3 and Unity for now 

 

There has been a bit of bile venting on both sides, but Gnome 3 seemed to have weathered out pretty well. It has been refered to as 'simple to the extreme' with 'some new features, but not much'. Others call call Gnome 3 'evolutionary', but Unity a 'toy for netbooks'.  Meanwhile, Ubuntustudio, one of the distros I breifly considered as a poosible laptop candidate moved in to quickly announce that they are adopting XFCE, rather that grapple with Unity or Gnome 3. Linux Mint project, the grape vine goes, is moving closer to Debian.

Linux Mint, as it turns out, might have a good point here. While Gnome 3 is quite stable, same it not the case with Unity. It seems to crash a lot or not work most of the time. Fedora 15 seems to run fine with Gnome 3 , whereas Ubuntu 11.04 with Unity is facing a tough time. Unity do have some support, especially the way its menu is bult. Others feel Unity is quite fine and well suited for newbie Linux users. Some feels that Gnome 3 is more responsive, logical and easy. 

When it comes to Gnome 3 Vs KDE 4.6, users complain the lack of flexibility in Gnome 3. KDE still looks a lot like Windows 97 and may not appeal a lot for those who like a less Windowish experience. I was a long time user of KDE on SUSE, when I was trying to appeal to new converts from Windows. Now that era being behind me, I have to fight the Mac crowd now. Anything different appeals.

Unity is based on Gnome 2 as of now, but will switch over to Gnome 3 with the next release. I have a feeing that both will start look alike after a few months. So Ubuntu should have gone with Gnome 3, rather than creating a fork, which is not a lot different. It will be worthwhile to test all the DEs from live DVDs or USBs and see how things work for you. 

There have been issues with performance and bugs with both the DEs. Unity seems to be a power drainer for the laptops. Both are moving into Windows Mac 'give-users no-flexibility pardigm' to keep them dump to the extent possible. The purported move towards touch interfaces motivates some of the new features, but only a few will like to type on glass as of now. 

Best choice at the moment therfore seems to be to stick with Gnome 2 or shift to KDE 4.6. XFCE is also turning out to be a top contenter. Or else continue with Linux Mint, which will remain faithful to Gnome 2 atleast till the next release. By the end of the year hopefully Gnome 3 and Unity may improve its useability and performance.

Further reading:

Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal Reviewed: This is My Favorite Ubuntu EVER!

Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal - Reactions from Users

OpenOffice 3.0 - Said and the unsaid

Some random pickings...

• In summary, it looks as if Open Office is continuing on its path as the would-be Microsoft Office killer.
• The interface is blissfully simple, emulating Microsoft Office 2000. It's a good counter to Microsoft's 2007 ribbon interface, which buries a lot of the formerly easily accessible toolbar functions.
• ...remarkably improved Spell Check.
• Overall, though OpenOffice.org 3 looks like the best version yet.

--http://www.crn.com/software/211200503

• Users report OpenOffice.org 3.0 has introduced a new graphical and text-based hybrid equation editor, a mail merge wizard, improved label templates and better interface for outlining. Solver, a spreadsheet add-on for combinatorial optimization problems is included in this version.
• Other enhancements highlighted by enthusiasts include collaborative options that allow multiple users to edit documents at the same time and improved drawing and charting tools. OpenOffice.org 3.0 can now display multiple pages during editing and workbooks up to 1024 columns in each spreadsheet.

--http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org_3.0_released_by_Sun_Microsystems

• Nevertheless, some reviewers questioned whether the upgrade was sufficient to be billed as a full upgrade.
• On balance, the new OpenOffice.org release is a step forward, and if they can speed it up a bit, we'll be more than happy.
  

--http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/enterpriseapps/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=211200491

• Writer (word processing):

          o New slider control for zooming which allows multi-page display while editing
          o Powerful new multilingual support
          o Improved notes capabilities
          o Ability to edit wiki documents for the web, in addition to conventional office documents

• Calc (spreadsheet):

          o Increase in capacity of up to 1024 columns per sheet
          o Powerful new equation solver
          o New collaboration feature for multiple users

• Draw (graphics):

          oAbility to cope with poster-size graphics - up to three square meters or 32.3 square feet.

• Impress (presentation):

          o Fully featured table designer inside a presentation

--http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS5116175814.html

• Like that botched launch, OpenOffice 3 represents a missed opportunity.
• ...upgrades arguably should have arrived a year ago--the ability to open files created with Microsoft's Office 2007.
• OpenOffice 3 also feels a little faster than earlier editions, especially in terms of its startup time.
• OpenOffice 3 repeats almost all of the interface failings of its ancestors (not to mention old Microsoft Office versions).

--http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fasterforward/2008/10/openoffice_3_is_here_can_you_t.html

• ...this update is worth it for the improvement in response and load times, if nothing else.
• One useful change involving the landing page is that it now shows up whenever you close a document but don't exit the program.
  

--http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10064886-12.html

• It’s a great suite and they still have something that OpenOffice lacks: Publisher.
• OO.org has been good enough for a long time; the latest release should leave little doubt for any users who had been on the fence.
  

--http://education.zdnet.com/?p=1895

• When compared directly to Microsoft Office, the one thing OpenOffice 3 does lack is a comparable version of Outlook.
• Power users may find OpenOffice 3.0 lacking some of the complex and deeply embedded features found in rival applications.
  

--http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/reviews/2228213/first-look-openoffice-org

• OpenOffice.org doesn't include all of Office's features, but it adds some conveniences that Office can't provide, such as built-in PDF export and a single interface for opening and editing word-processing documents, HTML files, worksheets, presentations, and drawings.
  

--http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2332502,00.asp

• One of the most significant killer features in this release are out-of-the-box import filters for the latest Microsoft Office file formats, enabling OpenOffice 3.0 to read documents saved with Microsoft Office 2007 or 2008 in .docx, .xlsx, .pptx or other new formats.
  

--http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/39704/140/

• For its part, Microsoft isn't too worried about OOo 3.0.
  

--http://www.internetnews.com/software/article.php/3777636/OpenOffice+Hits+30+Can+It+Challenge+Microsoft.htm

• The new version's initial release offers only read-only support for Microsoft Office 2007 file formats including DOCX (Word), XLSX (Excel), and PPTX (PowerPoint), but can convert them into Office 2003 file formats.
  

--http://www.download.com/8301-2007_4-10064408-12.html

•  It's an evolutionary change from 2, not a revolutionary one, and if deployed right it could be yet another nibble out of Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT)'s big Office cookie. The trick is how to get the word out.
  

--http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/10/getting_the_wor.html

• But there's growing evidence that the project may be suffering from virtual arteriosclerosis, and 3.0 may be the last great version of the software.
  

--http://blogs.computerworld.com/is_version_3_0_the_last_great_version_for_openoffice_org

• Pretty nifty stuff, and it's free - well, that is when you can get on the site and successfully download it.
  

--http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/10/13/openoffice_org_download_website_dead/

• OpenOffice 3.0 even makes it easier for anyone to participate in the new Web 2.0 world without having to learn and master esoteric web languages such as XHTML and MediaWiki, said John McCreesh, OpenOffice.org marketing project lead. "Users can create Web and Wiki documents straight from Writer," he explained.
  

--http://www.newsfactor.com/news/OpenOffice-3-Supports-Mac/story.xhtml?story_id=032001VRUC1S

• Microsoft has a new problem on its plate with rival Sun Microsystems unveiling Open Office 3.0 ...
  

--http://www.domain-b.com/companies/companies_s/Sun/20081015_free_alternative.html

• The new version offers some aesthetic enhancements and usability improvements, including a new icon set that makes the user interface cleaner and a convenient slider control for adjusting page zoom.
• This version is an important milestone release and could help boost the program's marketshare, particularly on Mac OS X, where it now provides a much higher level of platform integration. Although OpenOffice.org has not yet reached full parity with Microsoft Office, it is maturing at a rapid pace and is already capable of meeting the basic needs of many average computer users. It is an ideal choice for schools and is an increasingly viable choice for small businesses and home users that don't rely on the more advanced capabilities of Microsoft's office suite.

--http://arstechnica.com/journals/linux.ars/2008/10/13/openoffice-org-3-0-officially-released

• ...if you're looking for a suite to use at home or a small business -- or if your enteprise hasn't standardized on Office -- you should give this suite a try. It'll save you hundreds of dollars. And in today's economic times, that's a very big deal.
  

--http://blogs.computerworld.com/review_of_final_openoffice_3_why_buy_microsoft_office

• OpenOffice may not have got the headlines it deserves in the past, but that suddenly looks to have changed...
• So in this you-call-it-credit-crunch-I-call-it-economic-crisis-let's-call-the-whole-thing-a recession-off head on over and save yourselves a large wad of cash...
  

--http://www.trustedreviews.com/software/news/2008/10/14/OpenOffice-3-Released---Demand-Crashes-Site/p1

• Openoffice is faster than previous versions of the business suite. But it still not fast enough.
• Openoffice has Sun Microsystems and IBM on its side.
• So while Openoffice could be the tipping point, it could well come up too late to prevent SaaS from toppling desktop-based applications.
  

--http://www.itproportal.com/articles/2008/10/14/8-reasons-why-openoffice-30-could-be-tipping-point-application-or-not/

• New add-on features available for OpenOffice.org 3.0 are support for business analytics and the ability to import PDF (Portable Document Format) documents.
  

--http://www.itworld.com/software/56030/openofficeorg-30-release-trips-communitys-web-site

• Office suite upgrades may not be sexiest of software releases, but for those of you who rely on them to get things done, OpenOffice 3.0 delivers the goods and makes a worthwhile upgrade.
  

--http://www.webmonkey.com/blog/First_Look:_OpenOffice_3DOT0_Is_a_Free_Replacement_for_MS_Office_on_Mac

• Now with version 3.0 of the suite, OpenOffice is set to challenge Microsoft Office more than ever before.
  

--http://www.techspot.com/news/32016-openofficeorg-30-available-set-to-challenge-ms-office.html

• I've been using OpenOffice.org for about six years now, and I can report the suite performs all of the Office features that I either know about, or was accustomed to using in Office.
  

--http://www.examiner.com/x-529-SF-Technology-Examiner~y2008m10d12-Treat-yourself-to-a-suite-alternative-OpenOfficeorg-30

• It is ready for primetime, to compete head-on with Microsoft Office.
  

--http://asia.cnet.com/blogs/infochat/post.htm?id=63006865&scid=hm_bl

• OpenOffice.org's 3.0 version does feel in many ways more of a point release than a full blown update.
  

--http://www.heise-online.co.uk/open/OpenOffice-org-3-0-Reviewed--/features/111708

• ...I do wish the developers behind OpenOffice would do more to shake up Impress.
  

--http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business6_oct14_2008

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