Saturday, June 25, 2005
Opening new paths
For open source freaks, this is nothing new. But for newbies, who use the PC as if it has just been taken out from the carton, this is a must read. Specially if you have been using proprietary software, particularly the office suite.
A totally free of cost Office package, which includes a word processor, a worksheet, an html composer among other things is making waves all over. Net watchers claim that OpenOffice, a free open source package has already captured 10 per cent of the market. This is a staggering number considering the fact that it has been in the market for three years only, compared to 10 years of Microsoft Office.
Interestingly, Indian users account for one of the largest chunk of downloads. The Word Processor, which is a part of the package has some remarkable features which are missing even in advanced commercial packages, like the ability to create pdf files. Apart from saving your documents as doc files, by the simple click of a button, you can convert it into a pdf document as well. A spreadsheet, presentation tool, drawing and diagrams, database access, support for disabled are included in the package.
Since it is open source, the community of developers keeps on adding to its functionality. It already has Hindi, Telugu and Tamil language support, while Punjabi support is being developed. By virtue of being open source, you can be sure that it does not have malware or spyware hidden inside.
Adding to all this, it is exceptionally light compared to other packages and equires just 200 MB of disc space and 128 MB of RAM. In fact the developer community has been very active in providing support to users, which is at times better than the support being provided by commercial vendors.
The openoffice website openoffice.org lists how world over people are shifting to this free package. The City of Munich, the government of Thailand, Sahara computers in South Africa, hospitals in France and hold your breadth even a portion of Wal Mart shippings.
With such a momentum building up, would you prefer to be left behind?
A totally free of cost Office package, which includes a word processor, a worksheet, an html composer among other things is making waves all over. Net watchers claim that OpenOffice, a free open source package has already captured 10 per cent of the market. This is a staggering number considering the fact that it has been in the market for three years only, compared to 10 years of Microsoft Office.
Interestingly, Indian users account for one of the largest chunk of downloads. The Word Processor, which is a part of the package has some remarkable features which are missing even in advanced commercial packages, like the ability to create pdf files. Apart from saving your documents as doc files, by the simple click of a button, you can convert it into a pdf document as well. A spreadsheet, presentation tool, drawing and diagrams, database access, support for disabled are included in the package.
Since it is open source, the community of developers keeps on adding to its functionality. It already has Hindi, Telugu and Tamil language support, while Punjabi support is being developed. By virtue of being open source, you can be sure that it does not have malware or spyware hidden inside.
Adding to all this, it is exceptionally light compared to other packages and equires just 200 MB of disc space and 128 MB of RAM. In fact the developer community has been very active in providing support to users, which is at times better than the support being provided by commercial vendors.
The openoffice website openoffice.org lists how world over people are shifting to this free package. The City of Munich, the government of Thailand, Sahara computers in South Africa, hospitals in France and hold your breadth even a portion of Wal Mart shippings.
With such a momentum building up, would you prefer to be left behind?
New redlight district
It is final now. The red light areas on the net are getting a new district. The new red light district on the net shall have the domain name that ends with .xxx instead of .com. The Board of Directors of Internet Corporation of Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has formally approved the demand of a separate domain name for adult
oriented websites.
So many of the the million odd (yes, one million) adult websites would get new addresses. Though it does not mean that all adult sites with hosted at a .com or .net domain would automatically migrate to the new domain. But the new extension gives an immediate branding to all adult sites.
ICANN made a formal announcement early this week. A similar proposal was mooted almost five years ago, but was rejected by ICANN at that time. New domains are contentious issues and it takes long before such issues are finalised.
Net watchers hoped that such a move would help protect children from indecent exposure from online pornography. Among others, the IFFOR, the International Foundation for Online Responsibility, a Canadian organization had been pressing for a separate domain so as to combat child pornography. It hopes that this would regularize business and ensure that children and others who do not wish to access adult content can easily avoid it.
ICM Registry, which will operate the .xxx domain registry, was founded over 5 years ago specifically to seek approval of the .xxx TLD. It estimates that more than 10% of all online traffic and 25% of all global Internet searching is adult-content oriented. It claims that there are more than 100,000 adult webmasters and over a million adult domains. According to Reuters, online adult-oriented ecommerce is worth more than 3 billion dollars and is growing at a double-digit rate. The number of adult websites has grown 18-fold over the last six years alone.
oriented websites.
So many of the the million odd (yes, one million) adult websites would get new addresses. Though it does not mean that all adult sites with hosted at a .com or .net domain would automatically migrate to the new domain. But the new extension gives an immediate branding to all adult sites.
ICANN made a formal announcement early this week. A similar proposal was mooted almost five years ago, but was rejected by ICANN at that time. New domains are contentious issues and it takes long before such issues are finalised.
Net watchers hoped that such a move would help protect children from indecent exposure from online pornography. Among others, the IFFOR, the International Foundation for Online Responsibility, a Canadian organization had been pressing for a separate domain so as to combat child pornography. It hopes that this would regularize business and ensure that children and others who do not wish to access adult content can easily avoid it.
ICM Registry, which will operate the .xxx domain registry, was founded over 5 years ago specifically to seek approval of the .xxx TLD. It estimates that more than 10% of all online traffic and 25% of all global Internet searching is adult-content oriented. It claims that there are more than 100,000 adult webmasters and over a million adult domains. According to Reuters, online adult-oriented ecommerce is worth more than 3 billion dollars and is growing at a double-digit rate. The number of adult websites has grown 18-fold over the last six years alone.
Photomail
For those who love sending pictures on email, this is grand news. A new offering by Internet giant Yahoo allows you to send upto 300 photographs via a single email. Although it is still a beta service, PhotoMail, it is integrated with Yahoo email and users only need to install an application to active it.
The concept is simple. Any picture, whether on your computer's hard disc or from the web can be sent along with your email. It has a simple drag and drop facility. To prevent email messages from being bloated, the email sends a thumbnail only.
Though sending photographs via email has been possible for a long time, every attachment was a chore. Pictures take up huge space and mailing them is tedious and time consuming. PhotoMail uses a shortcut method, where it sends a thumbnail image. When you click on the thumbnail, the picture can be enlarged. PhotoMail works by placing small thumbnail pictures in messages and storing the actual large photo files on a server of the Yahoo Photo online album service, says Andy Spillane, vice president of Yahoo Mail.
There are hiccups though. The service was launched on Thursday, and is still in beta stage. So it will be some time before it is thrown open to all. Only jpeg images are allowed so far. Moreover in the initial days the total size of email would be an issue, since the maximum attachment size is limited.
Yahoo, the search engine that virtually introduced us to the net, before the advent of Google has in recent days announced scores of measures to ensure that its dominance as the most visited site on the web remains unchallenged. It recently increased the quota of email space to 1 GB, apart from announcing the launch of music download service. Yahoo music offer a catalogue of over a million tracks.
The offering of PhotoMail comes after Yahoo acquired Flickr,a photo sharing and storing service. Flick is supposed to have 5.5 million photos. Combined with Yahoo Photos, it gives them an unmatched range of photo collection, that is now ready for you and me to use.
The concept is simple. Any picture, whether on your computer's hard disc or from the web can be sent along with your email. It has a simple drag and drop facility. To prevent email messages from being bloated, the email sends a thumbnail only.
Though sending photographs via email has been possible for a long time, every attachment was a chore. Pictures take up huge space and mailing them is tedious and time consuming. PhotoMail uses a shortcut method, where it sends a thumbnail image. When you click on the thumbnail, the picture can be enlarged. PhotoMail works by placing small thumbnail pictures in messages and storing the actual large photo files on a server of the Yahoo Photo online album service, says Andy Spillane, vice president of Yahoo Mail.
There are hiccups though. The service was launched on Thursday, and is still in beta stage. So it will be some time before it is thrown open to all. Only jpeg images are allowed so far. Moreover in the initial days the total size of email would be an issue, since the maximum attachment size is limited.
Yahoo, the search engine that virtually introduced us to the net, before the advent of Google has in recent days announced scores of measures to ensure that its dominance as the most visited site on the web remains unchallenged. It recently increased the quota of email space to 1 GB, apart from announcing the launch of music download service. Yahoo music offer a catalogue of over a million tracks.
The offering of PhotoMail comes after Yahoo acquired Flickr,a photo sharing and storing service. Flick is supposed to have 5.5 million photos. Combined with Yahoo Photos, it gives them an unmatched range of photo collection, that is now ready for you and me to use.
Cyling past the future
Techtalker talks about tech all the time, and this is no different occasion. The only difference being a recent national survey in UK where people were asked to poll (online offcourse) on the most significant technological innovation since 1800. And hold your breadth, it is neither the PC or the cellphone or the Internet, but the humble bicycle.
Nearly 60 per cent of the voters voted for the bicycle in a poll conducted by BBC Radio 4. The transistor came second with less than 8% of the vote, and the electro-magnetic induction ring - the means to harness electricity - came third. Our dear computer on which I am filing this story cam fourth with less than seven per cent votes. Both radio and the Internet polled less than five per cent votes.
There were more than 4,500 votes cast in total. There are other questions like a tech innovation which had great practical utility at home. Here the washing machine polled one thirds of the vote, with central heating getting a quarter, and the PC a little less at 24 per cent at the third place.
People were asked about a technology that they wished to carry to a Desert Island, and half of the voters opted for the Internet, followed by a quarter who wanted the radio. Only three per cent wanted an MP3 player, two per cent wanted a TV and one per cent a DVD.
Which takes us to another survey carried out by Lemelson-MIT. The annual 2004 invention index had people voting for the cellphone as an invention they most hate but cannot live without. 30 per cent voters opted for the cellphone, followed by the alarm clock (25%) and television (23%). In addition to cell phones, the Lemelson-MIT
Invention Index also looked at the impact of popular inventions such as email, voicemail and credit and debit cards.
81 per cent of teens believed that email had made life simpler. Adults agreed to a lesser extent with a little less than 60 per cent voting for this. On the other hand, teens did not seem too excited about credit and debit cards. 32% said they made life easier, while 26% said they make life more difficult with 39% felt they make life both simpler and more difficult. Half of the adults surveyed said the
benefits of credit and debit cards outweigh any disadvantages.
But back to the BBC survey. People were asked if they desired any particular innovation to be developed. Voters opted for an AIDS vaccine and interplanetary travel.
Now the bicycle and interplanetary travel both figuring in the same survey. I guess I will wait for a bicycle that can pedal me to space.
Nearly 60 per cent of the voters voted for the bicycle in a poll conducted by BBC Radio 4. The transistor came second with less than 8% of the vote, and the electro-magnetic induction ring - the means to harness electricity - came third. Our dear computer on which I am filing this story cam fourth with less than seven per cent votes. Both radio and the Internet polled less than five per cent votes.
There were more than 4,500 votes cast in total. There are other questions like a tech innovation which had great practical utility at home. Here the washing machine polled one thirds of the vote, with central heating getting a quarter, and the PC a little less at 24 per cent at the third place.
People were asked about a technology that they wished to carry to a Desert Island, and half of the voters opted for the Internet, followed by a quarter who wanted the radio. Only three per cent wanted an MP3 player, two per cent wanted a TV and one per cent a DVD.
Which takes us to another survey carried out by Lemelson-MIT. The annual 2004 invention index had people voting for the cellphone as an invention they most hate but cannot live without. 30 per cent voters opted for the cellphone, followed by the alarm clock (25%) and television (23%). In addition to cell phones, the Lemelson-MIT
Invention Index also looked at the impact of popular inventions such as email, voicemail and credit and debit cards.
81 per cent of teens believed that email had made life simpler. Adults agreed to a lesser extent with a little less than 60 per cent voting for this. On the other hand, teens did not seem too excited about credit and debit cards. 32% said they made life easier, while 26% said they make life more difficult with 39% felt they make life both simpler and more difficult. Half of the adults surveyed said the
benefits of credit and debit cards outweigh any disadvantages.
But back to the BBC survey. People were asked if they desired any particular innovation to be developed. Voters opted for an AIDS vaccine and interplanetary travel.
Now the bicycle and interplanetary travel both figuring in the same survey. I guess I will wait for a bicycle that can pedal me to space.
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