Report: Microsoft To Bring Office To iPad In 2012 | TechCrunch

Report: Microsoft To Bring Office To iPad In 2012 | TechCrunch

It's a little depressing, not because it's MSFT (sigh) but because it's not a full implementation of the ODF. MSFT, with help from plugin, "support" ODF--on Win. Not on OS X, let alone, right now, on iOS.

So, what does it take to get companies and developers to band together to make a minimal--yes, minimal--ODF editor for tablets? (of whatever OS, even via HTML5)? Money and the promise that what you do today will be rewarded tomorrow. (Foss, in this scheme, is an investment strategy as much as a discursive arrangement of peers.) I don't mean a big company only must be our Angel. It could be a foundation sponsored by a bevy of interested parties, only some of which are bigger than Mom and Pop. But it does need realisable interest, as the work is not really trivial--to build an editor enterprises and students and faculty, too, would like to use--and it is not likely to be completed in a weekend.

But clearly, it is a doing worth something.

InfoQ - Tracking change and innovation in the enterprise software development community

InfoQ - Tracking change and innovation in the enterprise software development community

(not sure if this will come out properly)

In the last year or so there has been a veritable explosion of sites tracking what I'll call the New Technology: Web services, Clouds, mobiles, and the making of the software that they use, esp. Foss, and the distribution of these devices, esp. in the developing world.

So, as a result, there is now an overabundance of sites that, alas, pretty much recycle the same news. Sometimes there is something new, and usually that something new is boring. But not always; and more to the point, the idea is to stitch the patches of reported activity together to make patterns of meaning leading to action.

But I'm curious: what sites then do you, reader (in the singular, I suppose) read, use, follow? Or are you, like the rest of us, becoming Twitterphilies? If so, how is Twitter for most of us not unlike hearsay?

Manifesto | FSCONS

Manifesto | FSCONS

I confess to being impressed by the manifesto. It's a lot, and probably more than is needed (short manifestos work better, I think), but it bears examination, as does, I am sure, the event itself.

Murder and Development – what’s the link?

Murder and Development – what’s the link?

One wonders if there is also the phenomenon of underreporting.

Open Source Software Helps an Oregon Transportation Department for GIS, Website Development

Open Source Software Helps an Oregon Transportation Department for GIS, Website Development

The article is worth reading, for its account of the logistics (not just logic) enabling the ultimate examination and adoption of Foss. It's more than just about using free software; that's not really the issue. The issue is adopting something that is reliable and can be contracted to be such.

Carr–Benkler wager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Carr–Benkler wager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Okay, it's 2011. Who's right?

Obviously, at least to me, it depends on the industry and field. And this means that I probably side more with Carr over Benkler, but for this reason: Circumstances (a bad economy, say) can produce the scarcity that demands monetization as valuation, meaning that people want to get paid for what they were previously doing for free, as part of the luxury of leisure afforded the middle classes in rich nations. And as more domains are perceived as fields where you can make money....

Best Alternative to PowerPoint - 2011 Nominations for Best Alternative to PowerPoint

Best Alternative to PowerPoint - 2011 Nominations for Best Alternative to PowerPoint

Okay, reader, it's time to prove your existence! Vote for--shameless plug warning--OpenOffice.org Impress!

The "purchased" option, well, I leave that to you, but do note that my company's Oracle Open Office uses OpenOffice.org technology and that the recently announced Oracle Cloud Office (see http://www.silicon.com/technology/software/2011/01/14/photos-oracle-cloud-office-in-the-flesh-39746808/) works quite nicely with OOo and the ODF, of course.

Vote now!

Oh, a reason to vote: it's not that we are the best--we are--alternative (detested word!) to PowerPoint (cannot even recall the last time I used it but I'm sure my nightmares can)--but that crucial decision makers are *still* unaware of OOo, and thus of its great savings in cost, time, energy, and of its role in building truly sustainable economic systems and societies.

So, here's a goal for 2011: let's make it a point, an effort, a cause to alert our politicians, local and not, of OpenOffice.org and other free software, for the desktop, and in the cloud.