opensource

Mac users waiting for a native version of OpenOffice.org might see it sooner than they might have thought, now that Sun has thrown its support behind the project.

Sun's Philipp Lohmann announced on his blog this morning that Sun will help with the port of OpenOffice--the open-source version of Sun's StarOffice productivity suite--to Aqua, the Mac user interface. This has been an ongoing project for almost five years, ever since Sun released a beta version of OpenOffice for Mac users.

That version, however, required the installation of additional software since it wasn't built using Apple's … Read more

Most Webware.com readers who use Windows are familiar with two kinds of software: applications that run within the Windows framework, and Web-based applications. Using the former requires access to your own computer; using the latter requires password management and an Internet connection.

Now, the growing availability of software that runs off portable devices makes schlepping your laptop home for the holidays less of a necessity. PortableApps Standard Suite turns your memory device--iPod, Darth Vader Flash drive or even your digital camera's memory card--into a software and personal file manager.

Here's how to get started: Grab the PortableApps … Read more

Do you enjoy watching Microsoft squirm as it tries to grapple with the open-source software movement? Well, there's a similar opportunity to rattle the cages of entrenched corporate powers, but this time it's the cages of hardware companies.

Bringing the open-source movement's collaborative approach to hardware is the ambition of the Fab@Home project at Cornell University. Project members hope to popularize all-purpose manufacturing devices--variously known as fabbers, 3D printers or rapid prototyping machines--and share the blueprints of the physical objects those machines can produce.

The project offers a free design for a fabber--itself a modifiable … Read more