Archive for June, 2005

OpenOffice now fully cross platform

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005

OpenOffice.org is a full-featured office suite, with a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation software, and drawing software. It’s been available at OpenOffice.org for years, for Windows, Linux, Mac, and other operating systems. However, Mac users have not taken to it, mainly because it doesnot support the native Mac interface–the menus are in individual windows rather than on the Mac menubar, cut and paste doesn’t work consistently, and various other issues that break the usability features that make people like Macs in the first place.

No longer. NeoOffice is a port of OpenOffice to use the native Mac Aqua interface. They just made their first official release today. Check it out at NeoOffice/J Home.

Posted in 04. Desktop | No Comments »

Linus Torvalds gazing into his crystal ball

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2005

Good Morning Silicon Valley has an interview with Linus Torvalds, the creator of the Linux kernel. He talks about where the technology industry is going, comparing Microsoft to IBM. : An interview with Linus Torvalds.

Posted in 01. Open Source | No Comments »

Securing a Linux server

Saturday, June 18th, 2005

Flavio’s TechnoTalk has some good tips for securing a Linux server. Good advice for anyone running servers that can be reached from the Internet: Hardening Linux: a 10 step approach to a secure server.

Posted in 02. Servers | No Comments »

How to make money from Open source: Builder AU: Manage

Friday, June 3rd, 2005

Here’s an article from Builder AU that goes straight to the point of using open source for small business.

How to make money from Open source.

Posted in 01. Open Source | No Comments »

OSCommerce in action

Friday, June 3rd, 2005

Newsforge is running a story about the realities of using OS Commerce, the open source shopping cart/e-commerce package. It describes the pluses and minuses fairly well: NewsForge | OSCommerce in action

Make sure you read the comments at the bottom of the page. At Freelock Computing, we’ve done half a dozen test deployments for various customers, and haven’t put any into production quite yet. We’ve found that if all you need is a basic shopping cart, it’s great. If you need something customized, it’s generally easier to start from scratch.

Posted in 10. Financial Management, 12. Extranet | No Comments »

Running Windows is more risky than ever

Friday, June 3rd, 2005

The Register is running a story today about a botnet–a network of compromised computers–that is under the control of hackers. Is your computer one of the bots? For a surprising number of people, the answer could be yes.

Hackers plot to create massive botnet | The Register

From the article:

It almost goes without saying but all the MyTob variants, along with the Bagle downloaders, infects only Windows PCs. Apple, Linux and those few souls out there still running OS/2 are all immune, as usual. Standard defence precautions against viral attacks apply in defending against the various new Windows worms and Trojans released this week. Windows users need to apply the latest security patches, update anti-virus tools and to resist the temptation to open suspicious-looking emails. Applying a personal firewall wouldn’t go amiss either.

If you’re in Seattle and need help switching to Linux or installing a firewall, we at Freelock Computing would be happy to help!

Posted in 19. Viruses & Spam | No Comments »

Open Source Timesheet program

Friday, June 3rd, 2005

Lots of people have been looking for a good timesheet program. Here’s one I just stumbled upon. Timesheet.php Homepage. It’s available on Sourceforge, under the GPL.

It also has some integration with SugarCRM.

Posted in 11. Management | No Comments »