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Microsoft Office is not just overpriced–for most users, it’s overkill. That’s why I’ve been increasingly recommending IBM Lotus Symphony, a well-rounded office suite that just so happens to be free. It’s built on open-source favorite OpenOffice, but sports a sleeker, friendlier interface.

Symphony (available for Windows and Linux) offers word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations. It supports Office 2003 file formats as well as OpenDocument and others. And it relies on an ingenious tabbed interface that keeps all your documents under the same roof–no switching between apps like with most other suites. I particularly like the sidebars, which keep frequently used settings close at hand while reducing toolbar clutter.

(Credit:
IBM)

What’s the bad news? Symphony is still in beta, and it has the bugs to prove it. It’s kind of slow, too. But you can’t argue with the price. Why spend upwards of $400 on Office when you can get most of the same features (and a less intimidating interface) for nothing?

Picture menu:
Picture Mode: Cinema
Backlight: 2
Picture: 90
Brightness: 51
Color: 54
Hue: 0
Color Temperature: Warm2
Sharpness: 5
Noise Reduction: Off
MPEG Noise Reduction: Off

In addition to producing deep black levels, Sony's KDL-52XBR6 lets you exchange the silver speaker grille for another color.

First things first: this Sony ain’t cheap. But its ability to produce a deep shade of black is unmatched in our experience by any non-LED-based LCD or non-Kuro plasma, and many other aspects of its performance, especially its video processing, were definitely impressive. On the other hand, for that much cash we expected better color accuracy and screen uniformity.

In the contest for “best LCD,” the main combatants for the last couple of years have been Sony and Samsung. We reviewed Samsung’s LN52A650 earlier this year and liked what we saw enough to award it our Editors’ Choice. Sony’s latest contender for that award is the subject of our latest HDTV review, the KDL-52XBR6.

(Credit:
CNET)

Read the full review of the Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR6.

Those picture quality issues swayed our decision making enough to keep the EC award in Samsung’s camp for this round, although both scored the same overall and the argument can definitely be made that the Sony has the better overall picture, price notwithstanding. If black levels are your bag and you don’t want a plasma, you can’t do better than the XBR6 without shelling out gobs more money for an LED model.

White Balance menu:
R-Gain: -3
G-Gain: -4
B-Gain: -1
R-Bias: -2
G-Bias: 0
B-Bias: 0

Motion Enhancer: Off
CineMotion: Auto 1
Game Mode: Off
Video/Photo Optimizer: Video

Advanced Settings menu:
Black Corrector: Off
Advanced C.E.: Off
Gamma: Low
Clear White: Off
Color Space: Standard
Live Color: Off (grayed out)

Below you’ll find the settings we found best for viewing the Sony KDL-52XBR6 in a completely dark room via the HDMI input with a 1080p, film-based source. Your settings may vary depending on source, room conditions, and personal preference. Check out the Picture settings and calibration FAQ for more information.

General Setup menu
Power Saver: Off
Light Senor: Off

The following product is available:

On Sale Now: $2,595.00 – $3,499.99
View the latest prices for Sony Bravia KDL-52XBR6

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This is already happening. Ask VCs what they’re investing in and you’ll find few traditional, proprietary software companies. The only companies who seem to continue to make a living in this fashion are the behemoths who leave customers little choice but to buy from them.

The obvious answer to my question above is, “No.” But sometimes the obvious is, well, not so obvious.

We are fast approaching a time when all of the software traditionally closed in the 20th Century will likely be open in the 21st Century, but “proprietary” will shift to new areas of the software stack.

This is a better world for customers. It’s not a free lunch, per se, but it’s a much better meal.

InformationWeek’s Serdar Yegulalp writes:

As for migrating “higher up,” we’re increasingly seeing the core of products being open while thin layers of proprietary software or service cover the surface. This is the model of a SugarCRM, yes, but it’s also the model of a Salesforce.com and other SaaS companies who heavily adopt open-source software at their core.

Google does not lock in users to its services. A new search engine is literally a click away. I can even use Google to take me there. No, Google’s lock-in is by making its data portfolio so rich that going elsewhere results in a degraded search/email/etc. experience. Benevolent lock-in, if you will.

It’s clear that we’re moving into a world where what we used to think must be proprietary – the core, on-premise software with which enterprises run their businesses – no longer needs to be. In fact, the justifications for keeping it so fade with a whimper on a daily basis.

But it’s not as if “proprietary” is going away. It’s just migrating both higher up and deeper down the software stack. Tim O’Reilly identifies the “deeper down” proprietary hook: data. Locking up the software is increasingly counterproductive to the 21st Century’s gold mine, data. Google must have people using its software for free so that it can capture mountains of data. Close off the software (in the traditional sense) and the model dies.

This leaves us with a difficult question: Is this new world really any more open than the old one?

I firmly believe that, at least in many cases, the answer is ‘Yes.’ While a customer can’t use the Red Hat Network freely (as in freedom and as in cost), it can use Red Hat’s Linux operating system in this way. It can fork it. RHN makes adoption of Red Hat’s Linux distribution easier, but it does not preclude adoption without a relationship with Red Hat.

But it goes beyond these more traditional examples of proprietary licenses. What about Red Hat, Alfresco, JBoss, MySQL, etc.? Each of these companies gives away their software but makes certain services (from break/fix support to developer assistance to patch-distribution networks) closed to all but customers.

If open source continues to vigorously gain traction as a business model amongst software developers, Microsoft and its ilk will suffer one of three fates in the long run: a slow death where they are whittled down by competition not restricted as heavily by onerous licensing and costs; a trimming-down — either slow or fast — where they adopt open source as a way of life; or they somehow remain lone holdouts by dint of offering something that, for whatever reason, people still want to pay for.

For now.

In the meantime, Palamida, a request: Could we get a count on the number of projects using the Affero GPL (AGPL)? It will be miniscule today but I’d be interested in following its growth.

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Our database now contains over 2,000 projects that are using the GPL v3. At this rate the GPL v3 is being adopted by 1,000 projects every 4-5 months, and if the trend continues, the license will be used by 5,000 projects by the end of the year.

In my estimation, the GPL is by far the world’s best open-source license for business. If Palamida’s recent count of GPLv3-licensed projects is any indication, business in open source is very, very good:

It will take time for GPLv3 to achieve the same level of trust that GPLv2 has enjoyed, but at this rate it may be happening sooner rather than later.

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Ostensibly, SpringSource today announced the acquisition of Covalent to beef up its support for the Apache-sponsored project Tomcat. The problem with such thinking is that if this is the real reason, SpringSource got very little for its money.

What he won’t get is any measurable control over the Tomcat project. Did SpringSource therefore waste its money? No, but it may not have gained much, either.

There’s no doubt that Spring+Apache is a recipe for success. In my own experience, I’ve seen widespread adoption of both, and often together (not the least being within the product my company, Alfresco, ships). Rod Johnson, CEO and founder of SpringSource, states:

This isn’t to say that this was a bad move on SpringSource’s part. Rod Johnson will get a profitable revenue stream from Covalent and some great developers, as well as solid management in Mark Brewer.

It’s unclear how an acquisition furthers this, since the best that SpringSource has acquired is a few developers associated with the project, but not the project itself.

We see Apache code being used by many of our customer accounts–the Apache Web server, Tomcat, Web services frameworks, Active MQ and a slew of other Apache technologies. We see pent-up demand for services from folks using Spring and Apache technologies.

But it may well be that Tomcat is pervasive enough that attempting to centralize support in SpringSource may not work. It certainly didn’t work for Covalent. While Covalent had a thriving business, it was also a small (albeit profitable) business. Covalent didn’t actively seek venture money and arguably could not have raised any, at least not from tier-one venture investors. It’s somewhat telling that Peter Fenton, the common link between SpringSource (he’s an investor) and Covalent (He invested in Hyperic, the off-shoot from the original Covalent company), invested in everything but Covalent.

As I’ve noted in the past, being the “source of the code” is the new IP in software. This angle makes a lot of sense for an “acquisition,” where acquisition effectively means “hiring the core developers from a project.” JBoss was the maestro at this sort of “acquisition.”

Next, double-click OpenOffice.org Writer in the left pane, choose Compatibility, and check these options:
Use printer metrics for document formatting
Add spacing between paragraphs and tables (in current document)
Add paragraph and table spacing at tops of pages (in current document)
Do not add leading (extra space) between lines of text
Add paragraph and table spacing at bottom of table cells
Consider wrapping style when positioning objects
Expand word space on lines with manual line breaks in justified paragraphs

Wednesday: Give viewers control of your PowerPoint slide show.

To make Word’s .doc file format the default in OOo Writer, click General under Load/Save, choose Text document as the Document type under Default file format in the right window, and choose Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP in the drop-down menu under Always save as.

To ensure smooth file transfers between OpenOffice.org Writer and Microsoft Word, select these options in Writer's Compatibility settings.

Select these options in OpenOffice.org Writer to preserve Word features the open-source word processor doesn't support.

Here are a few other formatting inconsistencies to keep in mind:
Many of Writer’s advanced features aren’t supported in Word, such as page breaks and custom hyphenation. The last line of Writer’s justified paragraphs could generate line or page breaks in Word. Writer files that use Outline Numbering may not save as Word docs, and nested tables in Writer documents don’t convert to Word. Writer retains Word’s character and paragraph styles fairly well, but graphics aligned in Word as characters don’t convert to Writer.

Choose Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP under 'Always save as' in OpenOffice.org Writer's default file format options.

Tweak OOo Writer to work with Word: Open Writer and click File > New > Text Document. Select Tools > Options, double-click Load/Save in the left pane, and choose
Microsoft Office. Make sure all the options in the right window are checked. Now click VBA Properties and ensure that all these options are checked (they should be by default). OpenOffice.org apps don’t support macros and other VBA scripts, but they will preserve them so that the files will retain them when they’re reopened in the original Office program.

Keep it simple: Word files with complex graphics, nested tables, fancy fonts and formatting, and OLE Objects belong in Word and Word only. OOo Writer uses public-domain fonts primarily, and many of the fonts in Word are proprietary. If you know you’ll be moving files between the word processors regularly, use only common fonts, such as Arial, Helvetica, and Times Roman. Keep in mind, however, that fonts may share the same name and still be incompatible (Garamond is an example). You can import proprietary fonts to OOo Writer, but make sure you have licenses for them.

The first few times I worked on Word files in the OpenOffice.org Writer program, I was satisfied if the documents opened at all. That’s a long way from being able to trust the open-source app with a Word file from your boss that you need to work on and return with all functions and formatting intact. These steps won’t guarantee trouble-free file transfers between Word and OOo Writer, but they’ll help you prevent some of the most common conversion glitches.

Finally, click Use as Default > Yes > OK to use these settings in all new documents.

If a Word font isn’t installed in OOo Writer, the program will substitute one of its own fonts, which can mess up your document’s formatting. If you have to preserve the appearance of a file you’re going to share, consider saving it as a PDF. This makes it more difficult for the recipient to work on it, of course.

In the Netbook area, Moblin is slowly starting to find its way. Dell recently began selling its $299 Mini 10v Notebook with an option for Ubuntu Moblin Remix. Other PC makers, such as Acer and Asus, are also said to be planning Moblin-based Netbooks.

Intel’s ultimate challenge will be to position Moblin to attract people outside the limited tech world. With the right push, Moblin could be the version of Linux to take off on devices from smartphones to desktops.

Intel and Microsoft are teaming up to incorporate the Silverlight 3 technology onto Moblin-powered Netbooks next year. Intel will also support Silverlight for developers through the Atom Developer Program.

(Credit:
Stephen Shankland/CNET)

In the market for handheld gadgets such as smartphones and MIDs, Moblin 2.1 will run on Atom chip-based devices. The beta demoed by Intel at IDF showed off capabilities for touch-screen and gesture input. The new interface will also let users switch among different open applications and will provide shortcuts to social-networking apps.

Originally developed for Netbooks, Moblin 2.1 (short for mobile Linux) will come in three flavors–one for handhelds, another for Netbooks, and a third for nettops.

Moblin’s success will also depend on the availability of third-party software. Intel has set up its Atom Developer Program to encourage developers to design apps for the new platform. Intel has also said that different programs could be sold through app stores, similar to Google’s Android Market.

The Moblin 2.1 Web browser will also support Flash and Microsoft’s Silverlight 3 technology to run interactive Web-based apps.

Moblin 2.1 is scheduled to be released before the end of the year.

Intel also needs to walk a tightrope between competing and yet partnering with Microsoft, a form of “cooptition” to the famous Wintel alliance. Moblin puts Intel in competition with Microsoft on several fronts, opposing Windows Mobile on smartphones and Windows desktop on Netbooks and nettops. But the two still need to play together.

John Thode, Dell's vice president of small consumer devices, shows off a Dell Mini 10D on-stage at the Intel Developer Forum.

At this week’s Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco, the chipmaker debuted a beta version of its Moblin 2.1 open-source operating system targeted to run on a variety of devices, including smartphones, Netbooks, nettops, Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs), and in-car systems.

Could Intel’s new Moblin 2.1 OS make a dent against Windows in the mobile and desktop markets?

But with XP on its way out, Microsoft has faced a challenge switching to a version of
Windows 7 cheap enough for the low-cost Netbook and nettop market but pricey enough to still turn a profit.

Moblin 2.1 will compete with other open-source operating systems like Google’s Android and bump up against Microsoft in the burgeoning nettop arena.

Of course, Linux has been available in various flavors as a desktop operating system for years. But its complexity has kept it a niche player mostly for IT folks and technophiles. Even Dell is positioning its Moblin-enabled Mini 10v notebook as an option for the tech-savvy developer rather than the average consumer.

For the desktop crowd, Intel is positioning Moblin 2.1 for nettops, all-in-one desktops similar to the Apple iMac and typically powered by Intel’s Atom chip. Most of today’s nettops, such as the Asus Eee Top and Dell’s Studio One 19, currently run Windows XP.

So why was it so shocking to an AFP reporter when China Mobile CEO Wang Jianzhou told an audience at the World Economic Forum that “we know who you are, but also where you are”? Will at Imagethief has already made the alarmist journalism argument, so I’ll leave that to him. (The AFP headline ran under the unnecessary headline, “China’s mobile network: a big brother surveillance tool?”)

Anecdotally, I would say the assumption among people involved with media and politics in Beijing is that it is trivially easy for the government to tap cell phones and gather location data based on which tower your phone is in touch with. E-mail also is often assumed not to be secure. Markey must know the U.S. government can do this too, especially in light of the illegal wiretaps by the Bush administration. (The secret monitoring of U.S. citizens would actually have been legal if they had bothered to get their warrants rubber-stamped by a secret court, so don’t think due process is a defense in the United States.)

It’s hardly surprising that China Mobile can figure out about where its subscribers are when the phone is on (or when the battery’s in). This sort of technology is standard in developed mobile networks, and it’s fueling a wave of business innovation and “locative technology.”

If Markey was really shocked, he was ignorant. If he was faking it, he was taking part in China alarmism on an issue that is news to practically no one in China. This is not the place to discuss the merits and demerits of government surveillance, but no one is surprised that it’s a fact. I wish U.S. politicians wouldn’t be so willing to make such statements about China just to grab the spotlight when journalists are unnecessarily aroused.

I just doubt this really could have been shocking to Markey, who is perhaps the U.S. Congress’ most prominent name on telecommunications policy. Along with liberal members of the FCC board, he’s been a friend to the “net neutrality” movement, and he was received warmly last year in Memphis at Free Press’ National Conference on Media Reform.

What struck me was U.S. Rep. Ed Markey’s (D-Mass.) surprised reaction. Markey said the news was “bone chilling” and told AFP, “I have my eyebrows arched so high they’re hitting the ceiling.”

For antitrust reasons, Microsoft can’t just make its engine the default in Internet Explorer (except in some very limited circumstances). If it wants to get Live Search on new PCs, it has to strike a deal with computer makers, just as rivals have done.

Microsoft didn’t say how much it is paying HP for the right to be on its PCs, but it did call the deal its most significant one to date.

A sure way to get some search traffic is to make sure that your engine is the default option inside the browser.

On Monday, Microsoft announced just such an agreement, with Hewlett-Packard agreeing to make Live Search the default on its consumer PCs starting in January. The computers will also carry a toolbar that uses Microsoft’s Silverlight in conjunction with Live Search.

Top executives said recently that they felt the quality of Live Search had reached a point where it made sense to start using some marketing dollars to acquire traffic, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this is the first deal of many, especially since Microsoft has yet to reach a deal with Yahoo and its share of the search market has continued to decline.

“This agreement with HP is a strategic indicator of our increased focus on securing broad-scale distribution for Live Search,” Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s platforms and services division, said in a statement. “This is the most significant distribution deal for Live Search that Microsoft has ever done, and we are very pleased to be partnering with HP to help bring Live Search to millions of consumers across North America.”

What was the winning application?

I was really happy to see Red Hat announce that Rivet Logic won the JBoss Innovator of the Year Award for 2008. I’m biased in this one (see below), but it’s an exceptional award for an exceptional piece of work by (you guessed it) an exceptional group of people.

100% open source. I know the Kaplan team well, as well as the Rivet Logic team. This award couldn’t have happened to a better group of people. Congratulations!

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Disclosure: Kaplan Test is a customer of mine. In fact, the application built by Rivet Logic with Kaplan Test is built on my company’s technology (Alfresco). Rivet Logic is a partner (and has won Alfresco’s “US Partner of the Year” award two years running). I was also one of several judges in this competition, but had no interaction with any of the other judges during the process (and seem to recall judging a few other entries higher than the Kaplan Test application. Glad to see I was outvoted!).

…a next-generation platform for the www.kaptest.com site that can deliver personalized applications and dynamic, targeted content. The results include a 26x performance improvement over the legacy content authoring/delivery system, much faster page load times and a “fresher” web presence for Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions.

Sometimes the good guys win.