may the force be with you

OpenOffice.org wants Sun Microsystems to give up control over the OpenOffice productivity suite, and donate the intellectual property to an independent not-for-profit foundation.

"In an ideal world open source should not be dependent on the capriciousness of any one corporation," OpenOffice.org project leader Louis Suarez-Potts told vnunet.com.

"A foundation does not isolate a project from any one corporation, it provides some distance. But the reality is that it requires Sun to give up the intellectual property to a foundation. That's a fairly large obstacle."

Suarez-Potts said that OpenOffice is currently suffering from the corporate politics between Sun and IBM, which is causing IBM to refrain from contributing to the project.

An IBM contribution could further speed up development and provide OpenOffice with additional features that increase the software's appeal.

OpenOffice is a suite of productivity tools for text editing, spreadsheets and drawing. Sun acquired the product in 1999 and released the source code in 2000 under an open source licence.

Sun uses the OpenOffice code as the foundation of StarOffice, a commercial version of the suite, and still owns the intellectual property.

OpenOffice.org acts as the project's technological and marketing steward and operates independently from Sun.

IBM used the OpenOffice source code last year to create a separate version of the suite as part of its Workplace offering, which is allowed under the application's licence.

The move amounted to a 'fork', where the project is split up and each group continues to develop their own version.

A fork is considered inappropriate for open source projects, as it forces the developer community to spread its attention over multiple, yet similar, projects.

OpenOffice.org would be interested in several of the adjustments that IBM has made to the application, according to Suarez-Potts.

Big Blue has tackled some long standing issues by increasing performance, reducing the size of the code base and increasing its ease of use for corporate users. "The code that IBM has created seems pretty cool," said Suarez-Potts.

Bob Sutor, vice president of standards and open source at IBM, told vnunet.com in an email that the company is open to discussing the OpenOffice situation.

"If OpenOffice did become independent we would be interested in talking to Sun about it, but it's not holding us back in any way," he wrote.

Sutor added that IBM supports the Open Document Format (ODF) in several of its products. OpenOffice uses the same format, which ensures that an ODF document can be opened and edited in any ODF-supporting application.

Sun has not responded to numerous requests for information. The company looked into the creation of a separate foundation last year, but Suarez-Potts claimed that the idea has been mothballed.

Suarez-Potts stressed that he is not currently pushing Sun to relinquish control, and that he would pursue the matter only if it has a clear advantage such as code contributions from IBM.

"If IBM expresses strong interest in the idea, and we can maintain the costs, then we should pursue it," he said.

source:http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2149926/sun-urged-give-openoffice

# posted by dark master : 2/08/2006 10:06:00 AM  0 comments

The lead researchers, Professors Rose Amal and Michael Brungs of the ARC Centre for Functional Nanomaterials, are hoping to apply a tiny coating of titanium dioxide particles to keep the toilets clean. Currently titanium dioxide is being used on outdoor items like self-cleaning windows.

How does it work? According to the scientists, ultraviolet light below a specific wavelength causes electrons to excite, and this gives the effects of oxidation. This oxidation disinfects better than commercial bleach. It makes it better for sanitation as it is continually cleans, instead of waiting for the janitor.

To further keep the bathroom clean, nanoparticles kill the microbes and removes organic compounds. The titanium dioxide contains ‘superhydrophilicity’. Superhydrophilicity makes it so that liquid droplets do not form on the surface. It makes the liquid run off, washing the toilet in the process.

The researchers are faced with one dilemma: making the titanium dioxide coating work indoors. The coating is activated by ultraviolet sunlight, and they will need to be able to activate the titanium dioxide with indoor lighting. They are trying to modify the chemical compound by adding other elements like iron or nitrogen so it can use light of a longer wavelength.

Good news: Currently the researcher’s have been able to get glass coated with the new nanoparticles to kill Escherichia coli using light from an indoor lamp. They have done this in lab-trials .

"If you've got this on tiles or shower screens you don't need so many chemical agents," says Professor Amal.

As exciting as this research project is, and the potential for a self-cleaning bathroom, at this time it is currently only in development. The researchers estimate it will take about a year before it can be incorporated into any manufacturing test runs. I can hardly wait for the day it becomes available for the masses. It would be great for use in hospitals and public bathrooms. It would be splendid to have a clean bathroom that would clean itself.

source:http://www.bestsyndication.com/Articles/2006/Nicole-WILSON/WhatsNew/02/020706-nano_technology_self_clean_bathroom.htm

# posted by dark master : 2/08/2006 10:04:00 AM  0 comments