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OpenOffice.org office suite version 2.0 has been released

October 20, 2005

OpenOffice.org today released version 2.0 of their free software office suite. This release marks over three years of continuous development and boasts many features over version 1.0 which was released in May 2002. The latest release may be downloaded from the OpenOffice.org web site free of charge.

The suite is intended to be a replacement for Microsoft's popular office suite, containing near-identical functionality without the price tag. Site administrators from OpenOffice.org say the suite has been downloaded an average of over 400,000 times per week from the official site alone. When taking into account that the suite is freely redistributable, and that it is distributed with many versions of GNU/Linux, the total number of copies in distribution is larger still.

One of the reasons for its significant popularity is the inclusion of several features not found in competing office suites, including in-built export to the PDF format and compatibility with Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems.

Distributed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License, the OpenOffice.org office suite can be run, studied, modified, and redistributed by anybody that receives a copy. This means that any person, group, or company can publish an alternative version - which makes problems such as vendor lock-in impossible. It also guarantees that the development will roughly follow with the wants of the userbase - instead of just the business model of one company.

A lot of work has gone into making this release more visually compatible with the look of Microsoft Office on computers running Windows XP, however, some users were not happy with the effects these changes had on the look of OpenOffice.org when using a dark theme (colour settings).


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Iran bans Hollywood movies

October 20, 2005 The President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council, which he heads, has banned movies from Western nations which are seen to promote immorality, violence, drug usage, alcohol consumption, secularism, liberalism, anarchy and feminism.

Western films are widely shown in the Islamic Republic, though they are highly censored so as to remove any scenes of drug taking (including alcohol) or women dressed in clothing deemed too revealing. Also, despite a State ban on satellite TV many Iranians watch foreign movie channels.

Many believe this new ban is a gesture to the hardline conservatives who backed Ahmadinejad in the recent Iranian presidential election, and some fear for how it will be enforced. In theory home-made films will not be affected, for the law only refers to foreign movies, but some analysts say it could cause nervousness and might tempt some Iranian directors to apply self-censorship, and Al Jazeera points out that these films already undergo a censorship process.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Iran bans Hollywood movies


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UN appeals for more aid for devastated Pakistan region

October 20, 2005

UN comments on alleged lack of aid
Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, has sent out a plea for more aid for regions of Pakistan affected by this month's devastating earthquake. He fears thousands could die if aid does not arrive soon.

The death toll from the earthquake is already feared to be at least 79,000.

"...Unlike some natural disasters, in which victims die immediately, the death toll in Pakistan is not over yet," Annan says. "An estimated three million men, women and children are homeless. Many of them have no blankets or tents to protect them against the merciless Himalayan winter. That means a second, massive wave of death will happen if we do not step up our efforts now.

Helicopters and trucks are of the greatest need.

"The money to pay for those things has been lacking", said Annan."So far, we have received firm commitments for only 12 per cent of our appeal. That is $37 million US out of the $312 million that we need."

During the massive relief effort for the Dec. 26 tsunami 80 percent of the appeal was filled in 10 days.

A major donor conference has been called for next week by Annan. He hopes it will help speed up aid.

"There are no excuses," Annan also said. "If we are to show ourselves worthy of calling ourselves members of humankind, we must rise to this challenge."

Officials suggest major evacuation
Emergency relief co-ordinator Jan Egeland said today that NATO needs to organize a massive air-lift if it wants to save lives. The evacuation needs to take place before winter sets in. The main taget would be small isolated villages.

NATO has been air-lifting in aid every day from it's base in Germany. Another "air brigade" was added recently from Turkey.

The major airlift is needed "to get supplies in and people out," Egeland told CBC News on Thursday. In order to shelter everyone who is homeless they need, "350,000 tents, which is a mind-boggling number, more than we know exist in the world, are needed..." "We have emptied all of our warehouses."

Difficult decisions being made on rescue front
Feeling the need to prevent the feared second wave of death, rescuers are in the process of making hard decisions. Aid workers have decided that, this weekend, the focus will switch from treating 87,000 injured to getting aid to the homeless.

"It's a tough call but we have to face the fact that we're going to save more lives by getting tents, shelter, food, and supplies up to the people who have nothing [rather] than continuing to bring the injured down," said Capt. Edward Parsons, with the UN's Humanitarian Relief Operation in Pakistan

Helicopters are "double tasking" in their trips to small villages. They drop off supplies then pick up the injured. However, the method is proving time-consuming, the need to speed up inward air-lifts is growing.