Our favorite office app, OpenOffice has just released the OOo 3.0 beta version. My review can be summed up in two words: it rocks! Ok, now you can go back to your other activities.

Just kiddin, let’s dig a bit deeper. First, since this isn’t a stable release you might not want to install this version yet as your main office application. But, so far the tests I’ve done were without crashes.

Red Hat’s sponsored Fedora 9 has just been released. This solid Linux distro is out with some pretty interesting features:

• you can run Fedora 9 from a USB pen drive or external disk;
• unlike Ubuntu, KD4 is integrated;
• for Gnome distribution, version 2.22 was used;
• there is an option for you to run it with ext4 for better performance;
• and as always loaded with programs including OpenOffice 2.4 and Firefox 3 beta.

Taskjuggler is an interesting option for project managers using Linux. The program seems to be pretty complete with all the bells and whistles to keep track of tasks, time, resources, and costs.

From the site, here is a couple of its features:

• Automatic resource leveling, tasks conflict resolutions, and task filtering
• Comprehensive and flexible views and reports so you can find the information you need when you need it
• Built-in templates to get you started
• Unlimited number of scenarios (baselines) of the same project for what-if analysis
• CSV data export for exchange with Office Suites
• Risk analysis
• Flexible working hours and vacation handling
• Multiple time zone support
• Generation of iCal files for data exchange with standard productivity tools

Gnome Do is very similar to the Windows-only app Launchy, but much more powerful. If you’re using Gnome on your Linux distro it may worth trying out Gnome Do to help speed up your productivity.

Although not a new application, I was hesitant to use Gnome Do just to avoid having another service running in the background sucking my computer’s resources. But, after trying it out the 40MB of RAM it uses on my machine is surely worth it.

This is the third of a sequence of posts where we’ll take a look at a few of the main Linux distros to find out which are the most welcoming to Linux newbies. In our first article of this series, we took a look at Fedora 9 Beta, and the second article we spoke about openSUSE.

We’ll do this test with the live (Gnome) CD to analyze: parts of the hardware that are recognized, software package installed, general usability (setup adjustments, software installation). Computer tested specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600, 2GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 6100.

Over the weekend I updated my Ubuntu machine from 7.10 to the brand new 8.04 release. I waited a few days after the official release to see if I heard any reports of upgrade problems.

I searched and searched and really didn’t find that many written reports of people that had updated their machines, most prefered to install from scratch. So, I took the risk and pressed the update distribution release button.

The ever so popular and handy Long Term support 8.04 versions of Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu are out. The star of the show, Ubuntu has quite a nice set of new features, including:

• A windows based Ubuntu installer, so you don’t have to go through creating and managing partitions;
• New out-of-the-box programs such as Transmission (for BitTorrents), Brasero (CD and DVD burning), Firefox 3 beta;
• new Gnome 2.22;
• plus lots and lots more.

Get it now through download, purchase liveCDs, or even ask them to be shipped to you for free! For torrents, try here.

This is the second of a sequence of posts where we’ll take a look at a few of the main Linux distros to find out which are the most welcoming to Linux newbies. In our first article of this series, we took a look at Fedora 9 Beta.

We’ll do this test with the live (Gnome) CD to analyze: parts of the hardware that are recognized, software package installed, general usability (setup adjustments, software installation). Computer tested specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600, 2GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 6100.

SystemRescueCd is an awesome computer saviour. This Linux bootable CD is packed with utilities for you to recover or organize better your machine. With it you can:

• partition (or edit partitions of) your HD;
• save and restore data from different partitions;
• restore a bootloader;
• backup and archive data;
• run a virus scan;
• and wipe out safely your HD.

A very handy bootable CD to have around, you’ll never know when you’ll be needing it but it is almost guaranteed that you will need it someday.

This is the first of a sequence of posts where we’ll take a look at a few of the main Linux distros to find out which are the most welcoming to Linux newbies.

We’ll do this test with the live (Gnome) CD to analyze: parts of the hardware that are recognized, software package installed, general usability (setup adjustments, software installation). Computer tested specs: AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600, 2GB RAM, nVidia GeForce 6100.