THIS IS A TEST INSTANCE. ALL YOUR CHANGES WILL BE LOST!!!!
Target publication date is Monday May 5th
Previous edition is here: https://blogs.apache.org/OOo/entry/apache_openoffice_weekly_news_2
Major Discussions
Juergen, our Release Manager, announced the release of Apache OpenOffice 4.1.
Marcello has updated the "unofficial" Debian repository for Apache OpenOffice. It now "provides the version 4.1 of Apache Openoffice with all available languages."
OpenOffice in the News
"The Apache OpenOffice project announce the release of Apache OpenOffice 4.1" in the official Apache OpenOffice Blog. "Improvements to graphics, charts, forms, text annotations and accessibility feature in this 23rd release of the 14-year old community-run open source project."
"Apache OpenOffice 4.1 improves support for visually impaired users" is the headline of an article by Nick Peers in PC & Tech Authority (Australia).
"Apache OpenOffice – Why 100 Million Downloads Matter" by Kramer Reeves in Social Biz User Group.
"Updated OpenOffice 'good news for administrations'" by Gijs Hellenius on the European Commission's JoinUp website.
"Apache OpenOffice for Mac" a new review (4 1/2 stars) on CNet Download.com by Ben Markton. "Bottom Line: Apache OpenOffice is a very good free, accessible alternative to expensive office software. It is loaded with tools; downloads and installs quickly; and handles all the basic functions you could need from an office suite."
"Apache OpenOffice 4.1, a mega suite office" in pplware (Portuguese)
More from ApacheCon
"Apache OpenOffice by the Numbers" is a reprise of the Lightning Talk by Andrew Rist and Rob Weir at ApacheCon in Denver.
Use Cases, Questions and Answers
We received another report on the users mailing list from someone who had downloaded what he thought was OpenOffice, but instead got a bunch of malware. That wasn't us, obviously. Apache OpenOffice does not bundle any other programs in its package. Absolutely none. Our downloads are carefully scanned for viruses and are accompanied by digital signatures and cryptographic hashes to allow users to verify their integrity.
However, there are third parties that sometimes take OpenOffice and bundle it with objectionable and intrusive applications. In some cases they put up fake websites, or purchase advertisements in search engine search results, to lure people to their website.
It is unfortunate that such sites often come top of the hit list on search engines; inexperienced users download from them and their computers become infected with adware/viruses/trojans. When we know the exact URL of any such sites we do our best to have these removed or flagged, but it is an uphill battle.
We recommend to download only from www.openoffice.org/download which will redirect to SourceForge, whose secure content distribution network we use. A download from there will usually start within five seconds.
Typically an OpenOffice download is about 145 MB; we do not use downloader applications, so any site offering a much smaller download should immediately be suspect. If in any doubt about a download it is best to check its integrity using MD5Sum; details are given at http://www.openoffice.org/download/checksums.html
OpenOffice is a complex and powerful software. If you have difficulties, our User Forums at https://forum.openoffice.org/ in several languages will do their best to help.
New Committers and PMC Members
The Project Management Committee (PMC) for Apache OpenOffice has asked Tal Daniel to become a committer and we are pleased to announce that Tal has accepted and taken the ID "tal".