OpenOffice.ca is built using an Open Source php/mysql CMS, Back-End.org which is capable of handling multilingual versions. A french version will be launched when we find translators to volunteer their time.

The conference is being held by Linux user groups from the local area: the USCLUG, SCLUG, and UCLALUG. Building on the tremendous success of last two years' SCALE, the three LUGs will continue to promote Linux and the Open Source Software community.

We invite you to share your work on Linux and Open Source projects with the rest of the community.

http://www.systemsaligned.com/component/option,com_mamblog/Itemid,69/

Someone sitting in an office analyzing some data using a popular, commercially available spreadsheet may seem very innocuous. But when you think about the consequences of errors in judgement on the scale of our national government, you start to realize what is at stake. The risks can be immense. Who knows how many decisions have been influenced by relying on data that was processed incorrectly? Senior bureaucrats are often said to have more power than elected officials, precisely because they control the flow of information to the Minister. What if their sources of information were unreliable? How could we begin to answer such questions?

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A London, Ont.-based firm that had previously used a proprietary document storage system and ordinary filing cabinets has chosen open source software to provide document management capabilities to its salespersons, project managers and designers.

London Roof Truss, which produces pre-engineered roof and floor trusses for contractors, homebuilders and lumberyards, had been storing its documents on Microsoft Windows NT Server, but the absence of management tools had thwarted efforts to prevent documents from getting lost or being accidentally deleted, according to Wayne Bilger, the company's systems administrator. And while hard-copy documents were being stored in filing cabinets, the time spent searching for these documents hampered employee productivity and impeded customer service.

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Software patents are the software project equivalent of land mines: Each design decision carries a risk of stepping on a patent, which can destroy your project.

Developing a large and complex program means combining many ideas, often hundreds or thousands of them. In a country that allows software patents, chances are that some substantial fraction of the ideas in your program will be patented already by various companies. Perhaps hundreds of patents will cover parts of your program. A study in 2004 found almost 300 U.S. patents that covered various parts of a single important program. It is so much work to do such a study that only one has been done.

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