News

• Need desktop access over the Web? Try some Guacamole

  A new open source project dubbed Guacamole allows users to access a desktop remotely through a Web browser, potentially streamlining the requirements for client support and administration.

• Oracle loses XML co-inventor to Google

  One ex-Sun Microsystems employee who will not be cashing an Oracle paycheck is XML co-inventor Tim Bray, who has opted instead to work for the Google.

• OOXML not suitable for Norwegian government, says study

  Microsoft's XML-based office document format, OOXML, does not meet the requirements for governmental use, according to a new report published by the Norwegian Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (DIFI).

• Retailers still selling Word with custom XML

  Microsoft today said that retailers can continue to sell unmodified versions of Word 2007, even though a court order that required the company to remove custom XML technology from the software took effect Monday.

• JSON data interchange format gets standards blessing

  An up-and-coming lightweight data interchange format for Web applications, considered by a growing number of people to be an alternative to XML, has gotten a boost from the standards body Ecma.

• QuickStudy: Extensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL)

  XBRL is a version of XML defined to meet the requirements of business and financial information. With XBRL, unique identifying tags are applied to financial data items.

• IBM developerWorks turns 10

  IBM this week is marking the 10th anniversary of its IBM developerWorks Web site, which features resources for software developers and IT professionals.

• Microsoft gets reprieve in Word case

  An appeals court has granted Microsoft's request to put off an injunction that could have forced it to stop selling its Microsoft Word software next month.

• Microsoft: Word patent ruling, injunction 'miscarriage of justice'

  Microsoft Corp.'s lawyers late yesterday said the verdict that awarded a Canadian developer nearly $300 million in damages and resulted in an impending ban on sales of the company's popular Word software was a "miscarriage of justice."

• Microsoft planned to bury XML developer, says federal judge

  Microsoft knew of the patent held by i4i as early as 2001, but instead set out to make the Canadian developer's software "obsolete" by adding a feature to Word, according to court documents.

• Jury orders Microsoft to pay $200 million in patent dispute

  A jury in Texas has ordered Microsoft to pay a Toronto software company US$200 million for patent infringement involving several of its software products, Microsoft confirmed Thursday.

• Microsoft-led forum yields tools for OOXML interoperability

  A German organization plans to build a tool to help developers test whether software they're developing can support documents compatible with the latest version of the Open Office XML (OOXML) standard.