CPTTM CIO newsletter issue #17

Dear CIO/IT managers,

This CPTTM CIO newsletter is to bring useful news to you, CIO/IT managers in Macau, for references without obligations, so that you can do your jobs easier and better! Hope you like it. if you'd like to unsubscribe or recommend your friends to subscribe, just let me know. Old issues are available here.

Kent Tong, Editor in Chief

Topics in this issue:

Seminar: ITIL certification (BS15000) case study
Microsoft to promote Linux
Oracle to provide support for Red Hat Linux at half price
Windows Vista and Office 2007 to launch on Nov 30
OpenDocument Format (ODF) adoption
Pivot table in OpenOffice

Seminar: ITIL certification (BS15000) case study

CPTTM is organizing an seminar on ITIL certification (BS15000) on Nov 14 (next Tuesday): HP will share its experience in how it obtained the certification. It is a good opportunity to see how others implement ITIL. You're welcome to get more info or enroll online.

Microsoft to promote Linux

Microsoft has struck a deal with Novell to improve interoperability between Windows and Linux, MS Office and OpenOffice. It will also resell SUSE Linux support coupons to its customers who would like to run Linux and promise not to sue SUSE Linux users for patent infringements.

Oracle to provide support for Red Hat Linux at half price

Oracle will provide commercial support service for Red Hat Linux at half the price of Red Hat's offering. Some doubt Oracle's capacity to support Red Hat Linux while Red Hat is controlling the distribution. Some suspect that the real intention of Oracle is to push down the stock price of Red Hat before buying it. But as customers, competition is always good for us: If you are running Red Hat Enterprise Linux or planning to do so, you'll probably get a better deal (either from Oracle or from Red Hat).

Windows Vista and Office 2007 to launch on Nov 30

Windows Vista (the next version of XP) and next version of MS Office will be launched on Nov 30. What are the benefits and costs? For Vista:

Benefits	Costs & risks
More secure (less malware!). Supposedly a better user interface (Aero desktop).	New user interface means user training. Anti-piracy features. You have to activate each copy of Vista within 30 days or setup a license server yourself. Coming in many different editions (Vista Home Basic, Vista Home Premium, Vista Business, Vista Ultimate). You'll need at least 1G RAM. There may not be drivers for your existing hardware. Your existing applications may be incompatible.

For Office 2007:

Benefits	Costs & risks
Supposedly a better user interface (Ribbon interface). Multiple users can edit the same document at the same time (if you have a SharePoint server). The paper clip (Office Assistant) is gone :-)	Significant user training will be required as the menu system & tool bar have been removed. Probably a typical user will find OpenOffice more familiar to him than Office 2007. Coming in eight different editions!

OpenDocument Format (ODF) adoption

A report commissioned by the French government recommends ODF adoption by the government. The Hong Kong government has also added ODF to its list of supported formats in its Interoperability Framework.

Pivot table in OpenOffice

A missing feature in OpenOffice 1.0 was the pivot table function found in Excel. But it has been there since 1.1 and it is called "DataPilot".

Feedbacks

Any questions, ideas or experiences to share? Contact me at 28781313 or kent at cpttm dot org dot mo.

Until next time,

Kent Tong