Slashdot readers talk about Sun’s release of the StarOffice code. The original story is from ZDNet.

SEBASTOPOL, CA — The Internet is driving an unprecedented demand for
access to information, and many of the leading Internet businesses run
their growing enterprises on Oracle databases. There has never been a
better time to be a web application developer who can exploit both XML
(Extensible Markup Language) and the Oracle database.O’Reilly’s just-released “Building Oracle XML Applications” (Steve
Muench, $44.95) gives Java and PL/SQL developers a detailed look at the
many Oracle tools that support XML development-including the Oracle XML
Parser, the Oracle XML SQL Utility, and the XSQL Servlet.

“More than ever before, developers need to be able to rapidly acquire,
integrate, repurpose, and exchange information with other applications
to feed their growing databases and to coordinate their business
operations with those of partners and suppliers over the Web,” says
Muench. “XML dramatically simplifies these tasks.”

Oracle describes Oracle 8i as “the first XML enabled database.”
“Building Oracle XML Applications” shows how to combine the power of
XML and XSLT with the speed, functionality, and reliability of the
Oracle database to build flexible applications. Muench, Oracle’s lead
XML Technical Evangelist and development lead for Oracle XSQL Pages,
delivers nearly 800 pages of useful, timesaving hints and extensive
examples that developers can put to use immediately to build custom XML
applications.

Muench has been a catalyst in helping Oracle development teams weave
XML and XSLT sensibly into their future development plans, and is
uniquely qualified to provide a hands-on, practical guide to the nuts
and bolts of XML and the intimately related XSLT and XPath standards.

Building Oracle XML Applications abounds with tested, commented, and
fully explained examples that can be used to jump-start your own Oracle
XML web development projects. The companion CD-ROM contains JDeveloper
3.1 (for Windows NT/2000), an integrated development environment for
Java.

For more information about O’Reilly’s “Building Oracle XML
Applications,” see: http://www.ora.com/catalog/orxmlapp/noframes.html

Chapter 7, Transforming XML with XSLT, is available free online at:
http://www.ora.com/catalog/orxmlapp/chapter/index.html

To read an article about Oracle and XML by O’Reilly author Steve Muench
go to: http://oracle.oreilly.com/news/oracle_xml_0900.html

Look for the October release of “Oracle SQL: The Essential Reference,”
by David C. Kreines. For details, go to:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/orsqlter/

PRNewswire: Based on the Redhat Linux 6.2 operating system (OS), the Power Zoom server
application ensures greater reliability and service for Internet shoppers,
with the ability to handle thousands of simultaneous image requests on a
mid-priced Intel-based server.

LinuxWorld managed to collar Rene Schmidt, executive VP of Corel’s Linux product group,
and ask him a few questions about the impact of the announced investment by Microsoft in
Corel on Corel’s Linux plans.

ZDNet UK News reports,
Bull last week followed Hewlett-Packard and IBM by announcing
that its new Escala Unix servers will be available with prices based
on the workload supported.

Today Tuxtops sells laptops pre-configured with your favorite Linux OS. Last week the company
released software that does it for you, but it’s what it plans on doing tomorrow that will make you
giddy, reports Maximum Linux.

Though
SGI did not say which assets it will dispose of, ZDNet UK News reports, analysts predicted
that the low-end Windows NT and Linux workstation businesses
are likely candidates.

The Associated Press on CNN.com News reports,
local and federal governments need to spend
significantly more money to train police and prosecutors to hunt down Internet
predators in cyberspace and shut down Web sites containing child pornography, a
congressional commission recommends.

SecurityPortal offers this document which is a summary of changes to free security tools over the last week, 10/06/2000 to 10/12/2000.

IBM takes rivalry with Sun up another notch with Condor follow-up, reports ZDNet UK News.