Title: Editorial

It seems that I have opened the proverbial Pandora's Box with my last editorial. The accu-general mailing list went almost haywire with the number of comments regarding the issue raised (for new members, see my article later in the magazine). I knew that demographically we had a large-ish chunk of the membership who would be of the age to appreciate the comments I made, but not on the scale they did!

The other change I feel I need to justify is the size of the Student Code Competition and the knock-on effect that it had on the space for the other articles, book reviews and other regulars.

Since taking over the editorship of C Vu, I've noticed that the number of people contributing to the SCC (and sending in letters/emails directly to me) has been somewhat sparse. On average, the SCC gets 2 entries, which makes the judging very unfair (in my opinion). In the last edition, we had so many entries that I felt it worthwhile publishing all of the entries and having two prizes instead of the one. The basic premise is that if you submit an entry, unless it really is awful it deserves to be in print. There is also a feel-good factor involved (it used to be called something like the "look Mum, my name's in print" factor when we had a myriad of computer magazines in the 80s); I'm not suggesting that as professionals we do such a thing, but I can remember both my first book review in C Vu and when I showed the first editorial to colleagues the buzz of pride in the hard work presented.

I want people to write in and contribute to the magazine. Has the gamble paid off? Only time will tell.

I hate standing still and I can't stand software which stands still either. I don't use a stable version of Linux (I use Fedora Core rawhide - "it eats babies and if it destroys trees, your computer, your mother's computer and a number of urchins, well, it's your fault" - as it was once described on a mailing list) and despite of that, riding on the bleeding edge is what makes computing fun for me. It can be a pain in the bum though at times!

I realise that beta software is not for everyone (I certainly don't have rawhide working on my machine at work or on my wife's and son's machines).

Recently, OpenOffice2 was moved into rawhide. This is the beta version of what OOo2 will become and already it has become stable enough for me to stop using OOo 1.1.3 (though it still sits on my machine "just in case"). It really is a wonderful product. While you cannot yet place an equation into a table and there are a few problems with importing old OpenOffice files with vector graphics in, it doesn't detract from the sheer quality of the product.

Having had a chance to play with MS Office 2003 and OOo2 and leaving my prejudices at the door, I can honestly say that now OpenOffice2 has a database system in place, the case for using Office 2003 on the basis of Access doesn't hold water anymore. The database form editor in OpenOffice2 is every bit as simple to use as Access and has the advantage of connecting to a raft of different database server types, so you can now just connect it to an existing MySQL server or ODBC or Oracle system.

Compatibility with PowerPoint and the other packages in MS Office as well as the user interface is so similar that when I recommended it to someone who had only ever used MS Office for home use (but was on a tight budget), he actually preferred it as it no longer felt like he was the slave to the package!

That's not to say it is all there yet. It isn't. The software last week (first week in March) only reached a beta 1 release, so there are plenty of issues left to be ironed out.

For those who have read my editorials, you'll no doubt know that I have been using Mono (one of the open source implementations of the .NET framework) quite extensively and helping out where I can. The Novell team have been busy and have released an all-in-one installer for many platforms. If you don't want the hassle of finding the bits and pieces, please feel free to try it out and see how it compares to the MS .NET framework. I did have an article lined up this edition from one of the hackers working on the System.Windows.Forms class, but due to his work pressures, it will be delayed.

Another addition to rawhide has been the latest flavour of gcc - gcc4. As with each update of any packages, it has quite a number of fixes, speed improvements, platform optimisations and improvements to bring it closer to the relevant standards for each language. While not new, it is good to see that gfortran is still in there and that a java compiler has been added in. I have a long term love of FORTRAN having spent more nights than enough using it for my M.Phil. Call me Mr Nostalgia if you like, but having the requirement for 6 spaces before code, dire text handing and not to mention a very linear approach to code in 1999 made me appreciate the heritage of the language (punch tapes and the likes). It is nice to see the latest version being F95 compliant.

By the time this edition hits the door mats, the annual conference will be upon us and it should be one of the best (how do we keep improving them year on year? Simple answer is the reputation for being one of the finest in Europe as well as the sheer quantity and quality of speakers we manage to recruit). Unfortunately, due to illness, I won't be able to make it this year and so I hope you all have/had an enjoyable conference.

Despite how it looks, both C Vu and Overload usually both run short on articles and can always do with new contributors. If you have an idea for an article (either one-off, or as a series), then please get in touch.

In past issues, we've had a wide range of articles (including a lot of cross-platform material, specific libraries, Objective C and patterns), but these only last so long and being good editors, we don't rest in searching out for new writers.

You still retain copyright on all material, so you have the benefit of writing for a magazine that is read worldwide and also keep hold of the original, which means you can then publish it for yourself (should you wish to of course!).

Fancy it? If you do, please email <editor@accu.org> for C Vu and <overload@accu.org> for Overload and we'll be happy to fill you in.

Enough of me for now.

I must express a large thank you to both Pippa and Alan for helping me on this issue in its closing stages due to having to go into hospital for a rather unpleasant operation.