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OpenOffice.org has to be one of the most prominent and elaborate open-source projects out there just outshone by a handful of others like the Linux operating system and perhaps the Firefox browser given its undeniable success and rate of adoption. Now with version 3.0 of the suite, OpenOffice is set to challenge Microsoft Office more than ever before.

Among its core new features and improvements, OpenOffice 3.0 comes with support for the upcoming version of the ISO standard OpenDocument Format 1.2 (ODF), it can read and write files using Microsoft Office's binary file formats (.doc, .xls, etc.), and now adds support for Office 2007/2008 files. Mac OS X Support is now native. The spreadsheet application in OOo comes with a Solver add-in and has received a notable increase from 256 columns to 1024. Improved graphical functionality and user interface is also part of the upgrade.

The official release of OpenOffice.org 3.0 is just today, however the suite was available earlier during the weekend from a number of (also official) mirrors. We reported on this during our weekend tech reading post. You can download the suite for Windows, Mac OS X, and other operating systems and languages now.

Don't forget to voice in our weekend open forum feature.
This week's topic: Download accelerators and managers, are they still relevant?

OpenOffice 3 Final released OpenOffice.org is an open-source, multiplatform and multilingual office suite comparable with MS Office. It is compatible with all other major office suites and is free to download, use, and distribute. TechSpot Downloads.

Microsoft Sues DHL After Train Dumps 21,600 Xboxes Microsoft is suing U.S.-based cargo-delivery service DHL Express for allegedly losing 21,600 Xbox game consoles because of a train derailment in Texas, according to court documents. PC World.

Embed a Part of a YouTube Video If you want to embed a YouTube video that starts to become interesting somewhere in the middle, there's a simple way to skip the boring part. Google OS Blog.

Apple dumping Intel chipsets for NVIDIA's in new MacBooks Apple will announce as part of its special media event Tuesday a new family of MacBooks that will abandoned Intel's integrated graphics chipsets for those part of NVIDIA's new mobile platform. AppleInsider.

As most of you are likely aware of, we keep an up to date downloads section here at TechSpot. While we mostly focus on the more prominent software tools and utilities we foresee our readers will appreciate having listed here, that inevitably puts us in the position of constantly monitoring for new software and trends in this industry.

After exchanging some emails with the developers of Download Accelerator Plus earlier this week, I began to wonder, how relevant are download managers today anyway? Personally, I stopped using one a few years ago when most of my web downloads could be handled just as well from Firefox and a fast enough broadband connection that wouldn't break up even larger files. Then, for most of my gigabyte-plus downloads I always rely on a BitTorrent client (uTorrent is my favorite), which you may still call a specialized download manager.

Still this behavior is quite different from that of the late nineties when using a download manager like DAP, Getright, or any other of the myriad available at the time was a must. Today you can even get tiny download manager plug-ins for Firefox, and freeware full applications are also aplenty.

So my question is, do you believe download managers are still relevant? Do you use them? And if so, which one is your favorite?

Discuss.

Microsoft has recently unveiled how they view virtualization, and how they plan to make virtualization grow in the near future. More specifically, they've talked about what their primary goal is – to oust VMWare from its comfortable 80% or higher lead in virtualization deployments.

It seems Microsoft's primary intention is not to directly compete with what VMWare is offering, and instead take the next “technological step”, moving to a management infrastructure that is both physical and virtual. They put a lot of emphasis on managing virtualization deployments, and see that as more important than the actual implementation. This is definitely true, at least from a business standpoint, as one of the goals of any virtualization suite is to become seamless.

If anyone knows how to operate a monopoly and control large market share, that would be Microsoft. VMWare could be in danger here. Even with a technically superior product, they might find themselves in a serious hurt if they do not react to Microsoft's plans, on top of several other vendors like Sun and Cisco competing for VMWare's current domain as well.

Seagate is getting ready to finally release an SSD product but not before next year. Apparently the company will initially aim at the enterprise market specifically, with the drives designed for use in servers.

Seagate is a latecomer in the SSD world, falling behind numerous companies, including Intel. Part of their delay was voiced by their CEO, Bill Watkins, who outright attacked SSDs as they exist today and claimed they were a minor part of the storage market. Seagate's decision to both attack and embrace the SSD market has been an interesting one to watch.

Shortly after claiming that if SSD became popular, they would sue certain SSD makers, Seagate remained true to their word and sued STEC. Both companies remain in court today as STEC tries to get Seagate's technology patents revolving around SSD declared as invalid.

One of the biggest complaints Windows Vista receives is focused around the UAC (User Account Control). While touted as a security measure that would prevent a system from becoming compromised, most users simply see it as an annoyance, having to confirm even seemingly simple changes made to the system.

Microsoft has received a ton of feedback in this regard, and they seem to be preparing a simplified version of UAC for Windows 7 that will try to prompt the user less often.

Although early on Vista's life cycle many of the UAC triggers were prompted by software not yet written with the OS security features in mind, Microsoft admits they could have done better. According to some stats gathered by the software giant, one out of three Vista “sessions” create at least one UAC prompt. Not a huge deal when the machine is first being setup, but after it has been in use it tends to get in the way. Microsoft talks further details on its internal affairs with the upcoming OS on its Engineering Windows 7 blog.

At the end of last month, Wal-Mart announced they would shut down their DRM servers. That would have resulted in anyone who purchased DRM-laden music from Wal-Mart stuck with a worthless purchase down the road unless they burn their music to a CD beforehand. The decision was a reminder of how dangerous DRM can be for the consumer, and how it truly is a method of “renting” content rather than “buying” it. The company has wised up in recent days and now plans to offer DRM-free music on its online store, but that won't help those who jumped on the service when it was first offered.

Naturally this caused a lot of upset among those Wal-Mart customers who felt their paid-for music was in danger. They protested, and as a result the retail chain will be extending the server shut-down deadline. Wal-Mart hasn't given a specific date – only mentioning that they will maintain and operate these servers for the foreseeable future.

Mozilla has pushed back the release of Firefox 3.1 by several weeks in order to build into it a number of features that include a highly touted 'private browsing' mode, further optimizations on its JavaScript engine and improvements on how the browser's address bar works.

With this timetable the first beta of Firefox 3.1 is expected to see the light as soon as next week, while a more feature complete Beta 2 is expected on early November. Mozilla anticipates to have the final version out by the end of the year or early 2009, with a set date being announced later on.

Firefox remains the second most used browser worldwide with ~18% market share. By comparison Internet Explorer dominates at large with about 76,3% of users and Safari comes in at third with 3,8%.

After Blockbuster rescinded its $1.3 billion offer for taking over Circuit City last July, things haven't gone anywhere but downhill for the retail chain. Last quarter the company reported losses for $239 million, it has also suffered from the loss of its CEO and a severe impact on its stock price plummeting from a high $9.4 a year ago to $0.43 this week.

With the current financial crisis expected to take its toll on companies that rely heavily on credit or do not have enough liquid assets, Circuit City is one of those retailers expected to collapse by the end of the year.

Without a doubt Circuit City's dramatic decline in market capitalization looks astounding but other tech giants are also suffering from the stock market pain as summarized by a table at TG Daily.

Nvidia, for example, is down 81% from a year ago, Motorola -76%, RIM -60%, and even stock stars from the past few years like Apple and Google are both down 56%. Could consolidation extend to the technology industry, many analysts seem to think so considering the relative bargain some stocks are selling for right now.

In the market for a Dell LCD? Dell Home left most prices unchanged on its LCD monitors compared to our roundup a week ago. The latest prices on Dell's top LCDs, all with free shipping:

• Dell SE198WFP 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $159
• Dell UltraSharp 1908WFP 19" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $239
• Dell E207WFP 20" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $249
• Dell E228WFP 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $269 (up $30)
• Dell SP2208WFP 22" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $319
• Dell E248WFP 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $335 (down $85)
• Dell S2409W Full HD 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $329
• Dell UltraSharp 2709WFP 27" Widescreen LCD Monitor for $699

Check out TechSpot's vastly improved hot deals section: Updated everyday, sort deals by date, category or hotness, search through thousands of deals net wide.

Bethesda Softworks announced today that its highly anticipated title, Fallout 3, has finally gone gold and will be available for the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 by the end of the month on October 28. Sadly, in what seems like a slap in the face to a company against including bulky DRM with their releases, the game has already been leaked and is currently being pirated across many file-sharing sites.

Apparently, it is the Xbox 360 version of the game that is making its rounds, though it is not clear if it is an early review copy of the game that has been leaked given that it just went gold hours ago. Bethesda has so far declined to comment on the situation, but one can only assume that they're not too happy about the leak. If anything, they can at least take comfort in the positive response most people seem to be giving the game.

Acer recently introduced the Aspire X1200 small form factor system, one of their latest desktop additions to the ever expanding Aspire line. Acer describes the X1200 as a stylish, space saving and low-cost option for an average business computer or home theater PC.

Currently shipping in three different packages - the first which we'll be taking a look at today - consists of an AMD Athlon X2 4850e processor operating at 2.5GHz, 4GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, Nvidia GeForce 8200 graphics, a DVD burner and Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit for about $470.

Measuring only 10.6 x 4.0 x 14.4 inches, Acer has managed to pack a lot of computer into a very small package, which includes a 14-in-1 card reader, eSATA and HDMI ports and full 5.1-channel audio support.

Read the complete review.

Following AMD’s announcement that it would spin off its manufacturing assets to the newly-founded “The Foundry Company” – which is partially owned by the Abu Dhabi government – Intel was quick to voice it had “serious questions” about the transaction, specifically in reference to a cross-licensing agreement that allows AMD to use Intel’s x86 chip instruction set.

This agreement basically restricts AMD from transferring any of Intel’s intellectual property to a third party. AMD, however, is confident that the transaction is structured in a way that doesn't violate any agreements and recently said that the matter should be work out between the firm’s lawyers. Intel, for its part, says it will defend its chip patents against any violations as it continues to review their options – which perhaps will include creating some leverage to make AMD drop its long-standing lawsuit against the company.

After a full month of rumor and speculation, Apple has finally confirmed it’ll be updating its notebook line next week. Unfortunately there is little to be known about the upcoming event, which is scheduled for October 14, beyond a deliberately teasing tagline which states “the spotlight turns to notebooks.”

So what can we expect from this event? No one knows for sure, but if the rumor mill is right, the announcement should hold a complete revision to the MacBook line with aluminum casings and LED screens, and perhaps the introduction of relatively low cost model at around $800. We will know for sure next Tuesday.

Will the next generation of the Eee PC include a touch screen? It seems that Asustek may be planning to launch just such a machine within the next few months, giving them that much more advantage over competitors like the Wind.

If you recall, many “ultra mobile” devices that were pushed a few years back came stock with touch screens, whether for hands or for a stylus. Those devices didn't fare so well – largely due to their higher cost relative to real laptops. If Asustek can keep the price reasonable on the Eee while incorporating this, they could make a touch panel netbook a common thing – something that might even threaten eBook readers, since their touch interfaces are a big selling point.

How will Asustek keep the price down on a touch panel Eee? Maybe they won't, as newer Eee models have been going up in price, rather than down. However, they have loosely mentioned a plan to return to the low-cost market, near the $300 range, next year. I doubt touch panels would be included among them, but we can always hope.