CREATE: Sharing ideas and resources

An article at Newsforge reports on the CREATE project: Part of what makes open source software thrive is code sharing and reuse. The Create initiative at freedesktop.org targets this issue by bringing together developers from Inkscape, Scribus, Krita, the Open Clip Art Library, and the GIMP, among others, along with interested individuals. Together they are collaborating on a set of specifications they believe will simplify work for developers and distributions, and usability for end users.

Summoning Halloween Clip Art

Bryce has put out a call for Halloween clip art for this month's Open Clip Art Library release. Upload your black cats, witches, and skeletons.

Xara Goes Open Source

Xara has announced that they are porting Xara Xtreme to Linux and will be releasing it as Open Source under the GPL! There is a prototype version available and an intriguing video for download.

It is not yet known when the source code will be made available; presumably a matter of weeks. Xara also expresses interest in working closely with Inkscape to find ways we can share code, coordinate efforts, and make Open Source graphics superior to anything available in the proprietary world.

Inkscape Stats

The stats for October 15th are posted.

Dropping Support for Windows 98

A variety of problems have led to a concensus that we will unfortunately be unable to support Inkscape on Windows 98. These issues have been traced to at least three different libraries we are dependent on, that do not actively support Windows 98.

Inkscape 0.41.1 and 0.42.3 Security fix releases

Mentalguy has released new point releases of the past two versions of Inkscape to correct two issues with arbitrary code execution when opening malicious files. There are no known exploits for this issue, but if you use Inkscape on a production machine in a manner that invokes files from arbitrary sources, you may wish to upgrade.

Digital Minicomic Production with Inkscape

John Bintz has written an article on Using Free Software to Do Inexpensive Digital Paste-Up. It really only uses Inkscape for the final layout.

Xara Sponsors XAR/SVG Converter Development

Xara announced last week that it is sponsoring Eric Wilhelm for $10,000 to develop a conversion utility based on Uber-Converter, a library for creating 2D vector format conversion tools. This tool will enable Xara users to interoperate with Inkscape and other SVG-based tools.

Inkscape Project Status

A new status report is posted. We're continuing to narrow in on the 0.43 release. There are some remaining must-fix bugs, but fortunately they're all either in progress or already fixed.