OpenOffice.org Declares Independence From Oracle, Becomes LibreOffice 648
Google85 writes "The OpenOffice.org Project has unveiled a major restructuring that separates itself from Oracle and that takes responsibility for OpenOffice away from a single company. From now on, OpenOffice's development and direction will be decided by a steering committee of developers and national language project managers. Driving home the changes, the OpenOffice.org project is now The Document Foundation, while the OpenOffice.org suite has been given the temporary name of LibreOffice."
Viva La Libre Office! (Score:2, Interesting)
What's the deal with the cursor here on Slashdot?!?! Edit ing i s becom ing a p a in i nthe ass!
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I started having doubts about it when I noticed the branding got changed (Oracle rebranded everything in its favor after the acquisition of Sun.) The new program icons are not color coded, so it's extremely hard to relearn which sub-program you're about to start that new document in. The older one's colors are pretty quick to memorize.
This gives me more power for ALWAYS saving software installers. I haven't noticed real changes under the hood other than the look's 2010 refresh. I install the old version whe
Death-- or revival? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Additional LibreOffice can now expand into other realms that form part of the complete business suite, including project management, full relational database features, mail server and client, as well as CAD/CAM.
So the new branding might highlight it's expansion ie Liberty Business Suite, with mods related to specific business and organisation types, education, medical, government local/state/national. So an expansion beyond small business and the home user, to saving literally hundreds of billions of dol
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
"Every program attempts to expand until it can read mail."--Zawinski's Law
That law needs updating. Now every program expands until it can update your Facebook status.
Re:Death-- or revival? (Score:4, Funny)
It's like a dog chasing its tail. Until it is self-aware enough to realize it can already read mail, it will keep growing.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I haven't been able to find anything saying that they rebranded anything from anyone else other than OpenOffice.org, in fact, to quote
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Wasn't the whole point of Go-OO fork being a fork that copyright assignment was required for merging it upstream?
From their FAQ [documentfoundation.org] (emphasis mine):
So I'm guessing that was a Sun or Oracle requirement, probably Sun since they also had Star Office under a Commercial License so th
Probably the best thing to happen (Score:5, Insightful)
Awesome News for Microsoft (Score:4, Insightful)
Now no one will take OpenOffice... err... I mean LibreOffice seriously and continue using Microsoft Office unabated.
Re:Awesome News for Microsoft (Score:5, Funny)
# apt-get install ms-office
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package ms-office
Re:Awesome News for Microsoft (Score:4, Funny)
C:\>apt-get install ms-office
Illegal command: apt-get.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Z:\> apt-get install ms-office
'apt-get' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
http://www.debian-interix.net/ [debian-interix.net]
Re:Awesome News for Microsoft (Score:5, Interesting)
There are more people using OpenOffice [wikipedia.org] than what you may think. Just a small example: OpenOffice Tops 21% Market Share In Germany [slashdot.org]
Why the new name? (Score:2)
Does Oracle own the OpenOffice name? I've been annoyed that it was officially called OpenOffice.org. That's name of a website, not a piece of software..
Re: (Score:2)
Yes they do
RTFA: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/09/28/openoffice_independence_from_oracle/ [theregister.co.uk]
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Rather than idiotic, the name LibreOffice is simply dumb. I'm not even sure how to pronounce it. But I guess dumb is a step up from idiotic.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
They might be forced to change it. I think they were cleverly trying to avoid naming it FreeOffice. How about a slight change to 'FreedomOffice' ? 'Free' makes you think it's not worth much, i.e. a cheap watered down version of something better, but with 'Freedom' i get the connotation that i'm being freed from something... Just a thought.... Juuuuust a thought.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Not Freedom Office please... you don't want people to think is made by the French or god forbid liberated from the French.
You mean... (Score:3, Interesting)
Like x.org [x.org]?
Laudable goal, but can it work? (Score:4, Interesting)
As far as I remember, one of the problems OpenOffice always had was that most of the developers were paid developers inside Sun who worked on OpenOffice full-time. I thought the code was kind of a mess and hard to decipher for anyone outside, so the project always fought for more volunteers, but could not get many. Has this changed?
Because otherwise, OpenOffice development, while now technically being independent from Oracle, might still by all accounts be entirely dependent on Oracle goodwill if most of the meaningful development can still only be done by those full-time developers inside Oracle.
This might work however, if that new-founded Foundation can somehow acquire enough funding to ease away those internal developers as well and continue paying them to work on OpenOffice full-time. I am not sure if that is feasible, however.
Re:Laudable goal, but can it work? (Score:5, Informative)
A large number of Sun developers worked on OOo but there was also a large number of other devs willing to work that couldnt' get their patches committed. That's why go-oo.org was created with a huge patchset. Sun had a large "not invented here" mindset that stopped a lot of open source devs from continuing to work on it.
Now that OOo is LibreOffice, perhaps the huge go-oo patchset can be committed and the unofficial "not-a-fork" can end.
I'm looking forward to all the new features and such that will be able to be added.
Re:Laudable goal, but can it work? (Score:4, Informative)
From their FAQ ( http://www.documentfoundation.org/faq/ [documentfoundation.org] ):
Q: What does this announcement mean to other derivatives of OpenOffice.org?
A: We want The Document Foundation to be open to code contributions from as many people as possible. We are delighted to announce that the enhancements produced by the Go-OOo team will be merged into LibreOffice, effective immediately. We hope that others will follow suit.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
There are two enormous reasons OpenOffice has always failed to attract developers outside from Sun:
- Copyright assignment: if you don't assign all copyright of your code to Sun, then it cannot be in OpenOffice.
- Bureaucratic obstruction: Sun's QA had to validate your code through a lengthy process before you could even think about it being accepted.
In short, Sun managed OpenOffice's development the same way any proprietary software's development would have been managed. Is it really surprising then, that Su
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Performing rigorous QA is "bureaucratic obstruction?" What are you smoking?
Ever notice how a lot of software out there just fucking sucks? Crashes all the time, trashes your data, and makes you pull your hair out? Do you think the situation would improve if only we could find those mythical perfect developers who never make mistakes? Or might it have something to do with... the fact that nobody TESTS their shit anymore?
I'm really baffled at how ANY developer could have a beef against QA. For crap sake, they
Re: Laudable goal, but can it work? Yes it can!! (Score:4, Informative)
As far as I remember, one of the problems OpenOffice always had was that most of the developers were paid developers inside Sun who worked on OpenOffice full-time. I thought the code was kind of a mess and hard to decipher for anyone outside, so the project always fought for more volunteers, but could not get many. Has this changed?
It has been hard for anyone "outside" to contribute a long time, but for other reasons. Great patches have long been rejected upstream for no reason. If you look at http://www.documentfoundation.org/faq/ [documentfoundation.org] you see that "We want The Document Foundation to be open to code contributions from as many people as possible. We are delighted to announce that the enhancements produced by the Go-OOo team will be merged into LibreOffice, effective immediately. We hope that others will follow suit. ". This is a big and very important change of attitude. We can at minimum expect that all the currently available patches who are available but have been ignored by "OpenOffice.org" will be added to LibreOffice, and I hope and suspect more developers will contribute now that they can.
Why do open source projects pick stupid names? (Score:4, Insightful)
LibreOffice? Seriously? What a horrid name. We're not French and the percentage of the population that understands what Libre means is nil.
There's a reason we're all geeks and not in marketing. However, we all have friends who have a bit savviness when it comes to creativity. Quit being a geek and ask for help.
This is no different than the Diaspora project. Even if that project had the technical side working, it'd still fail because the name is so stupid. You can't compete against a product named "Facebook" when your name is "Diaspora".
Re:Why do open source projects pick stupid names? (Score:4, Informative)
it is also spanish... which a significant amount of 'the population' (i assume you mean you americans) do speak.
(also, get over yourself, encountering a single word which isnt in the american dictionary is no reason to panic)
Re:Why do open source projects pick stupid names? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Why do open source projects pick stupid names? (Score:4, Funny)
We're not French and the percentage of the population that understands what Libre means is nil.
No, but if you're talking about the United States, the percentage of the population that understands Spanish (sometimes exclusively) is quite high. If you're talking about the world, the percentage of people that understand French and/or Spanish high enough too. Also, it's quite close to libere, which is Latin (and Italian).
If you end up having trouble explaining what Libre means to an American, just say "like in Nacho Libre" If they didn't understand libre, they'll be excited to use software associated with a Black Jack movie.
Re:Why do open source projects pick stupid names? (Score:4, Insightful)
I agree LibreOffice is a stupid name, almost as stupid as that open source FaceBook "Die As Poor As", but lots of stupid names are big now. TWAIN (Technology Without An Interesting Name) only went away because USB came along, not because of its name. GNU's still here. And WiFi; God what a stupid, ignorant name. Whoever named that obviously was thinking of "HiFi", which was short for "High Fidelity". The "wi" makes sense, but where the hell did the "fi" come from? What about "Bluetooth", I mean, WTF? Who thinks that idiocy is in any way clever?
How about iPad? I had to wear one overnight after my iSurgery. Or WiMP for MS' media player?
We're not in marketing because you have to take an IQ test to be in marketing. Anything higher than a 90 and you fail, few here could pass that. Who here would make a slogan "we build excitement" for basic transportation; what, the brakes are bad and the handling sucks?
Why not just call the damned thing "Free Office"? People LIKE free. Maybe it's because so many people worship the almighty dollar and equate "free" with "worthless".
To go along with GNU (Gnu's Not Unix) I vote INMO -- "It's Not Microsoft Office". Naw, that'd never work...
As long as we're being French... (Score:4, Funny)
How about "Sexy Office"? It's very French and has a nice mass appeal to it.
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Open Office, the scarlet A? (Score:3, Interesting)
I wonder how much name recognition Open Office really had, and how much of that was positive. As much as I like the idea of a free open-source alternative to MS Office, and as much as I relied on it for specific tasks, for at least 5 years I've wanted them to fix the bloated mess that it has become. They never have, and many people hate it for that.
If they can get some real movement under their wings now, and separate out the fat, a break with the OO name might just be the Mozilla / Firefoxification the suite needs.
Re: (Score:2)
FreeOffice anyone?
Re:Open Office, the scarlet A? (Score:4, Insightful)
They aren't intending to change the software...at least not initially.
From LibreOffice's FAQ:
Q: So is this a breakaway project?
A: Not at all. The Document Foundation will continue to be focused on developing, supporting, and promoting the same software, and it's very much business as usual. We are simply moving to a new and more appropriate organisational model for the next decade - a logical development from Sun's inspirational launch a decade ago.
***
I think this is the community's way of trying to push Oracle into releasing the name to them.
I doubt very much that Larry Ellison will let go of it due to name recognition (name recognition is worth $$$ from a marketing standpoint).
Just my $0.02.
-JJS
Not good. (Score:2)
Say that ten times fast (Score:3, Funny)
Lee Burr Office? Glad it's temporary. Sounds like something said drunkenly to a cop after getting pulled over.
How I KNOW this will work (Score:5, Interesting)
Some of the supporters: FSF, Google, Novell, Red Hat, and Canonical.
When those guys are with you - it'll happen. My only question is if OpenOffice will become LibreOffice next month with the new releases of Ubuntu, OpenSUSE & Fedora or if it'll wait until spring?
The 63 k question && answer from the FAQ (Score:5, Interesting)
Q: Why are you building a new web infrastructure?
A: Since Oracle's takeover of Sun Microsystems, the Community has been under "notice to quit" from our previous Collabnet infrastructure. With today's announcement of a Foundation, we now have an entity which can own our emerging new infrastructure.
Basically Oracle told them their lease was up. Yea Oracle! I didn't already have enough reasons to loathe thee.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Didn't they just buy a chip manufacturer? SPARC?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
i wasnt trolling, that rumor showed up on some tech-news sites, just traced it back to bloomberg:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-23/oracle-plans-to-buy-chip-companies-industry-specific-software.html [bloomberg.com]
at this point AMD is just fingered as a target by a third party analyst, but it was enough to sink in deeply with me, since AMD is my prefered chip maker (and they provide much-needed competition to intel), so this would be horror for me too
If that were to happen, oracle will have taken over my two most fav
bad name (Score:2)
Lots of people won't be able to pronounce it properly. They will call it "Leeber Office". I think it will hurt the brand.
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It's temporary--this is pretty common. A new name will be created to clearly demarcate that a Change Has Happened, and then a real name is sorted out over time.
Sounds good (for now). Please live up to it! (Score:4, Insightful)
Dear Document Foundation:
Please live up to it, and make OOo (or LO) kick some ass. We need you!
May the force be with them!
What about Open Office (Score:3, Interesting)
I seem to recall that the reason they were called OpenOffice.org instead of just Open Office was because someone else owned the Open Office name. Does anyone know the status of that trademark?
How "official" is this? (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't see confirmation of this on the OpenOffice.org website - how "official" is this? The register article and the project website seem to indicate support from a lot of companies, but this seems to be quite the "bolt from the blue", so to speak - have there been rumblings of this behind the scenes?
From my standpoint, the two projects I was most concerned about when the Sun/Oracle deal was announced were OpenOffice.org and VirtualBox. There was a lot of noise about MySQL, but PostgreSQL is already out there as a very very viable (some would say better) alternative with a functioning community and long history. OpenSolaris never really became a major force in open source operating systems, so it's not likely to leave a bit hole. However, OpenOffice.org and VirtualBox both occupy highly user-visible spots in the open source world. OpenOffice.org has been absolutely key in breaking the "Microsoft Office" lock-in.
If this is for real the importance of this new project dwarfs the fate of MySQL. I really, really hope that enough resources are put behind the project to keep it viable and match compatibility with Microsoft Office, because if Linux no longer has the ability to easily read most Microsoft documents it will be one of the biggest hits to desktop viability that Linux distros could suffer.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
SOME would say better? Is there any rational basis for ANYONE to claim MySQL is better than PostgreSQL in ANY meaningful regard?
MOOo (Score:3, Funny)
Shoulda kept it simple and just called themselves "MegaOpenOffice.org" or something.
Re:MOOo (Score:5, Funny)
I've got one:
"OpenOffice.org/index.html"
Catchy!
NachoLibreOffice (Score:4, Funny)
FINALLY! We can focus on the features that matter (Score:4, Funny)
Liberty Office Suite (Score:5, Interesting)
May I suggest: Liberty Office Suite as a new name.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
what about "Document Office" ?
can anyone check if it's taken ?
Horrible name (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
As a non-French European I always wonder how French succeed to be at the same time so much openly despised and secretly admired in the USA.
Re:Horrible name (Score:4, Insightful)
There's so much at stake here. (Score:3, Interesting)
That said, my energy to support OpenOffice/OfficeLibre it is running out. What I'm seeing is that there is really very little financial support for it (as compared to MS Office, for example) and even less for marketing it. The result is that it does some things extremely well (ODF, importing) and others very badly (BASE). This is not because the people behind it do not care - much the opposite - I've submitted bugs and there have been very positive experiences. The bottom line is that there are just simply not enough brains working on the code because no one is paying them to do it.
If OfficeLibre is to succeed it needs the following:
a) A weathly foundation and/or solid source of revenue to keep it going
b) A professional marketing plan to make it the default choice in Western Schools where it can get mind-share. (Why are disadvantaged kids being taxed to use Microsoft?)
c) A results-driven steering committee so that goals and objectives are established and prioritized based on USER-driven wishes.
d) A program to get it rolled out on the Web too - LibreDocs??
e) Make working on it part of every computer science corriculum.
The landscape is changing so rapidly out there that, if this is not done soon, I don't see it surviving two years.
Had to be done. (Score:3, Insightful)
It had to be done. Open Office (and MySQL) are too important to be entrusted to Larry Ellison. Already, a few parts of MySQL, such as the Windows GUI client, are no longer reliable.
("LibreOffice", as a name, though, has to go. The open source community sucks at naming.)
Risk and Opportunity (Score:3, Interesting)
If this does result in a complete change in the way OpenOffice (or whatever it ends up being called) does project development, it's both scary and a big opportunity.
Risks:
1. Keeping up with document formats in Microsoft Office products is a difficult, time consuming process. Other open source office projects have never matched OpenOffice.org's support for MSOffice files, and arguably that strength alone is responsible for OpenOffice.org's success in the open source world. Implicit in that support is being feature-rich enough to be able to work with said documents, of course, which is also a lot of work. This kind of support, especially on something unsexy like office document formats, REALLY REALLY BENEFITS from paid people working on it. This is my single biggest concern going forward.
2. Code expertise. It has been years since I took a look a the OpenOffice code, but unless things have changed dramatically I have always heard that it was huge and required a LOT of time to become a productive contributor - definitely not organized into small, distinct parts. If the formerly paid developers can't devote their time to it as much/at all (which I wouldn't blame them for, we all need to eat) we could be looking at a substantial learning curve for the community.
Opportunities:
1. The relatively closed nature of the OpenOffice.org project seems, at least from my admittedly remote vantage point, to have resulted in a rather spectacular "not invented here" effect. OpenOffice has a great deal of functionality, but to the best of my knowledge there has never been any serious attempt to make independent libraries packaging that functionality for use in other applications - this is a shame. Perhaps even in principle you can't split office functionality up that way, but the KOffice team seems to have had some success doing so - perhaps this would be a good time to have an "XFree86->Xorg" style "break it into pieces" re-think of the OO.org architecture? Investigate whether and where it makes sense to break out OpenOffice functionality into libraries, contribute abilities to other projects' libraries and use those, or just flat out replace internal OO.org code with use of external libraries. Maybe OpenOffice really does need to be as huge as it is, but I'm rather suspicious of that.
2. REALLY hoping someone can make an OpenOffice fork/port/whatever that makes full use of the Qt toolkit. Instead of just getting the look of native widgets (which is what I understood efforts to date had been doing?) actually use the real Qt widgets and let the Qt toolkit handle that part of things. Probably requires major reworking of OpenOffice, but moments like this tend to be good times to take new directions like that. Let Qt do what it does so well and handle the cross-platform GUI widgets, and focus on the Office stuff.
Obviously not expert opinions as far as the OO.org codebase is concerned, and there may be reasons some of these things are bad ideas or won't work, but with luck and effort perhaps we can see actual major improvements (the integration of the Go-OO work is certainly a great start!) and some good will come out of all of this.
Re:It's all in the name (Score:5, Insightful)
Tensions between the open source community and Oracle, a big proprietary software company, can hardly be called infighting in the OSS community.
Re:It's all in the name (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, really. It was either this, or see the project get scrapped and a new, proprietary "OracleOffice.org" get released a few weeks later. I'm glad to see open source resisting becoming assimilated and crushed because a major backer got acquired.
Re:It's all in the name (Score:4, Informative)
OpenOffice.org is trademarked, which is now owned by Oracle. Making the name OpenOffice could easily be crushed by Oracle if they chose to. Giving it a new name, however, would make it a lot harder for Oracle to get in the way of this move.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You should at least attribute that quote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:It's all in the name (Score:4, Funny)
You are right, I had every intention of doing so and got in a hurry. I'll go stand in the corner if the internet with a pointy hat on.
Oh, god, not the robe and wizard cap again. :-P
Re:It's all in the name (Score:4, Insightful)
Some of us find Oracle being in the name to strip all credibility, much like Microsoft.
Re:It's all in the name (Score:5, Interesting)
Tensions between the open source community and Oracle, a big proprietary software company, can hardly be called infighting in the OSS community.
I disagree. Like it or not, Oracle is part of the OSS community. A huge portion of the development done on OSS is done by employees of big companies, most of which also write proprietary, closed source software. Apple, Google, IBM, Nokia, HP... well you get the point. Basically, Oracle dumps enough money and human resources into improving Linux and the userspace that they've earned the title of OSS community contributor.
That doesn't mean they and other companies don't do lots of things counter to the interests of the OSS community in general, when it helps their bottom line; or that this is anything new. It just means maybe you should revise your view of what the OSS community is to be a little more realistic and a little less black and white. Sure there are long haired, bearded hippies working for free in their spare time to make the world a better place. There are also a crapload of on the clock developers getting a paycheck to work on OSS projects used by their corporation to create salable products and services. They're all part of the community.
Re:It's all in the name (Score:5, Insightful)
There are thieves in your area. Are they part of your community? Only in a very broad sense of community. Generally, community refers to a group of people with shared ideals, cooperating. Submitting patches to FOSS is one thing. Submitting patches to FOSS for the good of the community, without an ulterior motive, or at least with your vision of how it might be useful sharing a large subset with others, is another thing.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Submitting patches to FOSS for the good of the community, without an ulterior motive, or at least with your vision of how it might be useful sharing a large subset with others, is another thing.
corporations who submit patches purely in their own interest are just as valuable to the OSS community as contributors who do it altruistically. look at the amount of contributions from corporations - to say linux - who do it purely because they need the improvements.
Re:It's all in the name (Score:4, Insightful)
They have been invited to join the efforts as an equal contributor. Hopefully they will. They just aren't going to be permitted to actually run the project. Yes, many large companies have contributed to Free software while also producing commercial software, and that's fine. That's not the same as actually RUNNING the project effectively. That requires a particular management culture that Oracle just doesn't seem to have.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I tend to think you haven't followed much of the whole story of Open Source software or it's timeline.
Then you'd be wrong. I've professionally developed open source software for a decade or more.
Oracle has never been much of an advocate of Open Source and the recent buyout of Sun has not been a good thing for Open Source advocates.
You don't have to be vocal to be part of a community. Oracle is a huge user of Linux and for many years they've had full time, paid employees coding on Linux where they found it lacking for their needs. That right there makes them part of the OSS community, as in they are both users and developers of OSS software. As for Oracle buying out Sun being a good thing for the community, when did I say it was? I think it ha
Re:It's all in the name (Score:4, Insightful)
Yet it is not at all uncommon for even large and well known businesses to re-brand and change the name of either the business or the product. Norwich Union -> Aviva, Charmin -> Cushelle, to quote two relatively recent examples.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Bell Atlantic to Verizon to quote a more well known example.
Re:It's all in the name (Score:5, Insightful)
You win the "Poor Analogy of the Day Award". Twice. (Do you even understand what's being discussed?)
YouTube is still called "YouTube"; there was no change of name that would suggest instability to a casual observer.
OpenOffice.org was not renamed when it was taken over by Oracle; it is (apparently) being renamed in an attempt to wrest it from Oracle, which is a sign of instablity.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:It's all in the name (Score:4, Informative)
Re:It's all in the name (Score:4, Insightful)
There is a good chance Oracle owns the OpenOffice.org name.
Good. They can have it. Who ever heard of a piece of software being named after its website?
Re:It's all in the name (Score:5, Funny)
Well it's not really that I like or use it (I'm a latex guy...), but I enjoyed being able to put "experience in Oracle's OpenOffice.org" on my resume. Helps get it past HR goons who only grep for a few words. ;)
Re:It's all in the name (Score:5, Funny)
Well it's not really that I like or use it (I'm a latex guy...), but I enjoyed being able to put "experience in Oracle's OpenOffice.org" on my resume. Helps get it past HR goons who only grep for a few words. ;)
Well you can still probably garner a lot of attention by just putting "I'm a latex guy" on your resume. :)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Not exactly grep, but Monica Goodling allegedly used this commend to screen resumes using Lexis/Nexis
[first name of a candidate] and pre/2 [last name of a candidate] w/7 bush or gore or republican! or democrat! or charg! or accus! or criticiz! or blam! or defend! or iran contra or clinton or spotted owl or florida recount or sex! or controvers! or racis! or fraud! or investigat! or bankrupt! or layoff! or downsiz! or PNTR or NAFTA or outsourc! or indict! or enron or kerry or iraq or wmd! or arrest! or intox! or fired or sex! or racis! or intox! or slur! or arrest! or fired or controvers! or abortion! or gay! or homosexual! or gun! or firearm!
Re:It's all in the name (Score:5, Informative)
You're kind of... wrong.
It's taking a vitally important piece of software out of the hands of a commercial company which has not shown a great deal of respect for the principles of free, libre, open source software.
If you RFTA, it states that they have asked Oracle to donate the OpenOffice.org name to the project. Oracle's response to this request will really define Oracle's relationship with the FLOSS community.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
LibreOffice is _no
Re:It's all in the name (Score:4, Insightful)
What's really sad is that if Oracle were to come back with "You can have the name for one million dollars" the LibreOffice people wouldn't be able to come up with the money. Chump change for Ellison, deal breaker for OSS.
I think the monatary amount would be beside the point. If Oracle said that they could have it for $1000 I would tell them to turn it sideways and shove it up their asses. Oracle has basically given the finger to FOSS so why deal with them at all unless they are truly willing to give up something of value?
Personally, I think LibreOffice should pick a new name, totally redo the icon set and then have the big three push it like crazy. I think the biggest problem with LibreOffice is that it's ugly. Sad, but true.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Well... The only reason OpenOffice exists is because the company that Oracle purchased spent money to purchase StarDivision and its StarOffice, open sourced the source code, and form OpenOffice.org.
You act like FOSS did all the work and spent all the money.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I think it would be great if they altered the name to Liberache Office and *then* did a UI to match.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Well that's bollocksed up what little name recognition it had then. Well done OSS community. Shot itself in the foot with infighting again.
Sadly, I have to agree. Add to that the fact that it appears half the population doesn't know how to pronounce "libre" or even what it means and it's hard to see how this change can help rather than hurt.
Re:It's all in the name (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
It's French for "Free Beer".
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Well that's bollocksed up what little name recognition it had then
Sure, but what's the alternative?
Oracle actually is the malevolent cartoon devil that people here will make Microsoft/Apple/Google/whatever out to be depending on what day it is.
Re:Weird sounding name (Score:5, Funny)
More importantly, by choosing a name that lots of English speakers won't even know how to pronounce, they've isolated themselves even more. They'd have done better if they'd chosen an abstract name like "Firefox" or "Apache."
Lee Bray Office? Sounds like an evangelical preacher's fundraising department.
Make the mascot a Zebra, and the English speakers will suddenly pick up on it.
"I have to finish my book report by tomorrow, but I've only got the files, no Microsoft Word."
"Here, I know where to get a cracked copy."
"Stop right there, children!"
(together)"Wow! It's the Libre Zebra!"
"That's right, and I'm here to tell you about LibreOffice, a free office suite that promotes the gnu values of liberty, justice, and apple pie!"
(together)"Thanks, Libre Zebra!"
Re:Only if you speak US English (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
It has been steadily getting better since 2.4 and most importantly getting faster, not slower (as is the case with MS Office). I would not even try to run 2007 on a netbook while OO runs perfectly fine on anything down to around 400MHz.
The problem with it is that import/export filters still suck bricks through a straw sidewise.
If you want to keep your docs in its original format and produce PDFs and distribute finished docs as PDFs it has long been on par with MSFT office. If you are using low spec machines
Re:Oh no! (Score:5, Insightful)
You mean like how it [didn't] die when transitioning from "StarOffice" to "OpenOffice.org"?
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Summary also mentions it as being a transitional name. I really hope they come up with something better. Even something stupid like NotOffice or SlightlyShittyButFreeOffice would be preferable.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
I think they should go balls-out and call it Freedom Office, then go sell it to the USA government.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
My thought was Liberty Office. I'm not a linguist, but I believe it shares a root with Libre.
Re:Fold Go-oo back in, please. - already done (Score:5, Informative)
From the FAQ [documentfoundation.org]:
Q: What does this announcement mean to other derivatives of OpenOffice.org?
A: We want The Document Foundation to be open to code contributions from as many people as possible. We are delighted to announce that the enhancements produced by the Go-OOo team will be merged into LibreOffice, effective immediately. We hope that others will follow suit.