Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Contemplating the possible retirement of Apache OpenOffice

lwn.net

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 327 posts

Re: Contemplating the possible retirement of Apache OpenOffice

#141

Post by silverwind »

ptero wrote: post #38
Aardwolf wrote: post #30

Could they drop openoffice, then rename libreoffice to openoffice? That would be fantastic

This. Name natters. IME 90% of people I know who want to quickly look through a PowerPoint on Linux will install OpenOffice. Even when they hear that libre is the better version 80% of them would stay with oo as it is the "real" oo.

So true. For example, when Node.js forked to io.js, even after a year where io.js was clearly a superior product, 90% of developers were still using Node.js. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Re: Contemplating the possible retirement of Apache OpenOffice

#142

Post by brewdad »

pmontra wrote: post #93
dagw wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OpenOffice still a much stronger brand outside of the Linux community. Basically all the non-technical people I know (including some very non-technical people like my father-in-law) know that OpenOffice is the free alternative for MS Office. I'll bet not one of them have heard of Libre Office.

I know some people using LibreOffice, because some technical friend or I installed it for them, and keep calling it OpenOffice even if they see the LibreOffice dialog every time it starts. I think it's a brand who's become the name of a product class, like Xerox in its heydays.

This is me. My mind still thinks OpenOffice, then I remember it's really LibreOffice now.

Re: Contemplating the possible retirement of Apache OpenOffice

#143

Post by mindcrime »

Well, my prediction[1] came true even faster than I anticipated. I don't understand why so many people seem so desperate to see AOO fail and go away. Hey look, if you prefer LO, fine. Some of us prefer AOO for our own reasons. There's no reason to take glee in seeing a project struggle.

Anyway, none of this means the project is actually going to be retired. It's just a discussion around something that might happen.

[1]: http://www.mail-archive.com/dev%40openoffice.apache.org/msg2...

Re: Contemplating the possible retirement of Apache OpenOffice

#144

Post by brewdad »

jkot wrote: post #134
jasonkostempski wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think its a bad idea to even use the word "Office" because it sounds like a lame rip-off you'd download from CNet. In fact, Im suprised MS doesnt have a legal issue with it. Thats always bugged me about a lot of OSS projects and vegan dishes, they pick a name based on their competitor instead of something original that doesn't constantly remind the user they're not quite getting the "real thing".

OpenOffice uses name 'office' for 30 years, 5 longer than MS does. Wiki: > OpenOffice.org originated as StarOffice, a proprietary office suite developed by German company StarDivision from 1985 on. > MS office 1.0 released : November 19, 1990[1] Office 1.0

Maybe that's the naming solution then.

StarOffice*

* The Open and Libre Office Suite

Everyone could write it as *Office to save typing. Then users would simply say the full name. "AsteriskOffice"

Nevermind....

Re: Contemplating the possible retirement of Apache OpenOffice

#145

Post by d33 »

mindcrime wrote: post #143

Well, my prediction[1] came true even faster than I anticipated. I don't understand why so many people seem so desperate to see AOO fail and go away. Hey look, if you prefer LO, fine. Some of us prefer AOO for our own reasons. There's no reason to take glee in seeing a project struggle. Anyway, none of this means the project is actually going to be retired. It's just a discussion around something that might happen. […

What could be any of the reasons to cheer for AOO anymore? From my perspective, it seems that it only creates confusion.

Re: Contemplating the possible retirement of Apache OpenOffice

#146

Post by fdgdasfadsf »

NetStrikeForce wrote: post #49
davidgerard wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is horrifyingly incorrect. AOO still gets a shitload of downloads. It wasn't until last year that LO overtook AOO alone's download total. You would be amazed. Ordinary people know MSO sucks and want a free alternative. "OpenOffice" is the name they've heard as their exit. The project is entirely trading on the goodwill that FLOSS activists built up for the name "OpenOffice" from 2002-2010. That brand is still po…

MSO is closed, proprietary, whatever, but it's actually a fine piece of software especially compared to OO and LO. Word, PowerPoint and Excel are so good that people end up overusing them for stuff they're not intended to. Others like OneNote or Visio are extremely useful, too. They might not be the best on each category, but together it's a very powerful suite. Plus, MSO is multiplatoform on Windows, Mac, iOS and An…

Is LO for Android not out yet? It feels like they have been talking about it for years...

Re: Contemplating the possible retirement of Apache OpenOffice

#147

Post by mindcrime »

ajdlinux wrote: post #62
ptero wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. Name natters. IME 90% of people I know who want to quickly look through a PowerPoint on Linux will install OpenOffice. Even when they hear that libre is the better version 80% of them would stay with oo as it is the "real" oo.

I agree in the case of the Windows/OS X environment, where brand awareness of LibreOffice is low, but in the Linux world... my distribution (Debian) doesn't even package OpenOffice, and I don't know any Linux user who uses OOo.

and I don't know any Linux user who uses OOo.

Pleased to meet you. Now you know at least one.

Re: Contemplating the possible retirement of Apache OpenOffice

#148

Post by morgo »

k__ wrote: post #77

How did the whole Oracle buys Sun thing work out for the OSS projets in general? Did LibreOffice and MariaDB get all the core devs?

You are comparing apples to oranges here. MySQL had a different (and more successful) business model.

No MariaDB did not get all the core devs.

Re: Contemplating the possible retirement of Apache OpenOffice

#149

Post by mindcrime »

JulianMorrison wrote: post #57
rincebrain wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you think so? It's not clear that they could have known this would not be sustainable at the time, and I don't see how the hot potato staying with Oracle would have been a better option.

It was immediately obvious at the time, I remember it as such. The devs jumped ship to LibreOffice. All Oracle was left with was a brand and a moribund codebase, and for some reason Apache accepted it. Why didn't Oracle give it to LibreOffice? Because they were sore at being bypassed, it looked like. The correct thing for Apache to do would have been to say, nope mate, we don't want to be part of your childish feud,…

Just getting the code-base released under the ALv2 was a win for the world at large. Even if we never pushed out a single release, at least the code is out there now, under a permissive license, where anybody can use it. That alone makes the whole exercise worthwhile, no matter what happens next.

Re: Contemplating the possible retirement of Apache OpenOffice

#150

Post by JulianMorrison »

nl wrote: post #72
rincebrain wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not impossible that the terms Apache got it under prohibited them divesting themselves of it for some length of time. I don't recall thinking at the time this landed that it was so cut-and-dry who would end up the superior solution. In the worst case, though, would it be better for Apache to have refused holding the OOo branding, given that there was no chance it would have otherwise made it out into someone lik…

The terms are all on the mailing list.

"On the mailing list" is like "in China". It may be accurate but it hardly narrows the search.
Post reply on HN