Apache Open Office as an unmaintained project? • Hacker News Board

Re: Apache Open Office as an unmaintained project?

#101

Post by jointhehorse » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 5:21 PM UTC

sprayk wrote: post #94

travisjungroth wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazon is a place. Apple is a fruit. Apache is a people. Specifically, a people that had genocide committed against them. It’s at least a little worse.

> Co-founder Brian Behlendorf states how the name 'Apache' was chosen: "I suggested the name Apache partly because the web technologies at the time that were launching were being called cyber this or spider that or something on those themes and I was like we need something a little more interesting, a little more romantic, not to be a cultural appropriator or anything like that, I had just seen a documentary about Ge…

That is almost certainly a retcon - their FAQ used to say otherwise, back in the late 1990s:

> Why the name "Apache"?

> A cute name which stuck. Apache is "A PAtCHy server". It was based on some existing code and a series of "patch files".

https://web.archive.org/web/19970106233141/http://www.apache...

Re: Apache Open Office as an unmaintained project?

#102

Post by pclmulqdq » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 5:22 PM UTC

softwaredoug wrote: post #64

brand wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems that “younger generation” programmers underestimate the value of governance in OSS. The recent Terraform kerluffle couldn’t have happened if Terraform was in the ASF, etc.

Agreed... We are seeing dozens of database companies turn their OSS into basically proprietary shared code licenses. And we seem to still pretend its "open source" Collaboration, across companies, not ownership by one company is the root of open source. To do that you need some kind of governance model. Essentially "ownership" by one company is conducive to quick progress on specific problems, but not collaboration.

The flipside is that companies don't seem all that interested in this sort of collaboration, though, nor should they be. It doesn't really make sense for a company that believes its edge is its technology to both give up the secret sauce and accept the dillution of that edge that comes from taking code from outside contributors. The modern version of "open source" is a natural evolution of the concept when this is how companies think.

Re: Apache Open Office as an unmaintained project?

#103

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 5:25 PM UTC

alright2565 wrote: post #93

foldr wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see anything particularly strange about them. This recent commit, for example, fixes some typos and changes some formatting a bit. HN seems to be taking a very conspiratorial turn in its thinking recently. https://github.com/apache/openoffice/compare/d98be9a24613ebe...

Are there so few bugs and issues in OpenOffice that, for months, the most pressing matter is to fix the incorrect use of "its" in comments? I mean this person is German (their Github bio). Even if they're not a programmer, why don't they instead take the time to translate some of the many german source files to english, like Libreoffice did back in 2013[1]? [1]: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2013/02/07/the…

Unless they're being paid to, the obvious answer is "this is what they felt like working on"

Re: Apache Open Office as an unmaintained project?

#104

Post by beanaroo » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 5:27 PM UTC

Condition1952 wrote: post #4

A bit off topic but what’s an easy to use FOSS WYSIWYG text processor for Linux? I’ve tried OpenOffice and I became frustrated.

Additionally, there is https://github.com/ONLYOFFICE/DesktopEditors

I personally find it a bit easier to use with better docx support.

Re: Apache Open Office as an unmaintained project?

#105

Post by morelisp » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 5:27 PM UTC

brand wrote: post #21

zoogeny wrote: post #8

I've felt for a long time (maybe even a decade) that Apache is the place OSS goes to retire/die. It is heartbreaking in some ways, they became the stewards for a lot of interesting projects [1]. And the venerable web server was so important to the early web. I am still running Apache vhosts on a few personal websites. It is also a totally unfair characterization. I mean, they still house relevant projects including K…

It seems that “younger generation” programmers underestimate the value of governance in OSS. The recent Terraform kerluffle couldn’t have happened if Terraform was in the ASF, etc.

More like the ASF lost any claim to inherently support good governance with OOo.

Re: Apache Open Office as an unmaintained project?

#106

Post by yjftsjthsd-h » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 5:27 PM UTC

hexagonwin wrote: post #54

While it is true that OpenOffice didn't get major updates for nearly a decade, it does what it's supposed to do, and is pretty stable. I still use it as it's faster than LibreOffice and I'm used to it. And why spam Apache to deprecate OO? It's not like OO is doing any harm for Apache or its users, one can install LibreOffice instead if they want it.

> It's not like OO is doing any harm for Apache or its users

The problem is that it is doing harm to its users, in the form of unaddressed security vulnerabilities.

Re: Apache Open Office as an unmaintained project?

#107

Post by znpy » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 5:27 PM UTC

softwaredoug wrote: post #64

brand wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems that “younger generation” programmers underestimate the value of governance in OSS. The recent Terraform kerluffle couldn’t have happened if Terraform was in the ASF, etc.

Agreed... We are seeing dozens of database companies turn their OSS into basically proprietary shared code licenses. And we seem to still pretend its "open source" Collaboration, across companies, not ownership by one company is the root of open source. To do that you need some kind of governance model. Essentially "ownership" by one company is conducive to quick progress on specific problems, but not collaboration.

> We are seeing dozens of database companies turn their OSS into basically proprietary shared code licenses. And we seem to still pretend its "open source"

"open source" here is working as intended. the thing is, "open source" is misunderstood by many (most?) individuals.

"open source" was explicitly created by Eric Raymond and others in the late 90ies because the Free Software movement was seen as too extremistic by companies still deeply rooted into the proprietary model.

"open source" is a nice way out, in order to be able to look cool, while not actually playing it cool.

I said it in many posts and i'll say it again: if you're require to give up copyright on your contributions and the license isn't free-software... then it's just a matter of time before a company turns your code into proprietary intellectual property.

people that do not agree are simply delusional (or okay with that).

Re: Apache Open Office as an unmaintained project?

#108

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 5:27 PM UTC

alright2565 wrote: post #93

foldr wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see anything particularly strange about them. This recent commit, for example, fixes some typos and changes some formatting a bit. HN seems to be taking a very conspiratorial turn in its thinking recently. https://github.com/apache/openoffice/compare/d98be9a24613ebe...

Are there so few bugs and issues in OpenOffice that, for months, the most pressing matter is to fix the incorrect use of "its" in comments? I mean this person is German (their Github bio). Even if they're not a programmer, why don't they instead take the time to translate some of the many german source files to english, like Libreoffice did back in 2013[1]? [1]: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2013/02/07/the…

[deleted]

Re: Apache Open Office as an unmaintained project?

#109

Post by taylorbuley » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 5:28 PM UTC

talent_deprived wrote: post #92

zoogeny wrote: post #8

I've felt for a long time (maybe even a decade) that Apache is the place OSS goes to retire/die. It is heartbreaking in some ways, they became the stewards for a lot of interesting projects [1]. And the venerable web server was so important to the early web. I am still running Apache vhosts on a few personal websites. It is also a totally unfair characterization. I mean, they still house relevant projects including K…

> Apache is the place OSS goes to retire/die Fortunately many of us in the world disagree with the dystopian warped view.

Thankfully, yes. But I still see an unmaintained project as a broken window, of sorts, that mars an otherwise nice open-source edifice.

Re: Apache Open Office as an unmaintained project?

#110

Post by AceJohnny2 » Mon, Sep 25, 2023, 5:29 PM UTC

softwaredoug wrote: post #64

brand wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems that “younger generation” programmers underestimate the value of governance in OSS. The recent Terraform kerluffle couldn’t have happened if Terraform was in the ASF, etc.

Agreed... We are seeing dozens of database companies turn their OSS into basically proprietary shared code licenses. And we seem to still pretend its "open source" Collaboration, across companies, not ownership by one company is the root of open source. To do that you need some kind of governance model. Essentially "ownership" by one company is conducive to quick progress on specific problems, but not collaboration.

To put it another way: many startups today have adopted the "Open Core" business model, and it's really more about marketing than actual open-source.

"Open Core" means they open-source the core of their product portfolio, core which some enterprising people may use to develop applications on, but for others will really need the buy into the rest of the portfolio to get the best use out of.