Live data from Hacker News

The New Collabora Office for Desktop

collaboraonline.com

11–20 of 128 posts

Re: The New Collabora Office for Desktop

#13
post #11
post #9

Is it based on some open source core? Like the original Collabora Office?

looks like LibreOffice

I have not tried LibreOffice Online in many years, but it does not look like LibreOffice at all. It has the MSOffice ribbon clone. It is closer to OnlyOffice

Re: The New Collabora Office for Desktop

#14
post #4

This is probably great software. But the design, both of the site and the office software, looks so dated, it doesn’t even tempt me to try it

It is actually very, very janky and behaves like someone tried to reimplement ~15 years old Office UI in JavaScript. Not in a good way.

I really, really want them to be successful, but I cannot pretend it's a pleasure to use at all.

Re: The New Collabora Office for Desktop

#15
post #13
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

looks like LibreOffice

I have not tried LibreOffice Online in many years, but it does not look like LibreOffice at all. It has the MSOffice ribbon clone. It is closer to OnlyOffice

It is LibreOffice at its heart, but wrapped with a web-techs UI, AFAIK.

Re: The New Collabora Office for Desktop

#17
post #4

This is probably great software. But the design, both of the site and the office software, looks so dated, it doesn’t even tempt me to try it

I don't care about dated looks. I do find MS Office's pressure to use OneDrive frustrating and annoying. Honestly, older UIs for office suite products just feel more direct and responsive than the clever ribbon bars. Excel used to be svelte (25 years ago or more...) Now it feels bloated and clumsy. LibreOffice Calc (same parentage as Collabora Office) feels more like Excel used to feel. Similar complaints about Word.

Re: The New Collabora Office for Desktop

#18

Why is 'Differences between Collabora Office and Collabora Office Classic' document gated behind a email-wall? Nothing but enshittification. https://www.collaboraonline.com/case-studies/differences-bet...

Don't bother, I tried with a disposable email address and they make you subscribe to a mailing list before sending you the download link. When you do eventually get it, it's a 3 page puff marketing PDF.

I converted it to TXT and pulled out the only bit of interest here:

                  Collabora Office                              Collabora Office Classic
                  Fresh, modern UX                                Classic, established UX
  Javascript & CSS UI to match Collabora Online                    VCL-based classic UI
       Simpler settings / streamlined defaults           Very extensive options, menus & dialogs
                       No Java                       Java used for some features/wizards/DB drivers
                 No built-in Base app                                Includes Base UI
                     Runs macros                    Full macro editor & advanced BASIC/Python/UNO
      Modern web tech (Canvas, WebGL, CSS)                         Custom toolkit (VCL)
     Fast to iterate (edit JS, fewer recompiles)      Core/C++ changes typically require recompiles
   Initial release – Enterprise Support is coming            Long term Enterprise Supported
       Quick Start Guides and video tutorials                  Extensive manuals & books
Post reply on HN