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

Office.eu launches as Europe's sovereign office platform

office.eu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 170 posts

Re: Office.eu launches as Europe's sovereign office platform

#41

Post by F7F7F7 »

dabedee wrote: post #6

I laud the attempt and I think it's important there are more projects that try to compete with their American counterparts. I do want to gently note that if your entire pitch is "we are a bold, independent European alternative that liberates you from the hegemony of the established American players," maybe don't name your product the exact same thing as the product you're replacing? "Office." They named it "Office."

That word is not as loaded as you might think it is anymore. At least not with the next generation of users.

With your average 18-24 year old swimming in Google Docs, Notion, Monday, Airtable and a dozen others..."Office" will belong to the EU in no time.

Re: Office.eu launches as Europe's sovereign office platform

#46

Post by BitsAndObjects »

BitsAndObjects wrote: post #39

Am I being dumb: they say it's "open-source software" but I can't actually find a link (or links) to the software / source anywhere on the office.eu website??

Oh, there's some reference to NextCloud - so is this just a white-labeled NextCloud? Or a straight-up AI generated rip-off / resell?

Re: Office.eu launches as Europe's sovereign office platform

#47

Post by cedilla »

ocdtrekkie wrote: post #19
pavlov wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, Microsoft Office doesn't exist anymore as a separate brand: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-offi... "Office is now Microsoft 365, the premier productivity suite with innovative productivity apps, intelligent cloud services, and world-class security. Office.com, the Office mobile app, and the Office app for Windows are combined in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app—with a new icon, new l…

I doubt this will stop the lawsuit. Also Microsoft still absolutely sells Office 365 tiers separately from Microsoft 365 tiers. Their marketing is terrible and confusing but Offie definitely still exits as a brand, and you can bet your bottom dollar the lawyers are going to be having a great day on Monday.

Microsoft does not have a trademark for "Office", which is clearly a type of product and can't be used as a program name (just like you can't name your oatmeal "Oatmeal" and expect trademark protection).

Microsoft does have a figurative trademark for "Office" with the rectangular icon: https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/01141355... - office.eu's logo does not bear any resemblance.

The only way this would be infringing is if office.eu usage could be confused with Microsoft other's trademarks - like Microsoft Office - but I don't see that.

So no, office.eu will have a calm Monday on that front, just like hundreds of other companies offering products with "Office" in their name.

(I'm not a lawyer. Talk to a lawyer before deciding to take on a trillion dollar company).

Re: Office.eu launches as Europe's sovereign office platform

#48

Post by dlcarrier »

dabedee wrote: post #6

I laud the attempt and I think it's important there are more projects that try to compete with their American counterparts. I do want to gently note that if your entire pitch is "we are a bold, independent European alternative that liberates you from the hegemony of the established American players," maybe don't name your product the exact same thing as the product you're replacing? "Office." They named it "Office."

What I get out of that pitch is "use us because we're local to you, and possibly because you're required to, not because we're and good, or that we'll even try".

I mostly interact with smaller contributors to their field, and they tend to be unique and bold, because that's what is needed to be competitive. When they get their uniqueness and boldness out of just being who they are, it doesn't tend to foster the type of uniqueness and boldness needed to make a good product.

Re: Office.eu launches as Europe's sovereign office platform

#49

Post by my-next-account »

BitsAndObjects wrote: post #39

Am I being dumb: they say it's "open-source software" but I can't actually find a link (or links) to the software / source anywhere on the office.eu website??

It says that it's based on Nextcloud, which is AGPL, so they better F:ing cough up the source code :-)

Re: Office.eu launches as Europe's sovereign office platform

#50

Post by rsynnott »

nradov wrote: post #20

Good luck to them, but without an equivalent to Microsoft Access it's not really a replacement for Microsoft Office for many power users. (Yes, I'm aware that Access has some weaknesses as a database but for quick-and-dirty custom applications it's still the easiest platform out there.)

... Wait, people are still using MS Access?! I didn't even realise that there was still a current version.

> but for quick-and-dirty custom applications it's still the easiest platform out there.

So I'm a big LLM sceptic. Seriously, you can check. But if there is one thing that LLMs _are_ quite good at, it is the sort of quick and (very) dirty custom CRUD apps traditionally produced with Access.

Post reply on HN