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February 15 2012
Joys of LibreOffice and Life-long Learning
Joys of LibreOffice and Life-long Learning
Although I usually write with WordPerfect, this post is being written with LibreOffice text document. There is a good reason. In a little over a week, I will start teaching my new class on downloading major applications for free (and safely) from the Internet. Among the applications I will feature is, of course, the LibreOffice [...]
by Sherman E. Deforest for LockerGnome.
April 15 2011
OpenOffice Without Oracle? Is That Like A Fish Without A Bicycle?
When I was a little boy, there was a feminist joke about a woman without a man being like a fish without a bicycle, and the same logic may apply to the OpenOffice group. There may be absolutely no reason for the continuation of the association, and all that Oracle money may not make one iota of difference to the development process.
The whys about that, for those that have not followed the saga of OpenOffice since the sale of Sun to Oracle, may not be readily apparent.
It begins with the disclosure that all those within the OpenOffice group were not happy with the sale of Sun to Oracle before the deal was ever finalized, and that many were secretly wishing that IBM had gotten the nod instead. With the announcement of the acquisition by Oracle, OpenOffice personnel were extricating themselves from the upcoming perceived mess, and in doing so, created The Document Foundation, with its baby, LibreOffice.
There is also the problem of OpenOffice becoming a commercial product, as Oracle went through a period of wanting to monetize absolutely everything, going so far as to ask ridiculous sums of money for Open Document Format plug-ins, which had begun their lives as free downloads. That idea has gone the way of the dodo however, as Oracle has scrapped all the plans for that, including the cloud office portions, which were, for a time, being heavily promoted. Several longstanding URLs dedicated to the promotion of the commercial Oracle Office product, which was to be completely rewritten using proprietary JavaFX, have gone completely 404.
The Register, where this news originally came from, offers no explanation for the outwardly sudden change of direction, and wonders if it was a religious conversion -
Oracle offered no reason for its sudden change on Friday. Oracle may well have had a Saul-like road-to-Damascus conversion to the principles of open source. Sources close to the company have been telling us lately that Oracle has realized it has taken needless lumps for its actions on open source and Java, and is learning how to work with the open source projects it inherited from Sun.
With the long held values, and direction of Oracle, shown clearly by Mr. Ellison, that sort of change is doubtful. It is much more likely that Oracle wishes to cut its losses, seeing that the remaining OpenOffice crew may have been near a mutiny, or perhaps simply realizing that Oracle’s fate was not expressly tied to being the everything-to-everyone corporation. (Microsoft already has those delusions of grandeur.)
While The Document Foundation appears to be doing nicely on its own, the continued work of that body is not absolutely certain, as all the monetary streams flowing inwards are not known. OpenOffice was always dependent on the largesse of Sun, and it is uncertain how long the new, lighter OpenOffice team, with or without a recombination with their mates that formed The Document Foundation, can survive in the world without a sugar daddy.
Will OpenOffice strike out on its own, alone? Are the ties to Oracle simply being loosened, and we are misinterpreting the words of the Oracle spokesperson? Or will OpenOffice and LibreOffice recombine to become a more formidable product, where the adrenalin rush of the recombination pushes them to new heights?
§
OpenOffice Without Oracle? Is That Like A Fish Without A Bicycle?
When I was a little boy, there was a feminist joke about a woman without a man being like a fish without a bicycle, and the same logic may apply to the OpenOffice group. There may be absolutely no reason for the continuation of the association, and all that Oracle money may not make one iota of difference to the development process.
The whys about that, for those that have not followed the saga of OpenOffice since the sale of Sun to Oracle, may not be readily apparent.
It begins with the disclosure that all those within the OpenOffice group were not happy with the sale of Sun to Oracle before the deal was ever finalized, and that many were secretly wishing that IBM had gotten the nod instead. With the announcement of the acquisition by Oracle, OpenOffice personnel were extricating themselves from the upcoming perceived mess, and in doing so, created The Document Foundation, with its baby, LibreOffice.
There is also the problem of OpenOffice becoming a commercial product, as Oracle went through a period of wanting to monetize absolutely everything, going so far as to ask ridiculous sums of money for Open Document Format plug-ins, which had begun their lives as free downloads. That idea has gone the way of the dodo however, as Oracle has scrapped all the plans for that, including the cloud office portions, which were, for a time, being heavily promoted. Several longstanding URLs dedicated to the promotion of the commercial Oracle Office product, which was to be completely rewritten using proprietary JavaFX, have gone completely 404.
The Register, where this news originally came from, offers no explanation for the outwardly sudden change of direction, and wonders if it was a religious conversion -
Oracle offered no reason for its sudden change on Friday. Oracle may well have had a Saul-like road-to-Damascus conversion to the principles of open source. Sources close to the company have been telling us lately that Oracle has realized it has taken needless lumps for its actions on open source and Java, and is learning how to work with the open source projects it inherited from Sun.
With the long held values, and direction of Oracle, shown clearly by Mr. Ellison, that sort of change is doubtful. It is much more likely that Oracle wishes to cut its losses, seeing that the remaining OpenOffice crew may have been near a mutiny, or perhaps simply realizing that Oracle’s fate was not expressly tied to being the everything-to-everyone corporation. (Microsoft already has those delusions of grandeur.)
While The Document Foundation appears to be doing nicely on its own, the continued work of that body is not absolutely certain, as all the monetary streams flowing inwards are not known. OpenOffice was always dependent on the largesse of Sun, and it is uncertain how long the new, lighter OpenOffice team, with or without a recombination with their mates that formed The Document Foundation, can survive in the world without a sugar daddy.
Will OpenOffice strike out on its own, alone? Are the ties to Oracle simply being loosened, and we are misinterpreting the words of the Oracle spokesperson? Or will OpenOffice and LibreOffice recombine to become a more formidable product, where the adrenalin rush of the recombination pushes them to new heights?
§
January 28 2011
LibreOffice 3.3 – Advancing Without Oracle
It’s been a couple of days since the release of the finalized version of LibreOffice dropped. For a while it was looking as though the offshoot of OpenOffice was playing catch-up to the progenitor, with the release of 4 release candidate versions.
It was not enough however, as the Oracle-fueled OpenOffice effort took it all the way to Release Candidate 10, showing … well, I doubt if anyone knows really what they were trying to show.
After looking at the installed OxygenOffice 3.2 that I had installed on my machine, then the LibreOffice 3.3 release, and finally the newest OpenOffice 3.3, I must say that I believe that the newbies will be wowed by the improved interface of LibreOffice. It simply looks better, and more professional (more like something designed by the old Word Perfect staff, unlike the OOo interface, which looks like a great effort from a garage). It is a combination of many things, but the metrics of the pages make the largest difference, and it is all for the better.
From the release notes from The Document Foundation, which are much more complete than they ever were when this was a Sun product, or compared to recent Oracle pre-release notes, the things newly added are importation and manipulation of SVG graphics, improvements in page numbering and titling in Writer, small but effective changes in the handling of information in the Calc application, and some new import filters, such as the ones for Microsoft Works (which is very helpful because many will have had that as a freebie on their OEM computer, and previously there was no way to import files other than by the awkward method of converting to plain text first) and Lotus Word Pro.
When I first saw the size of the download, I wondered why the package was so large, as including the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Java would still not increase it so. I found upon closer inspection, after install, that many extensions that were additional downloads are now a part of this release. It may be annoying to those who only use the bare bones, but for those of us that download all the applicable add-ons, it makes for a much nicer experience, with all the additional items being installed at the same time.
The entire list of things which have changed can be found here, and the things which are specific to LibreOffice are noted as well, showing how this group of developers wish to stay compatible with OOo, but improve their offering.
By keeping compatibility, yet moving forward with improvements, The Document Foundation will be forcing Oracle’s hand, and keeping the pressure on Microsoft to continue to offer new things, otherwise, the LibreOffice offering will bring all that most everyone needs, and will draw people away from both OpenOffice and Microsoft Office.
In the short time I have sued it, I see no major flaws (or minor ones, for that matter) and the release seems to be more finished than any I can remember coming from this base code since StarOffice 7.
My experiences with GoogleDocs have all been poor, so I won’t say anything about the direct comparisons, because I’m not making any – other than the observation that I still believe that most people want to know that their documents are stored locally, and in the event of a foul up, those so equipped can retrieve the shreds of something after a crash from their hard drive, instead of throwing hands to the sky and having no recourse but to curse the empty “cloud”.
The next major obstacle to the widespread adoption of LibreOffice will be the time taken to release the next update, with the fixes for the bugs that will be found, and new features, showing that the authors know that this set of productivity applications are not yet all things to all people.
§
LibreOffice 3.3 – Advancing Without Oracle
It’s been a couple of days since the release of the finalized version of LibreOffice dropped. For a while is was looking as though the offshoot of OpenOffice was playing catch-up to the progenitor, with the release of 4 release candidate versions.
It was not enough however, as the Oracle-fueled OpenOffice effort took it all the way to Release Candidate 10, showing … well, I doubt if anyone knows really what they were trying to show.
After looking at the installed OxygenOffice 3.2 that I had installed on my machine, then the LibreOffice 3.3 release, and finally the newest OpenOffice 3.3, I must say that I believe that the newbies will be wowed by the improved interface of LibreOffice. It simply looks better, and more professional (more like something designed by the old Word Perfect staff, unlike the OOo interface, which looks like a great effort from a garage). It is a combination of many things, but the metrics of the pages make the largest difference, and it is all for the better.
From the release notes from The Document Foundation, which are much more complete than they ever were when this was a Sun product, or compared to recent Oracle pre-release notes, the things newly added are importation and manipulation of SVG graphics, improvements in page numbering and titling in Writer, small but effective changes in the handling of information in the Calc application, and some new import filters, such as the ones for Microsoft Works (which is very helpful because many will have had that as a freebie on their OEM computer, and previously there was no way to import files other than by the awkward method of converting to plain text first) and Lotus Word Pro.
When I first saw the size of the download, I wondered why the package was so large, as including the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Java would still not increase it so. I found upon closer inspection, after install, that many extensions that were additional downloads are now a part of this release. It may be annoying to those who only use the bare bones, but for those of us that download all the applicable add-ons, it makes for a much nicer experience, with all the additional items being installed at the same time.
The entire list of things which have changed can be found here, and the things which are specific to LibreOffice are noted as well, showing how this group of developers wish to stay compatible with OOo, but improve their offering.
By keeping compatibility, yet moving forward with improvements, The Document Foundation will be forcing Oracle’s hand, and keeping the pressure on Microsoft to continue to offer new things, otherwise, the LibreOffice offering will bring all that most everyone needs, and will draw people away from both OpenOffice and Microsoft Office.
In the short time I have sued it, I see no major flaws (or minor ones, for that matter) and the release seems to be more finished than any I can remember coming from this base code since StarOffice 7.
My experiences with GoogleDocs have all been poor, so I won’t say anything about the direct comparisons, because I’m not making any – other than the observation that I still believe that most people want to know that their documents are stored locally, and in the event of a foul up, those so equipped can retrieve the shreds of something after a crash from their hard drive, instead of throwing hands to the sky and having no recourse but to curse the empty “cloud”.
The next major obstacle to the widespread adoption of LibreOffice will be the time taken to release the next update, with the fixes for the bugs that will be found, and new features, showing that the authors know that the set of productivity applications are not yet all things to all people.
§
December 18 2010
Oracle All Over The Map (including The Cloud)
Things must be calamitous at Oracle these days. If they are not, you certainly could not tell from the outside, because the company seems to be all over on many things, Solaris, OpenOffice, getting into the ring with Microsoft and Google – certainly a full plate, especially for a company that is down in staff, after layoffs, and certainly not held in highest esteem by many of its employees.
With the announcement of Oracle Cloud Office, the company is betting on a few things.
First, there is the assumption that people really will want to use their offsite storage versus any other choice available. Then there is the assumption that there will be a large market for paid use of OpenOffice software, which has been criticized in many publications and had its one saving grace reported as its cost. When the cost is no longer zero, will the users still want it? After all, Microsoft is offering much the same thing using the Docs dot com and Office365 websites, with the number one productivity suite being available, instead of a good, but less well known, and slightly less compatible, substitute. The competition from Google Docs must also be factored in, as it is a known quantity, and for business, which is, after all, the desired target, a bird in the hand is worth about three and a half in the unknown bush.
Then there is the uncertainty of OpenOffice, itself. After a large number of employees leaving over the way the program was flowing, the remaining crew has apparently forced on, but seems to be lost in its efforts, or at the very least has no clue how to test for, and eliminate bugs. OpenOffice 3.3 is the longest version in coming from recent memory, and we are now up to release candidate 8. Come on, guys, if it’s that screwed up still, let’s not affix the moniker release candidate.
Even the faithful cannot strictly be counted upon, as there was a fork in the road, and many users may be taking the path that the developers leaving Oracle have started, which is the Document Foundation, and its releases, called LibreOffice.
Though the FAQ from the Document Foundation states that it is not a fork, it is, and only the naïve are really believing that story -
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.
Q: Why are you calling yourselves "The Document Foundation"?A: For ten years we have used the same name – "OpenOffice.org" – for both the Community and the software. We’ve decided it removes ambiguity to have a different name for the two, so the Community is now "The Document Foundation", and the software "LibreOffice". Note: there are other examples of this usage in the free software community – e.g. the Mozilla Foundation with the Firefox browser.
Q: Does this mean you intend to develop other pieces of software?A: We would like to have that possibility open to us in the future…
Q: And why are you calling the software "LibreOffice" instead of "OpenOffice.org"?A: The OpenOffice.org trademark is owned by Oracle Corporation. Our hope is that Oracle will donate this to the Foundation, along with the other assets it holds in trust for the Community, in due course, once legal etc issues are resolved. However, we need to continue work in the meantime – hence "LibreOffice" ("free office").
You don’t have to be Nostradamus to see what is happening here, and the differences are already there, as LibreOffice is on RC1 and, as mentioned above OpenOffice from Oracle is on RC8. We also have no way of knowing which software is the more advanced, or which one has had major sections of code removed, or if that has happened at all. All of these things lead to uncertainty, and users, even of free software, don’t like uncertainty.
Beyond that, there is certainly no telling whether or not things from Oracle that are free today will remain that way. After all, a plug-in for OpenOffice that was freely available under the Sun guidance of OO became something that was changed in price to 90 dollars. Clearly, no one in their right state of mind was going to pay for an addition of limited usability on otherwise free software. When Oracle can do things like that, deciding to go all Rupert Murdock on us, thinking that everything must be monetized, it leaves many wondering about the continuing state of OO for the average user.
Already we have an article in InformationWeek mentioning that Oracle is trying to tie in the Cloud Office with a professional version of OpenOffice and that the “standard edition” which ties OpenOffice with this new cloud version will have its own cost.
The Cloud Office Professional Edition and OpenOffice Enterprise Edition cost about $90 per user, volume discounts available, with limited support, and Cloud Office Standard Edition and OpenOffice Standard Edition list at $49.95 per user with no support.
The bean counters at small businesses will have a lot of crunching to do to justify this, and most larger ones will be going with Google or Microsoft.
Where does that leave Oracle? The company seems to be running around like a chicken, directionless, because of the loss of its head before the Sunday chicken dinner.
§
Oracle All Over The Map (including The Cloud)
Things must be calamitous at Oracle these days. If they are not, you certainly could not tell from the outside, because the company seems to be all over on many things, Solaris, OpenOffice, getting into the ring with Microsoft and Google – certainly a full plate, especially for a company that is down in staff, after layoffs, and certainly not held in highest esteem by many of its employees.
With the announcement of Oracle Cloud Office, the company is betting on a few things.
First, there is the assumption that people really will want to use their offsite storage versus any other choice available. Then there is the assumption that there will be a large market for paid use of OpenOffice software, which has been criticized in many publications and had its one saving grace reported as its cost. When the cost is no longer zero, will the users still want it? After all, Microsoft is offering much the same thing using the Docs dot com and Office365 websites, with the number one productivity suite being available, instead of a good, but less well known, and slightly less compatible, substitute. The competition from Google Docs must also be factored in, as it is a known quantity, and for business, which is, after all, the desired target, a bird in the hand is worth about three and a half in the unknown bush.
Then there is the uncertainty of OpenOffice, itself. After a large number of employees leaving over the way the program was flowing, the remaining crew has apparently forced on, but seems to be lost in its efforts, or at the very least has no clue how to test for, and eliminate bugs. OpenOffice 3.3 is the longest version in coming from recent memory, and we are now up to release candidate 8. Come on, guys, if it’s that screwed up still, let’s not affix the moniker release candidate.
Even the faithful cannot strictly be counted upon, as there was a fork in the road, and many users may be taking the path that the developers leaving Oracle have started, which is the Document Foundation, and its releases, called LibreOffice.
Though the FAQ from the Document Foundation states that it is not a fork, it is, and only the naïve are really believing that story -
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.
Q: Why are you calling yourselves "The Document Foundation"?A: For ten years we have used the same name – "OpenOffice.org" – for both the Community and the software. We’ve decided it removes ambiguity to have a different name for the two, so the Community is now "The Document Foundation", and the software "LibreOffice". Note: there are other examples of this usage in the free software community – e.g. the Mozilla Foundation with the Firefox browser.
Q: Does this mean you intend to develop other pieces of software?A: We would like to have that possibility open to us in the future…
Q: And why are you calling the software "LibreOffice" instead of "OpenOffice.org"?A: The OpenOffice.org trademark is owned by Oracle Corporation. Our hope is that Oracle will donate this to the Foundation, along with the other assets it holds in trust for the Community, in due course, once legal etc issues are resolved. However, we need to continue work in the meantime – hence "LibreOffice" ("free office").
You don’t have to be Nostradamus to see what is happening here, and the differences are already there, as LibreOffice is on RC1 and, as mentioned above OpenOffice from Oracle is on RC8. We also have no way of knowing which software is the more advanced, or which one has had major sections of code removed, or if that has happened at all. All of these things lead to uncertainty, and users, even of free software, don’t like uncertainty.
Beyond that, there is certainly no telling whether or not things from Oracle that are free today will remain that way. After all, a plug-in for OpenOffice that was freely available under the Sun guidance of OO became something that was changed in price to 90 dollars. Clearly, no one in their right state of mind was going to pay for an addition of limited usability on otherwise free software. When Oracle can do things like that, deciding to go all Rupert Murdock on us, thinking that everything must be monetized, it leaves many wondering about the continuing state of OO for the average user.
Already we have an article in InformationWeek mentioning that Oracle is trying to tie in the Cloud Office with a professional version of OpenOffice and that the “standard edition” which ties OpenOffice with this new cloud version will have its own cost.
The Cloud Office Professional Edition and OpenOffice Enterprise Edition cost about $90 per user, volume discounts available, with limited support, and Cloud Office Standard Edition and OpenOffice Standard Edition list at $49.95 per user with no support.
The bean counters at small businesses will have a lot of crunching to do to justify this, and most larger ones will be going with Google or Microsoft.
Where does that leave Oracle? The company seems to be running around like a chicken, directionless, because of the loss of its head before the Sunday chicken dinner.
§
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