Apache OpenOffice.org (incubating)

[guy]

The Apache Software Foundation have responded at last to all those comments disparaging OOo and the ASF's efforts to get it moving forward again.

ASF make it clear that the OOo project is very much alive and kicking. They add a gentlemanly call to end the mud slinging (though they cannot resist a minor sideswipe at Libre Office for "pursuing market dominance") and get back to the business of moving things forward.

Hoping that a little friendly competiton will drive the ODF world forwards a good deal faster than the MSXML monotony. Be interesting to see how many developers are willing to contribute their code to both ODF based products, and how many take sides.

[heiowge]

I think OOo lost it big time when they refused to open up. The loss of key developers should have killed it completely. They're playing catch up in a field where most people have already switched to Libre Office. If they'd announced their plans to keep going a year ago they might have stood a chance. But now... I doubt it.

[johnhudson]

The question really is: how important is it for OO to have a significant market share?

If it can survive as a niche product for enterprise markets, it could have a good future. It is likely to continue to get contributions from experienced programmers at IBM, for example.

Also LibreOffice faces an, as yet untested, competitor in Calligra which has been designed to run on tablets and mobiles and which is also claiming better import of docx files.

In its previous incarnation as the KDE3 version of KWord, it beat OpenOffice is several areas.

But there are several things which LibreOffice, in pursuit of MS Office compatibility, cannot yet do which, for example, Gnumeric can do.

So, though I now use LibreOffice more than I used to use OpenOffice when KDE3 KWord was around, if Calligra does shape up, I will probably switch back to it.

(With LyX 2's improved handling of foreign languages, I've already stopped using LibreOffice for some foreign language work.)

[M-Saunders]

Two projects with the exact same goal fighting with each other? I thought we had enough of that in distro land...

I look forward to the day when people can actually work together.

M

[heiowge]

In this case it's community vs business. No-one will pay for something if the same thing is there for free, so I fail to see how they'll make any money on it. Plus Apache have already said that OOo is ten times bigger than any other project on their books currently. Sounds like a lot of expense needed for little return.

[PCNetSpec]

Two projects with the exact same goal fighting with each other? I thought we had enough of that in distro land...

I look forward to the day when people can actually work together.

M

Isn't it the fact that there *is* competition in Linux/OSS land that helps drive development .. something that has been sorely lacking in proprietary land for some time ?

I see this as a strength, not a weakness.

[M-Saunders]

Isn't it the fact that there *is* competition in Linux/OSS land that helps drive development .. something that has been sorely lacking in proprietary land for some time ?

When it makes sense, yes. For instance, competition between AbiWord and OOo makes sense. AbiWord has pressure to be more featureful whilst being light on RAM; OOo has pressure to be lighter on RAM whilst maintaining features. Net win for users.

But I have yet to see any evidence that the five Ubuntu spin-off-with-LXDE distros, which are all essentially identical, have yielded any kind of benefit. It's just a gigantic duplication of effort for the exact same result. There's far more to gain by LibreOffice and OOo developers collaborating than them squabbling and implementing identical features separately because of "not invented here" syndrome.

M

[PCNetSpec]

I agree that the "not invented here" syndrome is silly, but think it a little early to say whether the competition 'as a whole' will be beneficial or not.

If nothing else, it will be interesting to see how it all plays out .. there's something to be said for its entertainment value alone:)

There tends to be ill feeling after any fork, and yes this one seems to be more venomous than most, but I'll reserve judgment and see what happens after the squabbling dies down... it usually does... eventually.

[johnhudson]

To be fair to The Document Foundation, they did offer to do a deal with Oracle at the outset and Oracle refused and also insisted that no-one should work for both OO and LO.

We don't know what would have happened if Oracle had accepted the invitation but TDF should at least be given credit for offering the opportunity at the outset.