Oracle's OpenOffice.org 3.3.0 RC1 Makes It Out

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Oracle's OpenOffice.org 3.3.0 RC1 Makes It Out

While last month several OpenOffice.org members had left the free software office suite project to form LibreOffice and The Document Foundation, there's no signs that OpenOffice.org is going away anytime soon; Oracle has just announced the first release candidate for the upcoming OpenOffice.org 3.3.0...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=ODY5MQ

[Joe Sixpack]

OpenOffice will always be here for one reason: name recognition. There are millions of people who still don't know it exsits to this day. (but being tied to Oracle will change that IMO). There are even people who use OpenOffce every day and don't know about go-oo.org, so what makes you think people will follow them over to another project?

Speaking of that other project, the name Libre Office is a disaster. It just screams "for geeks, by geeks..". It's in the same boat as IceWeasel: they were too concerned with picking a name that thumbs the nose up at the original project instead of picking something sensible and catchy.

[Adriano ML]

OpenOffice will always be here for one reason: name recognition. There are millions of people who still don't know it exsits to this day. (but being tied to Oracle will change that IMO). There are even people who use OpenOffce every day and don't know about go-oo.org, so what makes you think people will follow them over to another project?

Speaking of that other project, the name Libre Office is a disaster. It just screams "for geeks, by geeks..". It's in the same boat as IceWeasel: they were too concerned with picking a name that thumbs the nose up at the original project instead of picking something sensible and catchy.

Go-OO wasn't geared toward users. It was just a way to keep alive the code that Sun (now Oracle) refused to merge.

Even then, most distributions already ship Go-OO instead of OpenOffice, even if the package is called the latter.

Now, looking at Libre Office and the Document Foundation... This is the Real Deal®. They want to keep Oracle interests out of the way, and provide a new product.

It's already considered successful, as most of the developers has already shifted, and many other players are already promoting it.

[Joe Sixpack]

Go-OO wasn't geared toward users. It was just a way to keep alive the code that Sun (now Oracle) refused to merge.

Even then, most distributions already ship Go-OO instead of OpenOffice, even if the package is called the latter.

Here's the problem...

1) You said most distros already ship go-oo insteaed of OpenOffice. That would be great if it was Linux only, but it's not remember? OpenOffice also runs on Windows and MacOS - and of the 3 of them Linux has the smallest user base.

Now, looking at Libre Office and the Document Foundation... This is the Real Deal®. They want to keep Oracle interests out of the way, and provide a new product.

It's already considered successful, as most of the developers has already shifted, and many other players are already promoting it.

2) That would be all well and good if OpenOffice ceased to exist - but it didn't and it won't. Most people don't care about politics. If OpenOffice works for them and it's still free you're going to have a hard time convincing them to switch to an unproven product.

3) I should also note that except of Google, there isn't a single supporter recognizable outside of the Linux community. Oracle on the other had is a BIG brand. If they were to make a big push behind OpenOffice they would ultimately limit LibreOffice to a Linux-only market. Again, they're competing as a cross platform office suite - not just a Linux one. This is important because people on Windows and MacOS care about brand recognition and marketing - not politics.

[drelyn86]

Go-OO wasn't geared toward users. It was just a way to keep alive the code that Sun (now Oracle) refused to merge.

Even then, most distributions already ship Go-OO instead of OpenOffice, even if the package is called the latter.

Now, looking at Libre Office and the Document Foundation... This is the Real Deal®. They want to keep Oracle interests out of the way, and provide a new product.

It's already considered successful, as most of the developers has already shifted, and many other players are already promoting it.

Agreed. I think people are focusing too much on the name.

If they start innovating instead of trying to clone what MS Office once was, implement a better UI, and fix the Calc issues, they could call it LibreDogPoo and it would still be successful.

[thefirstm]

FragOffice 3.3.0RC1! I don't know which version/fork to install anymore, so I just uninstalled it...

[yesterday]

Here's the problem...

1) You said most distros already ship go-oo insteaed of OpenOffice. That would be great if it was Linux only, but it's not remember? OpenOffice also runs on Windows and MacOS - and of the 3 of them Linux has the smallest user base.



2) That would be all well and good if OpenOffice ceased to exist - but it didn't and it won't. Most people don't care about politics. If OpenOffice works for them and it's still free you're going to have a hard time convincing them to switch to an unproven product.

3) I should also note that except of Google, there isn't a single supporter recognizable outside of the Linux community. Oracle on the other had is a BIG brand. If they were to make a big push behind OpenOffice they would ultimately limit LibreOffice to a Linux-only market. Again, they're competing as a cross platform office suite - not just a Linux one. This is important because people on Windows and MacOS care about brand recognition and marketing - not politics.

People on all platforms care about one thing only. FUnctionality. Most people using windows or osx don't care about OOo because to them, it sucks compared to MS Office.

LibreOffice forked because the development model of OOo was leading to stagnation.

The winner will be the group that can put out the best product, because ultimately these products have to compete with MS Office, which is at the moment streets ahead. It remains to be seen whether Oracle will really devote resources to the improvement of OOo.

[Yezu]

Well new features are a nice thing. But will anyone improve one of the biggest drawback of OO.org: It works slow as hell. Won't anybody do something with that?

[Adriano ML]

2) That would be all well and good if OpenOffice ceased to exist - but it didn't and it won't. Most people don't care about politics. If OpenOffice works for them and it's still free you're going to have a hard time convincing them to switch to an unproven product.

3) I should also note that except of Google, there isn't a single supporter recognizable outside of the Linux community. Oracle on the other had is a BIG brand. If they were to make a big push behind OpenOffice they would ultimately limit LibreOffice to a Linux-only market. Again, they're competing as a cross platform office suite - not just a Linux one. This is important because people on Windows and MacOS care about brand recognition and marketing - not politics.

If you think Brand recognition is everything, look at the PS3 launch fiasco

Also, I don't know any End User who knows what Oracle is. In the other hand, Google is almost synonymous of web search.

The Document Foundation tried to get hold of the OOo brand, but Oracle just won't let it happen. I also don't like the new branding, but it might be temporary, according to their FAQ.

[markg85]

So now we have "OpenOffice" backed by only oracle.
AND LibreOffice backed by the FOSS community at large..

Interesting, *office fragmentation. I certainly hope it will be a win - win situtation for the open office alternatives although i doubt it.