18 Apr 2011
What we strive for
The Document Foundation and LibreOffice represent already a future path of development for the OOo community and the OOo code base, as it was originally announced on September 28, 2010.
The Document Foundation:
- Is an independent self-governing meritocratic Foundation, created by leading members of the OpenOffice.org Community.
- Continues to build on the foundation of ten years’ dedicated work by the OpenOffice.org Community.
- Was created in the belief that the culture born out of an independent Foundation brings the best in contributors and will deliver the best software for the marketplace.
The development of TDF community and LibreOffice is going forward as planned, and we are always willing to include new members and partners.
We will provide as many information as we can with the progress of the situation. We are currently making every possible effort to offer a smooth transition to the project.
Charles-H. Schulz,
On behalf of the Steering Committee
of the Document Foundation.
Do you mean OpenOffice.org and Libreoffice will not be a single project now that Oracle released it?
‘…Oracle has announced that it INTENDS OpenOffice.org to become a “purely community-based open source project”‘
You see, it’s only Oracle’s INTENTION, it’s not legally binding, can be revoked at any time and is subject to Oracle’s interpretations of the terms.
Quite possibly it’s just a distraction tactic by Oracle, which would waste time and efforts of The Document Foundation and will not produce any meaningful results.
Just my opinion, of course.
Yeah, way to be vague. Forking was the right decision, but merging back (or trying to get Oracle to give the project to TDF) might be the right decision. Please say more than this.
I hope Oracle won’t give the trademark “OpenOffice.org” to the community. It was an awful name, LibreOffice is much better.
Absolutely! LibreOffice is a way better
My bikeshed is simply called “OpenOffice”.
+1
Sorry, but the LibreOffice brand is just unpronouncable for many people, especially non-native speakers.
At least in that regard, OpenOffice.org was way better.
@Claudius: “Sorry, but the LibreOffice brand is just unpronouncable for many people, especially non-native speakers.”
non-native speakers ? native of where ?
@Claudius: Most people “mispronounce” the original name as well, by leaving off the “.org”!
Rather than seeing the new name as a problem, we should be trying to teach people what the correct pronunciation is. I don’t see how “LibreOffice” is any more difficult to say than many other software names; heck, I’d be willing to bet that a non-trivial percentage of users don’t even pronounce “Linux” correctly.
LibreOffice sounds GAY.
OpenOffice is a far better name.
then call it YourOffice
if FLOSS want makes emphasis on user’s 4 freedoms – it should. Call it YourSoftware rather than Free Software
Call it YourOffice, etc
You make it sound like being gay is bad.
moron.
I agree completely with posts above. There must be a way to patch things up, to retain the spirit of the project (the independent foundation) without entering an ideological battle with Oracle. I’m sure it’s complicated, but probably worth the effort.
Go forward and don’t return back!
be FREE as in freedom
Thanks
I like the vague statement a lot!
Vague statement is indeed vague.
My suspicion is that Oracle may continue to fork OOo but tap LibreOffice to provide that code base. Similar to Google using WebKit to power Chrome.
That type of decision is likely still being negotiated. I seriously doubt Oracle will want to let go of the OpenOffce.org branding and its halo effect. They want that to remain Oracle, even if Oracle isn’t doing very much beyond creating an ad-supported, fine-tuned/enhanced version of LibreOffice.
Can we hear a little more about this:
http://www.hardmac.com/news/2011/04/19/oracle-transferred-the-openoffice-org-trademark-to-the-open-source-community
The link is bogus; whomever wrote it has no idea what they’re talking about. Oracle still does, and probably always will, maintain control of the OpenOffice.org trademark. Even after they divest themselves of the ownership of the project itself, they’ll still retain ownership of the trademark.
This is also why it’s unlikely that OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice will merge. OpenOffice.org has nothing that The Document Foundation wants; even the trademark, at this point, isn’t worth very much (especially since the trademark is technically for “OpenOffice.org” rather than “OpenOffice”).
At first I hated that the fork happened, but it was a necessary step in for the project to release itself from the control/orverlording that Oracle had. I soon got used to the name LibreOffice and love the direction and ODF community that has grown from all of this. The fact that your raised $100,000 in about 3 weeks shows that the community is also behind this project.
I’m not sure what you want to do with OOo now that it has become “a nothing” really. It is a name now. Nothing more. It is difficult to know what to do with it, because LibreOffice is now loved by millions, but OpenOffice has become the accepted name in alternative office suites for most institutions that have accepted an alternative.
Be wise my friends. It is going to be a difficult decision to make.
Oracle have been vague on detail both in terms of when it will happen and exact details of changes, even then it has to be seen what the OpenOffice.org Community then do.
If Oracle simply pull out then the OOo Community would probably just fade away without the resources of Oracle, then there are questions of what licensing arrangements they would use if it continued. There were always problems with the name, the intention had been that it should be Open Office, but a small German company refused to sell the rights to the name and fought Sun in the courts, so it was OpenOffice.org, LibreOffice incorporates advances in OOo and has made substantial enhancements, new logos and icons have been developed, what is there in OOo that isn’t in LibreOffice now that is worth incorporating? The Document Foundation is a much more suitable name and starts with a better structure, which leaves the likliehood that if there were to be any kind of merger that it would be better for residual elements of OOo to merge into The Document Foundation Community than vice versa.
I completely agree with you. Maybe the best way would to make the community vote via an open vote on the internet when things will be clearer.
Why not follow the same model as when GCC was forked to EGCS? They eventually got backed together, with EGCS being used as the new codebase for GCC.
Thank you for your work, don’t stop.
Clearly The Document Foundation is here to stay and LibreOffice is what OpenOffice once was – there is no going back.
http://www.i-programmer.info/news/136-open-source/2329-libreoffice-no-going-back.html
I like the name LibreOffice and the new logo, but think it would be a good thing to switch the name back to OpenOffice.org, if there is any possibility to do so, as this name is established and known bei millions of usern.
But otherwise I belive it will only need one or two years more, and the Name LibreOffice is as known and widespread as OpenOffice now.
Please keep the Libreoffice logo, brand and attitude. Those birds on OpenOffice.org logo will always remind us of the dark suffocating tentACLE that OrACLE sneakily launched over open source software in the last years.
OpenOffice.org is just a brand, but Libreoffice is more than that. It means software freedom and democratic software development from its very core. From code to artwork, everything in Libreoffice is made by the community to the community. In OpenOffice.org, it was *almost* everything.
Spelling correction: “many information” should be “much information” in the last paragraph.
The foundation really ought to consider Oracle’s donation of OOo.org to the community. It’s what the document foundation asked for when OOo developers walked, and now Oracle is agreeing to give it up (presumably because they realize they can’t not give it away free at this point).
Here is why they should take the name:
First, they asked Oracle to give up the name last year when OOo team members left Oracle. Now they have the opportunity to take what they asked for so they should grab it while they can.
Second, everyone and their mother knows about OpenOffice.org now – or, more honestly, a surprising segment of the population, ranging from mom & pop outfits to home users and students to medium-sized businesses. However when I tell clients about “Libre Office” when they want to update, the inevitable question is “what’s that?” and then I need to explain how Libre Office got started, Oracle’s stance on OOo.org, and then they question the wisdom of having gone with OOo.org rather than Microsoft Office in the first place. The wise thing is to go back to being OpenOffice.org, and turn LibreOffice into a system similar to Novell’s “Build Service” where people can easily repackage customized OpenOffice.org builds for deployment – this would include the ability to bundle extensions, set install locations, configure support links (so enterprise admins can provide links to intranet support/help desk pages, include “policy” addendums to the EULA, and so forth). Both names can be put to very good, inter-related and inter-dependent use.
Going with such a route would also gain a lot more visibility for the overall project.
One of the biggest weaknesses of LibreOffice is its name. Any software project where there’s much doubt about how it should be pronounced has a problem. LibreOffice doesn’t have a good English pronunciation, and it’s not likely that most people will enjoy learning to say “libre”. Admittedly, OpenOffice.org is not a great name either, precisely because of that .org at the end, but because everyone calls it OpenOffice in practice, it’s not such a big deal. (StarOffice was a pretty decent name too)
It’s fair to be wary of Oracle’s commitment to do this the right way, but if and as possible I would hope to see the projects come back together under the OpenOffice (which already has decent mindshare) or StarOffice name.
I suggest that TDF accept the OOo domain name, and replace the original site with a page that says “OpenOffice.org is now LibreOffice”, and a redirect to the LibreOffice site.
I really wonder if Oralce will donate the trademark to the TDF.
By the way, do people still have to use “OpenOffice.org” instead of “OpenOffice”?
While I prefer “LibreOffice” (just ignore those whining US americans), I could consider OpenOffice as an option because of brand recognition.
But “OpenOffice.org”? No way.
@steve – As explained elsewhere, they can’t call it “OpenOffice” (without the “.org”), because someone else already owns that trademark. And while I can’t speak for the *rest* of the “whining US Americans”, I can honestly say that I prefer “LibreOffice” anyway…
If the OpenOffice.org name becomes available, I suggest making OOo refer to a collection of open document applications, with the LibreOffice suite being to prime example. There could also be be an effort (or even a framework) to coordinate distribution and interop between Ooo applications.
OpenOffice.org : the official TDF app store!
([glances at Apple] or… source repo/update site).
I was really impressed with the comments until I got to comment #30. Aside from that one (which is ironically whiny), much wisdom has been spoken in this thread.
While I agree with many, I think comment #25 and #27 are sound and make tremendous sense. Think very hard about this. If you can get a clean ownership of OO.o, do it. Do it for the sake of at least having it just in case even if you don’t use it now. Better strategy. You know it makes sense so don’t doddle and waste your chance.
…and I will be able to elevate my hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Libre at last! Libre at last! Thanx , oh my Sweet Lord, I am Libre at last!”
Please notice – not just the beginning of the statement, and the bullets, but also the end:
“we are always willing to include new members and partners.”
we are always open to new contributors.
Everyone harping that the two should merge probably has no idea of what is involved. Unless OO changes contribution process, it’s currently impossible to do so because of the way each project handles contributions and copyright. No, the TDF can’t change theirs, due to the makeup of their members.
I can understand this statement very well. Why should the TDF suddenly jump because Oracle claims to have seen the light? Please remember that Oracle asked many of the members of the TDF to leave the OpenOffice project in the first place, and that it wasn’t that long ago. There was some animosity there. I’d be a bit skeptical myself. e have yet to see that Oracle following through giving OO back to the community – and we have yet to see what form. I would do one thing different, however.
I would make a clear, firm public statement of support for Oracle’s releasing the code to the community. This would show everyone that both the communities of OO and TDF consider the fiasco created by Oracle management over and done. The wounds can at least be ignored, and everyone can get back to what matters – writing code and making better software.
An invitation to join the TDF is commendable, but it’s very possible that current developers at OO do not want to join the TDF for reasons of their own, and everyone should respect that.
Just a couple thoughts I had related to my minimal, but none the less enough, experience. First, if it were OpenOffice.org vs. LibreOffice name, then I would take the later for sure; the dot org bit was just awful (but I understand the necessity), and people can call it “LibO” for short. Of course, what becomes, becomes, just don’t go back to anything that require .org as part of the name. Second. OOo was pretty fugly in so many ways. I installed LibreOffce for a friend on his laptop and right away was inpressed by the cleaned up splash screen and nice looking icons tied to doc/file types. Some don’t think aesthetics count, but for a lot of us the do. And I imagine the UI will get nicer and nicer as time goes on. Anyway, keep up the good work and thanks for making this alternative available to those that cannot afford the other options.
This is sad, but I guess inevitable. The ultimate “best case” scenario is that Oracle releases the OpenOffice.org trademark to the community (which would be the honorable thing to do if it releases the source), and that the existing OOo team joins TDF to work on the LibreOffice fork. The general public probably knows the OpenOffice name better than LibreOffice.
As far as I see, the way that Oracle is presenting OpenOffice in a whitepaper seems more like preparing the ground for a commercial product (see PDF link at http://bit.ly/g6bAxF )
Good luck with the Foundation!
Question for Mike Uchima – what is the correct pronunciation of LibreOffice? I agree entirely that it is the better name given that the .org has to be appended to OpenOffice – but I would like how best to pronounce it. In my haed its Lee-bray (stree on the sencond syllable) followed by the neglish pronunciation of office – “offiss” but you’ve now made me think and I realise I probably should stress the first syllable of libre and swallow the second one after rolling the r a bit – lee-br.
I’d like to know in time for publicizing LibreOffice 3.4 (or should that be 3,4?)and I could add an update to “LibreOffice – no going back” http://www.i-programmer.info/news/136-open-source/2329-libreoffice-no-going-back.html