Category: Interviews

To start with, tell us a bit about yourself!

Hi! I live in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and work remotely on PT Sakti Kinerja Kolaborasindo (the office is in Bogor, West Java) as UI and Graphic Designer. Aside from being an active member of the Indonesian LibreOffice community, I am also one of the founders of the Gimpscape ID community (a design community focused on open source applications). Regarding hobbies – hmm, I have an interest in ancient manuscripts (Malay manuscripts), Kamen Rider, and really always enjoy detective, mystery, adventure, and comedy-themed drama films.

You can find me on Instagram, Twitter and Telegram.

Why did you decide to become a member of The Document Foundation?

The first reason is, because Ahmad Haris (he’s my boss in the office) “sudo’d” me to apply for membership 🙂 But to be honest, I was indeed very interested in becoming a member since the LibreOffice Conference Indonesia in Surabaya about two years ago.

By becoming a member, I think I can do things related to contributing to LibreOffice better than before. Being a member is a responsibility, in my opinion. Because it means I have to do my best from time to time for the LibreOffice community, both in Indonesia and outside. LibreOffice will get better if the community ecosystem is also good. Well, one of the tasks of members (in my mind) is to ensure that these communities can actively give feedback to LibreOffice, so that they can grow and develop better.

What are you working on right now?

At the moment I am still improving the LibreOffice Theme Changer extension (which I presented some time ago at FOSDEM), occasionally helping with translations, QA, managing Indonesian LibreOffice social media (Instagram, Twitter, and the blog), and inviting community members to learn how to be active contributors. For example, I invited two female members to work on two sets of icons named that we named Srikandi and LibreKids. Making these two icons is a form of learning to contribute to LibreOffice in terms of design.

When there isn’t too much work (both at office or at the university), I usually take time to create a video tutorial related to LibreOffice or other FOSS that I upload on my YouTube channel.

In addition, I and many other Asians (Haris, Frank, Shinji, Naruhiko, DaeHyun, and others) are currently spreading the spirit of Open Document format in the Asian region, through the LibreOffice Asia League.

Anything else you plan to do in the future? What does LibreOffice really need?

I really wanted to realize the LibreOffice for Kids task with Marina Latini – I heard she was one of the people who was also working on this topic. One of the reasons why LibreOffice is still less popular in Indonesia, compared to similar applications, is this: since elementary school, children have already been introduced to proprietary office applications.

I know that change cannot happen overnight, but if it does not start from now it will not happen for a thousand years. Therefore, with the presence of LibreOffice for Kids, I personally hope that this will be the first step to make next generation more familiar with LibreOffice.

One more thing, and with all respect and thanks to all LibreOffice developers: I think LibreOffice needs a team of marketing volunteers who can compare LibreOffice in order to compete with others. LibreOffice has great features that are very powerful, but it will be useless if not many people know about it. Short infographics or interesting videos about features, or working on a task with LibreOffice, will help a lot.

However, it should be underlined, that to be able to do this community support is needed, because it is the community that makes LibreOffice really what it is.

Indeed, as Rania says, everyone is welcome to join our community and help to make LibreOffice even stronger. See what you can do for LibreOffice – we look forward to meeting you!

Today we’re talking to Marco Marinello from the Italian LibreOffice community, who recently became a member of The Document Foundation, the non-profit entity behind LibreOffice…

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I live in Bolzano, which is a small city in the northernmost part of Italy. My main interests are robotics and computer technology. In my spare time I often enjoy going for a ride with the bike, which I use almost every day to get around. In the summer I spend my holidays sailing with my family and some friends.

Why did you decide to become a member of TDF?

During SFScon – the Free Software Conference in Bolzano – I met Marina Latini, former Chairperson of the Board. We talked about the work I did on LibreOffice Online, and she encouraged me to send the application and become a member of TDF.

I share the values of TDF, and I love working on something that’s useful for everyone.

What exactly are you working on right now?

Mostly, I’m working on the documentation for LibreOffice Online, but I’m even submitting some changes. Documenting features that have already been implemented well is the first goal which I have set myself.

Anything else you plan to do in the future?

If I became more skilled in C++, I would like to get more involved with developing LibreOffice. I think a solid and compact group of members who really care about the product and the strategies is the strength of TDF.

Thanks to Marco for all his contributions! Everyone is welcome to join our friendly community, develop skills and meet new people. We look forward to meeting you!

Today we’re talking to Stanislaus J. Pinasthika from the Indonesian LibreOffice community. He has recently become a member of The Document Foundation, helping to guide the LibreOffice project and community…

To start with, tell us a bit about yourself!

Let me tell you a story: Jember was a quiet city. No many cafes at the time. One day, in the beautiful morning, a boy was born. He was named Stanislaus Jiwandana Pinasthika – but his parents called typically called him Stanis. Twenty two years later, this boy graduated from the Information Systems Department, Faculty of Computer Science, at the University of Jember…

Today, I am struggling to start my masters degree in Computer Science at Gadjah Mada University. I like to design things using Inkscape, such as vector graphics, cartoons etc. You can see my work here. But I also love to contribute to open source projects.

For instance, I made a Linux Community in Jember with my friends – Sofyan Sugianto is one of them. He is also a member of TDF. My contributions to LibreOffice started with translating – at the time still using Pootle. Now, I am glad to be a proud member of TDF and the LibreOffice Quality Assurance (QA) team.

Why did you decide to become a member of TDF?

After one year of contributing to translations and joining the QA team, Ahmad Haris suggested that all of the Indonesian contributors fill in the membership application form. I thought: becoming a TDF member is more challenging for me, so I took the chance. I am very grateful that my application has been accepted.

What are you working on in the LibreOffice project right now?

In the QA community, we make sure that all reports are clarified as bugs or not, so that these reports help to improve the quality of LibreOffice. I also give a hand with translating into Bahasa Indonesia. But, QA is my first priority.

Anything else you plan to do in the future? What does LibreOffice
really need?

My plans are around social aspects, and marketing LibreOffice. Indonesians often know Microsoft Office as well as their neighbour’s business. But sometimes, when they cannot buy a licence, they get a cracked version. So it’s a pity that they don’t yet know about the powerful alternative, LibreOffice.

So, I think LibreOffice really needs more marketing, publications, and promotion to increase its popularity in developing countries.

Thanks to Stanislaus for his great work! Everyone is welcome to join our friendly worldwide community – you don’t need to be a developer. You can help out in marketing, design, documentation, translations and more. Build up skills, have fun, and see what you can do for LibreOffice!

Members of The Document Foundation – the non-profit entity behind LibreOffice – help to steer the project, vote for the Board of Directors, and spread the word. Today we’re talking to Leif-Jöran Olsson, who has recently become a member of TDF…

To start with, tell us a bit about yourself!

I am from beautiful Sweden, more precisely from the land of deep forests and white rivers in the middle of the country.

I work as a research engineer and IT operations supervisor at the Swedish Language Bank (a language technology research institute) daytime. I also run the consultancy company Frirogramvarusyndikatet.se, which among other things provides IT admin to TDF, and is a Collabora Productivity partner.

I am soon to become a grandfather for the first time. So, exciting times ahead.

What are you working on in the LibreOffice project right now?

Translations are ongoing, and the review of the grammar and spell checking infrastructure is running since last year. But the largest contribution in time and effort is the current work on a LibreOffice Online-based Sailfish OS app (like the ones for Android and iOS).

Why did you decide to become a member of TDF?

After promoting LibreOffice for many years, we decided to do a significant push for LibreOffice Online in late 2016. And since we from that time also provided IT admin services to TDF, I have been hanging around at hackfests etc.

But since the membership obligations are more towards personal contributions, I did not feel that I contributed enough to become a member. So in addition to becoming a Collabora Productivity partner at the FOSDEM hackfest 2018, I started to think about what I could do as personal contributions.

Since I work with language technology, I prepared for a review of the grammar and spell checking infrastructure in LibreOffice. In the dark ages I actually did a Swedish dictionary extension for the release of OpenOffice 3 with the new packaging format. I also started to contribute to the Swedish translations of LibreOffice. This is something I also do for other projects like Nextcloud, OTRS, SailfishOS, Matomo etc.

Anything else you plan to do in the future? What does LibreOffice really need right now?

I will also try to get closer to the standardisation and evolvement of the Open Document Format specification, since I have experience from SIS the Swedish part of ISO. In addition, as an eXist-db core developer, XML is close to my heart.

We need to get closer to valuing/counting all contributions equally. I felt the translations were not counted as real contributions in the way code is (and I say this with a free software coding experience of 25+ years). This makes me a bit sad that we are not ahead of other projects in this aspect. But let us start changing this with the very positive 10/20 years celebrations with a grand Fest Noz now. Kenavo / på återseende!

Thanks to Leif for all his contributions! And to anyone else reading this who’s involved in the LibreOffice project and community, consider becoming a member:

For our final Community Member Monday of 2019, we talk to Saikeo Kavhanxay, who is helping with the Lao language localisation of LibreOffice…

First, tell us a bit about yourself!

I live in Vientiane, Laos. I am working as a full-time network engineer. My hobbys are reading books, surfing the internet and learning how to code. I also dedicate my free time to the open source community and I have contributed to other open source projects as well.

You can find me on social media – Twitter and my blog.

What are you working on in LibreOffice at the moment?

Currently I am contributing to LibreOffice localization for my locale. In the future I also plan to contribute to other parts of the project as well, like filing bugs, development and assisting people in my community who have questions about using LibreOffice.

How did you get involved in the project?

I’ve been using LibreOffice for a long time, and then I realised that I want to contribute something back, so I decided to contact my locale and the LibreOffice localization community. After that, I got an opportunity to contribute to LibreOffice. I think is quite easy to get involved in the project – you can reach to your locale or the LibreOffice localization team and then they will get back to you shortly.

What do you think LibreOffice needs in the future?

To avoid license issues, and due to limited budgets, some organisations in my country use LibreOffice. So, I think the LibreOffice community in Southeast Asia needs to expand more, and work on LibreOffice Online.

Thanks to Saikeo and the Lao localisation team for their great work! Everyone is welcome to join our friendly community and give us a hand with design, documentation, QA, and many other aspects of the software. It’s a great way to build up experience, meet new people and have fun!

Members of The Document Foundation help to steer the LibreOffice project and community. Today we’re talking to Petr Valach from the Czech community…

To start, tell us a bit about yourself!

I was born in Brno, but for nearly 30 years I’ve been living in Prague. I work for a software company where I am member of a mobile applications project. But IT isn’t my only hobby. I do lots of things – personally, astronomy and physics are the most important for me. There is nothing quite so interesting. And I am happy when astronomical or astronautical institutions (for example, the International Space Station) use free and open-source software.

I was member of the scout movement, so scouting is one of my “hobbies” too (it’s not a hobby, but lifestyle). In the Czech Republic, there is something special, a mixture of pure scouting with the education system of our boys’ book author, Jaroslav Foglar. He lead his scout group called The Boys from Beaver River for 60 years and wrote over 20 books, which are bestsellers. Indeed, Jaroslav Foglar is the most successful author in the Czech Republic, who directly or indirectly influenced literally everybody here. I am a member of the community associated around him, and member of Foglar’s association. Recently we’ve had meetings in the Foglar group clubhouse every month.

I am a member of the editors of OpenOffice.cz (focused on LibreOffice and OpenOffice.cz) and LinuxEXPRES (focused on free and open-source software generally). I am lead editor at ExoSpace.cz, which supports these magazines and websites, the Czech community around LibreOffice, other astronomical and astronautical magazines and more.

Why did you decide to become a member of The Document Foundation (TDF)?

I think that I can improve my work by being am member of TDF. Membership gives my work more importance. And I am in connection with other people – and it is very important to be informed. So I believe that I will contribute to the foundation by membership.

What are you working on in the LibreOffice project right now?

As mentioned, I am member of the OpenOffice.cz editors and I propagate LibreOffice via ExoSpace.cz. I try to support LibreOffice via this media – I try to support members of TDF during conferences and so on. But the most important thing is that I use LibreOffice and learn more and more about it; LibreOffice is absolutely my favourite software.

Anything else you plan to do in the future?

Better Czech manual and education materials – that’s what is most needed. I like documentation work, so I will be happy if I find more time to contribute to this topic.

Thanks to Petr for all his contributions – they are really appreciated! Czech users can explore the website and get involved with our community.