Slashdot Mirror
OpenOffice.org Team Releases Version 1.0
DenialS writes: "Congratulations to the OpenOffice.org team! Version 1.0 of the open office suite has been released. I'm downloading it now; I've had good luck with the previous stable builds. Release notes haven't been posted yet, so I can't say what the major differences are between 1.0 and the previous stable build, 641d, but I'm looking forware to finding out!"
I showed my windozw friends open office (they all use MS office) and they where well impressed, so much so that one of them is using it on doze now. Congrats to the OpenOffice team!
[1]For high-accuracy nuclear bomb simulations, particle interactions, that sort of thing.
Now the only thing missing to the office suit domination is the Mac release.
I can't wait to see it.
I use Mac/Win/Linux machines and a real cross platform office suite would be a great improvement!
A Win32 environment provides a much more limited range of choices with respect to GUI managers, printing solutions, etc. There are services provided by the OS that you can more or less rely on being present and functional- print preview code, windows and buttons, et al. This consistency allows for the dynamic linking of a lot of stuff.
Flip to Linux-- there is a huge array of choices for window managers, printing, etc. So the developers have to choose between putting out several diffeent dynamically linked versions that use external library code, or one larger statically linked version.
I believe, in the interst of ease of support, maintnenance, and installation for the newbies, the binary is statically linked. Even if it weren't, there is a lot of code provided at the OS level in Win32 that you can't necessarily rely on in a Unix environment.
People who want the most efficient use of resources (disk space. et al) always have the option of compiling from source-- at least with Open Office they do.
Just wondering... 'twould be nice. A nice, relatively simple (use PAR files), easy way to spread it around.
Along with all the talk of mirrors, performace, bugs, etc., we all need to make sure and thank the following people:
- StarDivision, for creating StarOffice in the first place.
- Sun Microsystems, for buying StarDivision and opening the StarOffice source code.
- Everyone who worked on the development of OpenOffice, coders, testers, web admins, and so on.
- All the government, business, and educational facilities out there who continue to mirror the files for us all to download!
These people have done a great job providing the open source community with one of the best apps out there. No matter how much we bitch, moan, and flame, remember that we only care because we love what you do so damned much!
i don't think it is about putting people out of work. i can only speak for myself, but i think it is good that people can code for a living. i don't think open source is going to kill the programming profession.
your quote doesn't prove that most people who code write commercial software. but it does say that people who write commercial software are included in the largest group of professional coders, the computer and data processing services industry. this could also include tech support, firmware, and companies like SAP that basically write customer specific code for each application. so there is both consumer and corporate level programming in this "largest concentration."
i think the fuss about MS Office is that it is very expensive ($500.00 to buy it outright - not the upgrade). it is expensive because most people in the business world have to use it. if your software is not compatible, you have deviated from the standard in the business world. demand increases value.
also, Sun does plan to make money on this. Sun will soon be releasing Star Office 6.0. Star Office will cost money. though there was community input into Open Office, Sun also paid people to work on it. Sun is paying people to write the extra code going into Star Office. this strategy builds community support, gives you a great free alternative, and produces a quality commercial product. it may not be perfect, but it is a fairly elegant compromise of making money and supporting open source and the community in general (even outside open source).
you probably shouldn't have read this.
Fast forward 5 years. MS-Word has dethroned the King and reigns as Usurper. Now Word will only write to WP format with 90% accuracy, while suddenly WP can write to MS-Word format 100%.
And if you think about it, that is the only way it can work in a competitive environment, particularly with publicly-held companies. There is negative incentive for the leader to be able to write to the challengers' formats.
Now, we could talk about an entirely open standard for document formatting... Oops, we already have SGML and TeX. Oh well...
sPh
[1]This argument extends back to PFS:Write and Electric Pencil as well of course.
MS Office almost doubles the price of a low price computer. In any business setting, you have to have it.
.doc-monopoly will never be broken by someone making Word-clones that reads the format almost perfect. Sorry....
.doc-format. There are plenty of good reasons for saving your documents in XML-format instead of a proprietary, binary format. .doc.
Having an office suite that can read 95 percent of all Word documents is the first small step in overcoming this monopoly, but it is not enough. Even 99 percent compability is not enough. The cost of Office is high, but not so high that you risk having some of your documents destroyed.
The
Here is the only way to brake the monopoly(that I can think of):
* Attack the weaknesses of the
* Develop 1 - one - XML-based document standard. Here is the most important small step that OO is taking. Now we have to convince AbiWord, KWord ++ to use the same format 100 percent.
* Start making plugins for Word that reads this format. Plugins that can be installed with one click if somebody recieves a document in XML. And plugins that allows the administrators to decide that this XML-based format should be default instead of
Then you can introduce other programs that reads this format perfectly.
The Open Source community needs to be more aware of the power of the subtle use of language. Simple words can be a very effictive tool in changing the mindsets of Joe Public. Marketeers do it all the time.
When talking about OpenOffice with Joe Public, be sure to use appropriate descriptive words.
"I see you're still using traditional software on your computer, Bob. Don't you know that stuff is susceptible to Microsoft Outlook viruses? Have you tried Openoffice? It's free! It's free because it is developed using a leading-edge development method that's superior to the old-fashioned way that Microsoft develops software. Microsoft software is expensive because the conventional methods they use to create it are inefficient. That's why there are so many Microsoft viruses around. There aren't any OpenOffice viruses. Why don't you give it a try?"
It's still missing an email-program and a calendar.
...
:-)
Granted, when compared to Outlook, it's only missing one thing, but still
Okay - so I don't need to have those two functions embedded into the office program, but I would rather not be without them, and I'm somewhat sure, that the rest of my office wouldn't either.
Here's what I need:
1) A calendar function comparable to Outlook, preferably one that isn't dependant on a specific platform (ie. Windows, Linux, Mac OS et al). This means the ability to include/invite other people in/to meetings and to view other peoples calendars.
2) An email function comparable to Outlook, again, preferably one that isn't dependant on a specific platform. Support for multiple accounts and Usenet would be a boon.
No, the programs don't have to be free, neither as in beer or speech, they just need to work, be cheaper than Office and safer with regards to vira etc.
Preferably the two/three mentioned programs/functions should be integrated into one program.
Suggestions are more than welcome
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.