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OpenOffice.org Design Contest

Posted by ryuzaki0 on

lisah writes, "OpenOffice.org, along with co-sponsor WorldLabel.com, will give away more then $5,000 in cash and prizes to the winners of a template and clip-art design contest scheduled to run until October 13, 2006. Organizers are looking for original designs that are useful to multiple users but, in terms of creativity, they say the sky's the limit. Submissions can range from budgeting spreadsheets and personal finance templates to funky graphics and presentation templates, but must run on one of the suite's four main applications: Writer, Calc, Draw, or Impress."

124 comments

  1. Geeks don't do art. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Redundant

    You're either good technically or a good artist. Not both. That's the way it's always been.

    1. Re:Geeks don't do art. by fishbowl · · Score: 5, Interesting


      >You're either good technically or a good artist. Not both. That's the way it's always been.

      One technology that I've actually seen bridging that gap, is Rails.

      I thought Rails was just hype until I saw creative types, people who would normally hire programmers or whoever, taking ideas from start to finish on their own.

      For all the things that were supposed to do exactly that (going as far back as COBOL), the first one I've seen actually *doing* it, was Rails. It's both exciting and a little scary to see people taking their ideas from concept to revenue stream (or whatever), without much fuss at all. (Yeah, I know, Rails is "opinionated", but its opinion is that you should be doing web-based apps targeted at modern browsers. It happens to have had quite good timing for a language with such opinons.)

      --
      -fb Everything not expressly forbidden is now mandatory.
    2. Re:Geeks don't do art. by Fallingcow · · Score: 2, Funny

      One technology that I've actually seen bridging that gap, is Rails.

      I thought Rails was just hype until I saw creative types, people who would normally hire programmers or whoever, taking ideas from start to finish on their own.


      Noooooo! Don't cross the streams!
    3. Re:Geeks don't do art. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      > You're either good technically or a good artist. Not both. That's the way it's always been.

      Totally. Leonardo Da Vinci was a no talent hack of an artist and a pathetic technologist.

    4. Re:Geeks don't do art. by snicho99 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I don't know about that. As a visual effects artist, a lot of my work is highly technical - but I only make money because of a highly developed sense of aesthetics. In my field at least, the line between "operators"(geeks) and "artists" grows thinner everyday.

      --
      -Steve http://www.stevennicholson.com
    5. Re:Geeks don't do art. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      How many Leonardo Da Vinci types do you know in real life? The guy was a one off genius.

    6. Re:Geeks don't do art. by haeger · · Score: 0, Redundant

      You're either good technically or a good artist. Not both. That's the way it's always been.

      I'd say this guy would disagree with you. Just to name one.

      .haeger

      --
      You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. -- Harlan Ellison
    7. Re:Geeks don't do art. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That depends on your definition of good. In general you will see that the top artists don't have the time to become a top-programmer. A top programmer will not spend day after day thinking about intricate details about his next sculpture. There are however lots of people that create both artwork and program, in all kinds of varieties.

    8. Re:Geeks don't do art. by hansg · · Score: 0



      I'm sure Leonardo da Vinci would have agreed with you...

      /Hans

      --
      I don't have one
    9. Re:Geeks don't do art. by Fred_A · · Score: 2, Funny
      One technology that I've actually seen bridging that gap, is Rails.
      I'm not sure stuff like the TMRC qualifies as artistry. I guess it's a matter of perspective though...
      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    10. Re:Geeks don't do art. by Gorath99 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, who does that Da Vinci guy think he is?! Get in line with the rest of us!

    11. Re:Geeks don't do art. by Bromskloss · · Score: 0
      You're either good technically or a good artist. Not both. That's the way it's always been.
      Yup, like Leonardo da Vinci.
      --
      Swedish plasma phys. PhD student; MSc EE; knows maths, programming, electronics; finance interest; seeks opportunities
    12. Re:Geeks don't do art. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have no idea what you are talking about. Probably the most well known counterexample would be Leonardo DaVinci, who was accomplished not only technically, but artistically and in several other aspects as well (including being able to wad up horseshoes with his bare hands).

      I'm no Leonardo, but I am similarly talented both artistically and technically. I don't "do" art a lot anymore, since I don't find the time, though I have been coaching my eldest daughter the last few years. She's 10, a year ahead in school, taking advanced classes and a straight-A student, and just sold her first commissioned piece. It won grand champion at the county fair and placed with a blue ribbon at the state fair. She's a bit ahead of me, as I sold my first piece (a logo for a car dealership) when I was 12 and won my first art show at 14. My logo was used for 25 years, and I still see it on the bumpers of probably 10% of the cars locally. I have been writing software since I was 10 years old (I am 37 now) and work now as a software engineer in telecomm. When I was a senior in high school, I applied and was accepted to both art colleges and engineering schools. I chose the engineering route (EE) mostly because I was more comfortable around the people. While I was in college, I made money on the side by selling T-shirt designs, doing logos for business cards, and working at the local newspaper doing advertising layout and design. I helped a buddy get his printing and sign business off the ground, and worked on the side doing his graphic art work until he could hire someone full time to do it. I've also done the layout and covers for two children's books, and the the cover design for one special-edition reprinting of a historical medical book, too many brochures and newsletter designs to count, one product label (for a health-food drink) and several sign designs and company logos.

      One thing I enjoy very little though is doing "art" on the computer. I like to work with a pencil. PhotoShop, Illustrator, and CorelDraw just "get in my way", even with a tablet, and GIMP is even worse. I can't understand how other people can stand to use them, they just drive me nuts. I'll often work the design out on paper, then scan it in and rework it in software if that is needed (often, the scanned version is sufficient as-is).

      I also firmly believe that anyone can learn to draw, though some have more natural talent for it than others. It is mostly about learning how to "see", and by that I mean "observe what is in front of you rather than what is in your head." Most of my effort in teaching my daughter involves exercises toward that end (I often force her to draw upside down, or with her left hand, both of which really slow you down and make you observe the shapes rather than the object).

      When I was in college, one of the professors had us take that left brain/right brain test. My score was *exactly* in the middle. She said she had been giving the test for years and had *never* seen that happen -- but keep in mind, this was at an engineering school, so she had a self-selected sample.

      Anyway, my point is that while the technical/artistic divide might be the "normal" situation, it is hardly a rule.

    13. Re:Geeks don't do art. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      M. C. Escher and Leanardo Da Vinci would also agree with you.

    14. Re:Geeks don't do art. by MrHanky · · Score: 1

      Nerds lack a sense of irony, which is why you were modded down. However, you're actually partially right: Leonardo was a quite poor scientist and technologist.

    15. Re:Geeks don't do art. by miyako · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Agreed. Although I'm working as a developer now, my last position was doing modeling and animation. There is a lot of artistic talent involved, but I would also consider it a technical position. Working on complex scenes in Maya, I know that I spent almost as much time writing MEL as rigging, and even when your not writing code it's still no walk in the park.
      You hear a lot about the relationship between music and programming. You don't hear as much about the relationship between visual people and programming, but probably because all of the really talented people in those areas are out writing software. There is an asthetic to code as well, and I think most skilled developers are aware of it, at a conscious or unconcsious level.

      --
      Famous Last Words: "hmm...wikipedia says it's edible"
    16. Re:Geeks don't do art. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Waldemar Januszczak is an art critic who pumps himself up by writing scathing reviews of good artists. On /. he would be modded a troll. What's your point?

    17. Re:Geeks don't do art. by dim5 · · Score: 1
      I don't know about that. As a visual effects artist, a lot of my work is highly technical - but I only make money because of a highly developed sense of aesthetics. In my field at least, the line between "operators"(geeks) and "artists" grows thinner everyday.
      I don't know... as a coder, if I got paid based on my sense of aesthetics, I'd be growing thinner too.
      --

      Is something burning?
      Oh, it's my karma.

    18. Re:Geeks don't do art. by Magic5Ball · · Score: 2, Insightful

      >>You're either good technically or a good artist. Not both. That's the way it's always been.

      > I'd say this guy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonardo_da_Vinci) would disagree with you. Just to name one.

      Citing a single counterexample from centuries ago when OP claimed that such individuals are very rare proves OP's point, especially when your counterexample is one data point among six billion.

      --
      There are 1.1... kinds of people.
    19. Re:Geeks don't do art. by nizo · · Score: 1
      My thinking along those lines kept me from drawing for the first 36 years of my life. I took my first art class a few months ago, and guess what? Not only can I program, but I can draw too! After a few more graphics classes I will literally have the know-how to start with a box of computer parts and turn it into a functioning website (with decent graphics no less). Sweet!


      p.s. My sig points to one of my drawings on my deviantart page.

      --
      I Am My Own Worst Enemy
    20. Re:Geeks don't do art. by Scrameustache · · Score: 1

      You're either good technically or a good artist. Not both. That's the way it's always been.

      People have paid me to draw their portrait, others to write them bits of code... I'm also nearly ambidextrous.

      Would you like to make a comment about how people are either good with their left hand, or their right hand. Not Both, and how that's always been?

      --

      You can't take the sky from me...

    21. Re:Geeks don't do art. by treeves · · Score: 1

      Da Vinci's a great counter-example, but it's a shame that people can't come up with any others. There are many:

      Alexander Borodin was a Russian composer and a very good chemist.

      Charles Kavalovski is a tenured professor of physics and the former principal horn of the BSO.

      I've seen examples of naturalists who were very good at drawing wildlife and plants and also had deep knowledge of their subjects.

      etc. etc. etc.
       

      --
      ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
    22. Re:Geeks don't do art. by treeves · · Score: 1

      See my previous post #16147216. A combination of technical skill and artistic skill is not that much rarer than either one alone. How many people have Leonardo's technical ability alone, much less both?
      I have (like Charles Kavalovski, alas not quite at his level) some talent for playing the French Horn. I'm also fairly capable in math and science. The fact that a lot of people quickly jumped on Da Vinci is not a proof of anything except that he is widely known for having such of range of abilities.

      --
      ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
    23. Re:Geeks don't do art. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      But people do use either one hand or the other. Ambidexterity is a very rare trait. And this indeed, was my original point.

      It's all a matter of definition. I was pretty vague in my original post. Of course there are multi-talented people, but they are rare. (But to be honest, I was playing more of a devil's advocate role, as I like both art and math/cs, not that I think I'm terribly talented in either)

  2. Hmmm... by TechnoBunny · · Score: 5, Interesting

    How will they stop people just ripping off some of the templates from MS Office, obfuscating them slightly, and then submitting them?
    There's an MS office template for most things, so the submissions will most likely either be:
    a) a copy of something MS already has, or
    b) obscure enough to be only of use to a very small group of people....

    1. Re:Hmmm... by montyzooooma · · Score: 1
      "How will they stop people just ripping off some of the templates from MS Office, obfuscating them slightly, and then submitting them?"

      Nothing will stop people submitting them but peer review should weed them out once they have.

    2. Re:Hmmm... by TechnoBunny · · Score: 1

      But how many variations on 'this is a template budget spreadsheet' or 'this is a template CV' can there be?

    3. Re:Hmmm... by sessamoid · · Score: 1
      How will they stop people just ripping off some of the templates from MS Office, obfuscating them slightly, and then submitting them?
      Because the designers at Microsoft Office are horrid, and their presentation templates look like ass. Even if submitted and accepted, they shouldn't win anything.
      --
      "No, no, no. Don't tug on that. You never know what it might be attached to."
    4. Re:Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There can be quite a lot of variations, but generally only in minor things.

      Just because MS Office has a template for something, that doesn't prevent someone else from independently coming up with one for OOo. As long as they don't actually copy it, there's no problem.

    5. Re:Hmmm... by LarsWestergren · · Score: 3, Insightful

      How will they stop people just ripping off some of the templates from MS Office, obfuscating them slightly, and then submitting them?

      Nothing, but these submissions are unlikely to be accepted, much less win the competition.

      --

      Being bitter is drinking poison and hoping someone else will die

    6. Re:Hmmm... by datafr0g · · Score: 1
      How will they stop people just ripping off some of the templates from MS Office, obfuscating them slightly, and then submitting them?
      As they'll be judging on orginality, I doubt anything remotly "MS Office" would be selected. Office templates stand out like a sore thumb.... a bit like a MS Powerpoint Presentation :)

      There's an MS office template for most things, so the submissions will most likely either be:
      a) a copy of something MS already has, or
      b) obscure enough to be only of use to a very small group of people....
      There are MS templates for most things but that does not mean that the "MS way" is the only way it can (or should) be done.
      --
      "Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it every day!" - Alfred E. Neuman
    7. Re:Hmmm... by kabz · · Score: 1

      Have a look at some typical Excel graphs with their gaudy data series, clutter and heavy lines.

      Now take a look at a Tufte book.

      There is a difference.

      --
      -- "It's not stalking if you're married!" My Wife.
    8. Re:Hmmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      kind of sad when an open source group/product has to resort to essentially bribing people to help out.
      So much for the "open source" thing lol.

    9. Re:Hmmm... by cashman73 · · Score: 1

      Contrary to popular belief, the Microsoft Way isn't necessarily the only way to do things, and often not really the correct way, either,...

    10. Re:Hmmm... by Tim+Browse · · Score: 1

      Could be tricky. I used to work on a product that was licensed by Corel - we had clipart, and Corel replaced most of it with their (superior) collection. With respect to our original cliaprt set, we had received legal threats about one of the drawings that won our clipart competition, because the submitter had apparently copied the image from a poster/photograph. It was nicely done, but still a copy.

      When we mentioned this to Corel, they told us that they got legal threats/lawsuits like that too, about their clipart. Only difference was, on average, they got about one per day.

    11. Re:Hmmm... by miro+f · · Score: 1
      kind of sad when an open source group/product has to resort to essentially bribing people to help out.
      So much for the "open source" thing lol.

      you mean, they offer incentives for the community around the project to actually make something?

      How is this not open source?
      --
      being vague is almost as cool as doing that other thing...
    12. Re:Hmmm... by RockDoctor · · Score: 1
      Contrary to popular belief, the Microsoft Way isn't necessarily the only way to do things, and often not really the correct way, either,...
      ... in particular because MS have always been so America-centred that their templates are absolutely riddled with parochial assumptions. Since I don't use a foreign language version of their stuff, I can't comment on how they handle doing a complete translation of a program, but I've heard enough rumours that it's atrocious. Certainly their developer tools suck so badly at internationalisation that my employers have lost 10s of thousands of dollars in sales abroad. "$TOOL will allow $APP to handle foreign-language characters" ; $TOOL is applied to the existing code base ; $APP still cannot handle Cyrillic. CLIENT $$$ goes away.
      At least we've got some Indonesian testers for our next step towards conquering the world.

      --
      Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
  3. Link by arun_s · · Score: 3, Informative

    The actual announcement is here. Its got all the details on licensing (LGPL), prizes, criteria (originality, usability, artisitc merit etc)

    --
    I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
  4. Ascii Art? by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Does Ascii art count?

    If so, here is my submission:


        O P E N
        F
        F
        I
        C
        E


    Catchy, aint it.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Ascii Art? by De+Lemming · · Score: 1

      Can I use MS Paint?

    2. Re:Ascii Art? by rjstegbauer · · Score: 2

      Boo. That's ugly.

      Here's my submission:

      O F F I C E
      P
      E
      N

      That's much better.

      Please mail the check to 100 Main St, Beverly Hills, CA 90210.

      Thank you,
      Randy.

    3. Re:Ascii Art? by SpamMeMucho · · Score: 1

      Nice.

    4. Re:Ascii Art? by Dennis_123 · · Score: 1

      It's called OpenOffice.Org.

    5. Re:Ascii Art? by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      Arial is so 80's :-P

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
  5. I can just see it no by antifoidulus · · Score: 2, Funny

    The goatse man with a spreadsheet emerging from...well....not a cell I would go into...

    --
    Monstar L
    1. Re:I can just see it no by gbobeck · · Score: 1

      Tubgirl may be a better choice for some spreadsheets or presentations.

      Goatse man would be good for OpenOffice Draw. Puts a whole new spin on pulling a drawing out of somewhere...

      --
      Navicula hydraulica plena anguilarum est. Omnes castelli tuus nostri sunt. Ed elli avea del cul fatto trombetta.
  6. No Spec by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The visit of this site is compulsory: http://www.no-spec.com/

  7. Not just MSOffice... by Wizard052 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ...but what about the countless other sources of graphics and pictures which may be proprietory/copyrighted? What's preventing anyone from taking one and submitting it. I'd imagine the potential nightmare of lawsuits and litigation to follow if even one picture is caught. And who takes THAT liability?

    1. Re:Not just MSOffice... by TheChromaticOrb · · Score: 1
      ...but what about the countless other sources of graphics and pictures which may be proprietory/copyrighted? What's preventing anyone from taking one and submitting it.
      Copyright law prevents that. What gave you the idea that creative people who contribute with free (as in LGPL) content will need to copy anyone else's work? This is the same mentality behind the SCO lawsuit: "Your Honor, they can't possibly have done it themselves, so they must copied it from us".

      Give the free culture movement some credit.

      --
      Note to self: get a sig.
    2. Re:Not just MSOffice... by Wizard052 · · Score: 1

      Granted...many creative people out there are extremely talented and would readily share their work with the world, and are innovative and creative on their own right. But there exists a substantial cash prize in this case so I can bet we'd be seeing a lot of people from both sides of the fence.

      Perhaps many people would less likely toil at creating some artwork that may/may not win the prize while there exists a higher likelihood of winning, by submitting a superior graphic especially since time is also a factor. Of course, the artwork may be copyrighted but not well known, so people can be easily fooled into thinking of it as original...

  8. OOo by should_be_linear · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I would much prefer *faster startup* of bloody thing then millions of templates and clipart inside.

    --
    839*929
    1. Re:OOo by aerthling · · Score: 1

      The startup times I can handle.

      What they need to do is redesign the formatting tools, especially in setting colours. It seriously sucks. I shouldn't have to delve deep into the program options to apply a specific colour to a style (a colour selector or the like wouldn't go astray there either).

    2. Re:OOo by advocate_one · · Score: 1

      correct. text colour for a font really really really pisses me off... you should be presented with a block of the standard colours and only have the option of a colourwheel if you click on a more colours button on the form... currently, there's a whirly colour wheel and no easy way to get a simple solid colour...

      --
      Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
    3. Re:OOo by smoker2 · · Score: 1
      WTF ?

      OpenOffice.org 2.0
      Setting a font colour from OOo Writer
      Setting a style colour (F11, right click a style, click modify)

      Get with the times.
  9. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  10. Wrong focus by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: -1, Flamebait
    What OpenOffice really need to do is to give the option to allow deleting of paragraphs to work the way they do in other word processors - so that the formatting propagates forwards and not backwards. And make page breaks visible so you can delete a page break without deleting the formatting of a header immediately following it.

    Who give a flying %&$£ about art if the functionality is stuffed.

    --
    Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
    1. Re:Wrong focus by include($dysmas) · · Score: 1

      Who give a flying %&$£ about art if the functionality is stuffed.

      who? ... why, lots and lots of *them* of course... try the same tag-line with Windows Vista, think it will make a difference, or retrospectively with XP ... or Enligthenment ... or many superflous peripherals .. the list goes on.

      "So what if it doesnt work, it sure looks puurdy"

    2. Re:Wrong focus by God+Of+Atheism · · Score: 1

      If you actually need to know what the program will do with your input, then all WYSINWYG (what you see is not what you get) programs are off. I became frustrated with wordprocessors because of the inability to do many things with them which I viewed as essential, and as a result switched to LaTeX. Although it might look daunting to the beginner, I found that it was easy to learn, and as opposed to wordprocessors actually gives you decent looking output. I've tried working with LyX as well, but it has the same problems as other wordprocessors, although the documentation is better. Nowadays I only use Open Office for viewing files others send me that require the use of such things such as a wordprocessor etcetera. The only exception might be Calc, but still, in general there is something amiss with the functionality of spreadsheets. Something just does not work right when trying to enter data, and Open Office is no different from Excel in this regard. Also, again, this applies to both, I do find that it's very hard to discover how to use certain tricks, for example, locking in view the first column or row. This is of course no problem for people who use it at a daily base, but if you use it actively once every three months like I do it's problematic. The documentation is also on par with Micro$oft's, and thus it's far easier to use some core utils since, even when I don't remember anything about the use, which happens often since I don't use those on a daily base either, at least the documentation is such that it's possible to find out how to do it.

    3. Re:Wrong focus by Jugalator · · Score: 1

      The usual oversight with these reactionary comments a la "OMG, Microsoft shouldn't work on the Vista UI while there are still so many bugs!!12"...

      Programmers are generally not artists.
      Artists are generally not programmers.

      Don't worry, the developers will keep working on OOo.

      Meanwhile, why not give some artists some work they can do?

      Sorry if I'm harsh, but I've seen that kind of argument a million times by now, and the reason it's flawed is so super simple to understand that it's downright scary how often it's overlooked. Are you thinking their software designers start rolling their thumbs as soon as some artist guys start working on fucking icons? Come on.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    4. Re:Wrong focus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Who give a flying %&$£ about art if the functionality is stuffed.


      Indeed. I'm a sysadmin who finally persuaded my 50 users that M$ is out to get their money by changing document formats every few years, so they should try open source. Only to get burned when Open Office 1 cannot open documents created by Open Office 2. Now I look like an idiot and 50 timid users are scared back into the proprietary world. Maybe 10 years before they get brave again, if ever.

      Stop trying to imitate everything we hate about M$ and just make a reliable product. Please!
  11. Clippy design contest? by EmbeddedJanitor · · Score: 2, Funny

    Damnd I misread.... I guess the Clippy design contest will be a long time coming.

    --
    Engineering is the art of compromise.
  12. more THAN by Ados · · Score: 3, Informative

    Grrrrr, its "more THAN" not "more then". Encourage others to get it right by using the right phrase yourself.

    1. Re:more THAN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yup. I'm sick of that too. The english language is at stake here.

    2. Re:more THAN by kae_verens · · Score: 1

      it's "it's" - not "its" (it is)

    3. Re:more THAN by john83 · · Score: 1

      Good spot. Another fine example of Hartman's Law of Prescriptivist Retaliation - "any statement about correct grammar, punctuation, or spelling is bound to contain at least one eror".

      --
      Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
    4. Re:more THAN by gmag3 · · Score: 1

      Grrrrr, it's "it's" not "its" (in this case.) Encourage others to get it right by using the right word yourself.

    5. Re:more THAN by egr · · Score: 3, Funny

      it's ""it's" (it is) - not "its"" - not "it's "it's" - not "its" (it is)"

    6. Re:more THAN by kae_verens · · Score: 1

      lol! yes. I spotted that as well, but thought; 'feck it- point made'.

    7. Re:more THAN by Petrushka · · Score: 1

      Thanks for an excellent laugh just before bedtime :-)

    8. Re:more THAN by Jugalator · · Score: 1

      "In this case" indeed. I can't believe how common "its" -> "it's" is, even among journalists. It has to be the grammar mistake online.

      --
      Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
    9. Re:more THAN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't worry. The spellchecker will catch it.

  13. Clip art and Templates by DavidD_CA · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is one of those things that people take for granted, but they come in very handy when you need them.

    As a licensed Office user, you can pull down literally thousands (probably closer to 100,000) various types of clip art, stock photography, and templates. There's probably 20 different Invoice templates alone, all very good.

    And with Office 2003, opening a template from the web or adding clip art is all integrated into the application.

    Little things like this will help OO become more mainstream, but I think it still has a long way to go.

    --
    -David
    1. Re:Clip art and Templates by Relic+of+the+Future · · Score: 1

      What I don't get is... why? Why make it part of OO.o? I'm sure a free and open collection of clipart/stock images/etc. would be welcome to lots of people on the internet. The templates I get, but the rest of it is useful to people other than OO.o users, and would be better as it's own website and project than as another chunk of bloat to download.

      --
      Those who fail to understand communication protocols, are doomed to repeat them over port 80.
    2. Re:Clip art and Templates by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why not? I can see why you might not want to download it with the OO.o install, but pack in a simple Impress template in a few colors, and add a system to connect to templates.openoffice.org and clipart.openoffice.org for more, let other software developers use it (so long as licensing is followed, of course) and you're good to go! Besides, Worldlabel.com is providing the money to make it happen, OO.o wants it to happen, so they work together. Makes sense to me.

    3. Re:Clip art and Templates by gral · · Score: 1

      The templates are going to be on the OOo Documentation site, so others can download if they want. The clipart is still being decided upon, and may be posted on openclipart.org in a joint effort.

      We are only going to add the top one or two items to the download. I don't want to have a 200Mb download, that has 1000 templates that are useless to me. Going to a site and downloading the ones I want makes more sense, or having a bulk template download as well.

      --
      Scott Carr
    4. Re:Clip art and Templates by DavidD_CA · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I think you've got something there. A massive "open" library of all sorts of document templates, images, clip art, photos, etc, would be fantastic.

      Ideally it could be linked into applications like OO through various HTTP APIs or something, much like Office is. (When you install office, you only install about 300 MB of clip art, the rest of it is accessed from the web.)

      --
      -David
  14. Clipart and templates? by robzon · · Score: 2, Informative

    They should pay more attention to the interface first and get a good usability specialist. Basic thing are much harder to do than they should be, like there is no keyboard shortcut for automatic sum in Calc! After googling I found out that you actually need to create a macro to do that. Maybe this one was fixed in the most recent releases (haven't checked), but there MANY things like that they should focus on.

    1. Re:Clipart and templates? by Bert64 · · Score: 1

      So submit a bug, and watch it's progress.
      Many of the people who write code, have no real need for a spreadsheet, so they have very little idea what features real users actually need unless those users tell them!

      --
      http://spamdecoy.net - free throwaway anonymous email - avoid spam!
  15. On those saying 'only MS copies will be submitted' by tod_miller · · Score: 1

    There are many artistic style, and clipart on many subjects and ideas in varying modern design styles (this this shitty hype web two.null style) as well as 60's comic style, smooth style, business style.

    Too many nay sayers, who seem to think that everything has already been done. Still, at least the top post wasn't 'OMFG you asshats you fkking didn't proof-read the post OMFGFDFFFFJFKJFKJFJ!!!!!!1111111'

    Wednesday! (for most)

    please type the word in this image: stands verification text - if you are visually impaired, please email us at pater@slashdot.org

    --
    #hostfile 0.0.0.0 primidi.com 0.0.0.0 www.primidi.com 0.0.0.0 radio.weblogs.com
  16. Openoffice doesn't deserve cliparts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    as long as they don't support natively SVG.
    SVG is the best standard for vectorial cliparts, and not supporting svg is really a shame. Bring real svg support to openoffice instead of the lame sun-java-only plugin, and then people will bring cliparts to openoffice.

    1. Re:Openoffice doesn't deserve cliparts by Chemicalscum · · Score: 1

      I agree wholeheartedly. I find it infuriating that OOo doesn't support SVG. As a chemist I often prepare drawings of molecules and reaction pathways from specialist programs whose best output is in SVG. At least Abiword with a plugin inserts SVG graphics with a plugin that internally converts them to PNG. Not an optimal solution since they don't scale as they internally as bitmaps, but still its better than nothing.

    2. Re:Openoffice doesn't deserve cliparts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      For me, import of vector graphics into OO.org 2.0x works best with .wmf, .emf and .eps (as long as you don't try to edit these graphics inside OO.org).

    3. Re:Openoffice doesn't deserve cliparts by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Meh, if you are on any Free OS, use some command-line rasterizer and an ugly hack, if you want freedom. On anything else, you probably don't care (Exception: Older Mac OS X versions, which may not have the newest Java)

  17. I'm going to bed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Keep the Tags coming guys, all stories need them. Don't slack.

  18. For students by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    How about MLA, APA, Tirabian and Chicago Templates.

    1. Re:For students by SteveFoerster · · Score: 1

      Absolutely! I've been waiting for this myself. They say that it's coming in version three, I suppose we'll see....

      -=Steve=-

      --
      Space game using normal deck of cards: http://BattleCards.org
  19. clip art... by joe+155 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...I wish that they had got people to design a better UI for the main app though, it just looks so much like it was designed on the cheap in 1997 ( see http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/17/Nt3_ 51-word97.png ). I know that people will say functionality should take precedence but I will not be able to convince anyone who is a casual user to switch when they will be presented with a mass of grey and cheap looking icons.

    I hope that they have some money saved back to do that soon.

    --
    *''I can't believe it's not a hyperlink.''
    1. Re:clip art... by xtracto · · Score: 0

      I know that people will say functionality should take precedence but I

      Hey, look at the picture you linked again.

      From my point of view, a set of 9 menues, each one with (an average of) 7 subitems of which (approximatly) 2 of them are submenues with (on average) more than 10 options (which some of them are submenues =oS) is not what I call something "functional".

      Thats the primary reason why the *ribbon* exists.

      The menu-bar paradigm is OLD older than me and older than lots of you. This has to be changed NOW. just look at our firefox menubar now, there are hundreds of hidden options on those menues. You MUST have "a master on computers" [John Doe's slang] to use all that.

      Please, if there is anyone that develops open source window managers or something like that, please try to use something different instead of the menu-bar, why not remapping that menubar as a web-2.0 "cloud" which makes some options bigger than others.

      --
      Ubuntu is an African word meaning 'I can't configure Debian'
    2. Re:clip art... by TobascoKid · · Score: 1

      Thats the primary reason why the *ribbon* exists.

      I thought that the ribbon is having a hard time getting accepted.

      The menu-bar paradigm is OLD older than me and older than lots of you.

      ouch.

      Just because it's old doesn't mean that there's anything overly wrong with it (if you think about it, most things in computing are "old" by your standards). A few apps might be pushing the paradigm to it's limits, but then you have to wonder if maybe it's the apps that need to be simplified and not the menubar.

      why not remapping that menubar as a web-2.0 "cloud" which makes some options bigger than others.

      Maybe it's old age, but I can't think of anything less aesthetically pleasing to replace menu bars with. If anything you'd end up with an even harder to use system.

      --
      At some point, somewhere, the entire internet will be found to be illegal.
  20. Wrong. by Qbertino · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You're either good technically or a good artist. Not both. That's the way it's always been.

    Wrong.
    I'd even go so far and say you won't excel at either if your not good in the other. I'm a professional software developer and a multimedia designer with a diploma in arts. I'd say I'm quite good at both *and* I'm aware that both are hard work and I also know the difference between crappy programming and good programming and the difference between crappy design and good design.

    The problem with being at home in both areas is that you have to force yourself on one field of expertise at a time. Right now I'm doing a project where I only do the programming side. It's wonderfull having a designer do the neat looking stuff at the frontend without me having to worry zilch about it. Especially if he's doing a good job - which he is. Not having to explain to fellow programmers that it's important that your webappp doesn't look like shit is a big bonus aswell. The other way around, the desinger doesn't know very much about programming, so I have to tell him that mixing template stuff with haphazard logic the templates provide is a bad idea - and he doesn't get it all the time. Which can be anoying.

    Again, it's difficult to handle both areas at once, but in the long run you come out on top, no matter what field you focus on. MM Designers who don't know programming are a pain in the upper leagues and so are programmers who don't know nothing about design. Steve Jobs is a good example of a guy who knows his way around technical stuff and pretty design quite well. And AFAICT he's getting along.

    --
    We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
  21. Re:On those saying 'only MS copies will be submitt by charlesnw · · Score: 2, Insightful
    OMFGFDFFFFJFKJFKJFJ!!!!!!1111111'
    So are you saying oh my f* god feds killed jfk?
    --
    Charles Wyble System Engineer
  22. Dear OpenOffice by pembo13 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You have a long way to go. Clipart is the least of your problems: there is always images.google.com. I never really used MS Office much. I used Novel, and then Corel Office. When I moved to Linux I picked you up OO.org. You meet most of my tasks, and I have never had to open MS Word due to a a lack of yours. However, you are lacking a lot of useful features. Please copy features from Wordperfect. I would love a grammar checker as useful as the one in Wordperfect.

    And I hear you don't have native SVG support? What's up with that?

    Thank you.

    --
    "Thanks for all the money you paid to us. We've used it to buy off ISO among other things" -Microsoft
    1. Re:Dear OpenOffice by Petrushka · · Score: 1

      Forget about svg support, I'd be happy to see correct formatting of text using font substitution and correct handling of combining diacritics. Yes, I've posted bugs. Yes, I'm bitter and twisted.

      But also yes, I use OpenOffice daily. It's just better.

    2. Re:Dear OpenOffice by Ash-Fox · · Score: 1
      Here is my OpenOffice.org dear to letter:
      Dear OpenOffice.org people,

      ash-fox@Tapestry:~$ sudo apt-get install openclipart
      Password:
      Reading package lists... Done
      Building dependency tree... Done
      The following extra packages will be installed:
                openclipart-openoffice.org openclipart-png openclipart-svg
      Suggested packages:
          gimp-svg inkscape sketch
      Recommended packages:
          librsvg2-bin
      The following NEW packages will be installed:
          openclipart       openclipart-openoffice.org openclipart-png openclipart-svg
      0 upgraded, 4 newly installed, 0 to remove and 6 not upgraded.
      Need to get 39.8MB/193MB of archives.
      After unpacking 371MB of additional disk space will be used.
      Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
      Get:1 http://pl.archive.ubuntu.com/ dapper/universe openclipart-svg 0.18+dfsg-4 [39.8MB]
      Get:2 http://pl.archive.ubuntu.com/ dapper/universe openclipart 0.18+dfsg-4 [3836B]
      Fetched 39.8MB in 5m7s (130kB/s)
      Selecting previously deselected package openclipart-svg.
      (Reading database ... 99998 files and directories currently installed.)
      Unpacking openclipart-svg (from .../openclipart-svg_0.18+dfsg-4_all.deb) ...
      Selecting previously deselected package openclipart-png.
      Unpacking openclipart-png (from .../openclipart-png_0.18+dfsg-4_all.deb) ...
      Selecting previously deselected package       openclipart-openoffice.org.
      Unpacking       openclipart-openoffice.org (from .../openclipart-openoffice.org_0.18+dfsg-4_all.deb ) ...
      Selecting previously deselected package openclipart.
      Unpacking openclipart (from .../openclipart_0.18+dfsg-4_all.deb) ...
      Setting up openclipart-svg (0.18+dfsg-4) ...
      Setting up openclipart-png (0.18+dfsg-4) ...
      Setting up       openclipart-openoffice.org (0.18+dfsg-4) ...
      Setting up openclipart (0.18+dfsg-4) ...
      ash-fox@Tapestry:~$

      Lots of love,
                  Ash-Fox
                x x x

      PS: Love the VB macro support.
      --
      Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
  23. Wait until Gates hears about this... by r_bertram42 · · Score: 1

    Wait until Gates hears about this. He will then offer $5,000,000 for whoever brings him the best plan of getting rid of Open Source fanatics :-D

    --
    -- You must be yay-high to rule the world.
  24. Talking paper clips by SpiritNL · · Score: 2, Funny

    ....forgotten in the contest rules .... talking paper clips are not allowed!

  25. OMG this idea is the BEST by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    good clipart is the first thing i look for in a word processor.

  26. grey and cheap FUD ... by rs232 · · Score: 1

    "I wish that they had got people to design a better UI for the main app though, it just looks so much like it was designed on the cheap in 1997"

    You know something, when I read the opening comment I said to myself, standby for a mass of OO doesn't have 'feeture' comments that strangely get modded up. And straight off at number four is the above ..

    was Re:clip art...

    --
    davecb5620@gmail.com
  27. I like OO except it doesn't have X feeture .. ;) by rs232 · · Score: 2, Informative

    "as long as they don't support natively SVG"

    Google on OO and feetures. Select random feeture. Post I like OO except it doesn't have 'X feeture' on Slashdot.

    SVG-ready OpenOffice 2.0

    was re Re:Openoffice doesn't deserve cliparts

    --
    davecb5620@gmail.com
  28. Shark Art by farker+haiku · · Score: 3, Funny

    Great, now there's going to be 5k clip art images of sharks with laser beams on their heads and snakes on a plane. Here's to you, Mr. Open Office submitter dude.

    --
    Your sig(k) has been stolen. There is a puff of smoke!
    1. Re:Shark Art by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 1

      Hey! There's mutherf****n clip-art in this mutherf****n office suite!

      --
      If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  29. I like OO except for .. by rs232 · · Score: 1

    I like OO except for the lack of a good User Interface, the grey and cheep icons, no native SVG support, no keyboard shortcut for automatic sum in Calc, no propagate deleting of paragraphs, no visible page breaks, slow startup ...

    --
    davecb5620@gmail.com
    1. Re:I like OO except for .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh well done, copy and paste a few points other people have made, and pray you get modded up. Why bother? The thing that really saddens me is you did get modded up. Nice original thoughts you had there, maybe you should look up plagerism in the dictionary.

    2. Re:I like OO except for .. by rs232 · · Score: 1

      "Oh well done, copy and paste a few points other people have made, and pray you get modded up"

      I was being a little sacastic. My point being that whenever Open Source is mentioned we invariably get the I like X except it lacks feeture Y type of comments.

      --
      davecb5620@gmail.com
  30. templates? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    how about designing a proper icon first?

  31. Paid content by smallguy78 · · Score: 1, Flamebait

    It's open source and free and all that sugar that makes some people erect. However they are paying you $5000 to do it. Why not make the product semi-commercial and actually come up with a competitor for MS Office, instead of relying on hobbyists.

    --
    Nothing costs nothing
    1. Re:Paid content by amcdiarmid · · Score: 1

      Duh, let me count the reasons why!

      1) There is a commercial version of Open Office: It's called Star Office
      2) The best a commercial product can hope to do against MS is go out of business.
      2a) Or be bought by google
      3) Did I mention that Open Office was the Free Version of Star Office ($70 ish) from Sun?
      3b) Did you know that you could purchase Open Office for $70 ish, and get features like: Real Fonts, a commercial spell checker, the ability to import MS Scripts, and more...

      Seriously, how many commercial office suites have you seen that have gone out of business in the last several years? Let me jog your memory.

        (Rant-On)
      Origionally (In the Days of DOS), there were the big three: Word-Perfect Office; Microsoft Office, and Lotus Office. If I remember right (and probably don't): Word-Perfect Office (Also known as Corel, Novel, or what-the-hell) starred Word Perfect, and other me-too programs. Lotus Office (Who knows what it was called back then?) Starred 123, and other me-too programs. Microsoft Office had only me-too programs.

      When Windows came out, WordPerfect was the 800 pound gorilla that slipped on the (supplied) bananna peel of not converting to Windows - it was still a DOS program. Microsoft had updated it's me-too programs so that they were good, and (I suspect) first to market as windows programs. At this point in time, many people (Read Businesses) still purchased WordPerfect, and 123 as seperate programs. Microsoft offered a "Windows Native Office Suite" (at a lower price) of me-too (aka: also-ran) programs at a low price, and started eating market share like no tomorrow.

      Today, the world runs on Microsoft Office. Period. Lotus office was effectively killed by predatory Windows pricing to computer manufacturers. (You can sell it, but we will raise your cost for Windows from the OEM price of $25 to the consumer price of $100. OK, I pulled the numbers out of my rear, but you get the idea.) [Personally, I like WP's reveal codes, and am likely still better at 123 than Excel, and loved the Lotus Smart Suite Organizational Trays. However, I also think the best version of Word was 5.1 - so there.] No only does everyone run MSOffice, but Corel tried a semi-commercial version of the WordPerfect Suite a few years ago: ($25 for the suite - no Tech support calls - use the forums.) The only thing that happened was they lost more market share. Lotus Smart Suite has effectively disappeared: (Hey look, you can find the Milennium edition for $25 - and I think that's the last time it was updated;) The only reason many people made new Office suites (or componants) recently is for the web.

      Let me tell you, Star Office / Open Office was made an open source project because Sun want's to try stopping Microsoft from using Office as a monopoly cash cow. Star Office was a third tier office suite that blew chunks for everything but an amazing scripting ability. (Yes, I used it. As a user, not a programmer, I would rather use the worst componant in every categlory from the big three suites. Ok, a little over stated, but...) Sun bought it because they could afford it, and could afford to make it open source. (e.g: Very few IP issues). It now is an open source project because they want to hurt MS, and it's not really working. Open Office is for everyone who does not need support, and does not want to pirate MS Office. Star Office is for people who need a "supported" office suite that is cross platform. (I don't know. I haven't really heard of any big installations. but it's there if you need it) The Star Office also includes a commercial spell checker, a MS VBA translator/importer, and some other features (like real fonts) that are nice to have. See the Wiki for more. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarOffice)

      So you want to create a semi-commercial version of Open Office? Get a clue

      (Rant-Off)

      --

      Mebby I kin't spell, but omtimes I get rilled up & lookoat: I sure do speel.

  32. I don't do art? by FooAtWFU · · Score: 1
    I am working on an art minor and I'm still good enough technically to be worth ~$25/hr for a mere summer internship (with IBM! where they say my code is awesome. :P) and to write my own website mini-CMS from scratch to re-learn XSLT and...

    Now, granted, my art stuff isn't quite as good as my little sister's stuff, but I think I'm working on it and getting better. (Sorry I don't have any scans of stuff from my current art class or anything - and if you go browsing the Scraps hard enough, you'll find some stuff at least three years old, but whatever).

    --
    The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
  33. Hmmm...what a rip-off. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So they're going to rip-off Tufte instead of MS.

  34. But this way, you can get money ($5000!) and not by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    have to pay to use their software!

  35. Finally! by varghan · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I would really like to have a _much_ better alternative to the pink 'n' purple graphs that are standard in MS office (and gnumeric). Who ever thought that putting purple and pink on a grey background get nice looking figures. Please, please, please, I am begging someone with a better understanding of layout to get a better set of standard colors.

  36. Well... by meosborne · · Score: 1

    You did shoot yourself in the foot because OOo 1.1.5 can read OOo 2.0 format. Also, since 2.0 is free, there is no monetary barrier to simply updating to 2.0.

  37. Lack of Impress Templates by zenray · · Score: 1

    The biggest complaint I've had from people I get using OpenOffice.Org is the lack of Impress templates. I hope "they" come up with some good ones because everybody knows that the 'bad' MS Power Point templates are causing brain damage.

    --
    zenray
  38. Slashfilters by duerra · · Score: 2, Funny

    Slashfilters can lick my nuts.  Who are they to call 'my' computer-generated works of art "junk characters"!  But, I suppose it is no use complaining right here.  I'll show them junk characters!

    ___  ___  _ _  _  ___
    | . \| __>| \ || |/ __>
    |  _/| _> |   || |\__ \
    |_|  |___>|_\_||_|<___/

    --
    A community-oriented lyrics site
  39. Not many geeks do art by Anonymous+Brave+Guy · · Score: 1

    Leaving aside the debate over da Vinci, I think the idea that you can't be good both artistically and technically is daft. It's simply a numbers game: if 10% of the population is good at art, and 10% is good technically, then we would expect only 1% of the population to be good at both.

    If we take those made up numbers and put them in context, that would mean around 1 in 5 people would have some talent at one or the other. However, only 1 in 20 of those talented people would be good at both. It's not that such people don't exist, simply that they are rare in comparison to those who are talented in only one of the two areas.

    --
    If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
  40. but what OO.o really needs is Galley View by cellocgw · · Score: 1

    Or, as Msoft Word calls it, "Normal View." I've been pleading w/ the OO.o design team (via there bug/feature trackers) to implement this with no luck whatsoever.
    It's an incredible waste of screen space (not to mention scrolling time) to display each and every page with its headers&footers, not to mention the blank background between pages. When you're writing and editing the content of a document, all you want or need to see is the text itself. Page formatting comes later.

    --
    https://app.box.com/WitthoftResume Code: https://github.com/cellocgw
    1. Re:but what OO.o really needs is Galley View by PCM2 · · Score: 1
      It's an incredible waste of screen space (not to mention scrolling time) to display each and every page with its headers&footers, not to mention the blank background between pages.

      Office 2003 has an additional feature in "Print Mode" where you can opt to just eliminate the extra space. So you see all the formatting and the bubble-style comments, but you don't see headers and footers where there are none. I'd settle for something similar.

      --
      Breakfast served all day!
  41. Picking up on the smashing success of GIMP idea by mpfife · · Score: 1
    Wow, if the entries are even half as good as the God-aweful GIMP splash contest ones, they'll be toppling MS in no time.

    http://www.gimp.org/contest/

  42. How about buying a name? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why don't they spend some money and buy the rights to call themselves "Open Office"? This "OpenOffice.org" stuff is really awkward.

  43. And moreover... by BrokenHalo · · Score: 1

    ...Perhaps some halfway decent toolbar icons. I know Ximian have made an attempt in that direction, and there are other measures available (e.g. at kde-look.org) but it shouldn't need so much effort to make these less ugly.

  44. If they really want a successful project . . . by cashman73 · · Score: 1

    What they should do is not only offer free clipart on a site like openclipart.org, but also offer it in a format that would be easily downloadable and usable not only by their own users, but also users of Micro$oft Orifice. Let the M$ zombies come to their site and see what they've got, then take a look at a free office application on the site, and maybe some of these people will then be converted over,... Plus, once they get a critical mass of software clipart, and if it's good enough, they could easily put a bunch of it on a CD-ROM and sell it in stores like wal-mart,...

  45. OS X mail client help by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is there a commercial or free replacement for Entourage that does email and calendaring, interfaces with Exchange server, etc.

    (what is this, tech support? sorry, bogarted your thread because it was near the top and slashdot commenters are faster, funnier, and know too much... I need help)

  46. A general and powerful solution by cinnamon+colbert · · Score: 1

    Many posters note that fixing the poor UI as more important then clipart.

    But what is a good UI ? Perfect for slashpol
    Category
    Graphs - genera
    Graphs - axis ....

    The math is a lot like the ask an audience feature in do u want 2b a millioniare.
    if there is a consensus you will get a set of votes x + y, where x is the preferred soluiton and Y is the sum of the unpreferred, and all of the components of y are small (the math is really clear with 4 choices)

    the only problem is if the better solutions are not well know, eg I really like the layout of graphs in Kaleidagraph, which few people know about.

  47. Re:I like OO except it doesn't have X feeture .. ; by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is that the SVG plugin that crashes on pretty much every image?

    (oh, and with a long-winded registration process for reporting bugs, so don't expect much improvement)