Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

OpenOffice.org Declares Independence From Oracle, Becomes LibreOffice

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the because-they-can dept.

Google85 writes "The OpenOffice.org Project has unveiled a major restructuring that separates itself from Oracle and that takes responsibility for OpenOffice away from a single company. From now on, OpenOffice's development and direction will be decided by a steering committee of developers and national language project managers. Driving home the changes, the OpenOffice.org project is now The Document Foundation, while the OpenOffice.org suite has been given the temporary name of LibreOffice."

9 of 648 comments (clear)

  1. Probably the best thing to happen by TheLinuxSRC · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is probably the best thing to happen to openoffice.org since the sale of Sun to Oracle. Almost all of Sun's open source projects have either been neglected (abandoned?) by Oracle or moved to a less-friendly license (OpenSolaris anyone?).

  2. Awesome News for Microsoft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Now no one will take OpenOffice... err... I mean LibreOffice seriously and continue using Microsoft Office unabated.

  3. Re:It's all in the name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Tensions between the open source community and Oracle, a big proprietary software company, can hardly be called infighting in the OSS community.

  4. Why do open source projects pick stupid names? by vinn · · Score: 4, Insightful

    LibreOffice? Seriously? What a horrid name. We're not French and the percentage of the population that understands what Libre means is nil.

    There's a reason we're all geeks and not in marketing. However, we all have friends who have a bit savviness when it comes to creativity. Quit being a geek and ask for help.

    This is no different than the Diaspora project. Even if that project had the technical side working, it'd still fail because the name is so stupid. You can't compete against a product named "Facebook" when your name is "Diaspora".

    --
    ----- obSig
  5. Re:Oh no! by MikeyO · · Score: 4, Insightful

    When I see names of this kind I know that the project is now dead.

    You mean like how it [didn't] die when transitioning from "StarOffice" to "OpenOffice.org"?

  6. Re:It's all in the name by Junior+J.+Junior+III · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yeah, really. It was either this, or see the project get scrapped and a new, proprietary "OracleOffice.org" get released a few weeks later. I'm glad to see open source resisting becoming assimilated and crushed because a major backer got acquired.

    --
    You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
  7. Horrible name by Big_Monkey_Bird · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Nothing is going to slow down adoption in the US than an unpronounceable Frenchy name.

  8. Re:It's all in the name by tverbeek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    You win the "Poor Analogy of the Day Award". Twice. (Do you even understand what's being discussed?)

    YouTube is still called "YouTube"; there was no change of name that would suggest instability to a casual observer.

    OpenOffice.org was not renamed when it was taken over by Oracle; it is (apparently) being renamed in an attempt to wrest it from Oracle, which is a sign of instablity.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
  9. Re:It's all in the name by CarpetShark · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I disagree. Like it or not, Oracle is part of the OSS community.

    There are thieves in your area. Are they part of your community? Only in a very broad sense of community. Generally, community refers to a group of people with shared ideals, cooperating. Submitting patches to FOSS is one thing. Submitting patches to FOSS for the good of the community, without an ulterior motive, or at least with your vision of how it might be useful sharing a large subset with others, is another thing.