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Where Do I Go Now That Oracle Owns OpenOffice.org?
eldavojohn writes "So I noted that there was better support for my processor in the latest BIOS for my mainboard. After downloading the update, there was a .doc file containing flashing instructions. No matter, I have OpenOffice.org installed on this machine and just opened it up. And, as should be no surprise, there was an Oracle logo splash screen while OpenOffice.org 3.2 started up. At my job, I've had a less than favorable history with Oracle that I'm not going to get into — rather let's just say I never want anything to do with them again. Including installing any of their software on my machine. So I'm facing a dilemma. I've looked into the forked LIbreOffice but that's still in beta and I'm a little wary of depending on that. Has anyone used LibreOffice (it's installing as I type this) extensively? Does it handle complex Powerpoint files okay? Is there some alternative out there that I'm completely overlooking for open source? Can anyone convince me that there's no reason to fear the Oracle OpenOffice.org? Will it remain the de facto standard? Will it eventually lock me into a commitment with Oracle? If you get by without one of these heavyweight monster editors, what do you use and how do you handle doc, ppt, (etc.) extensions?"
Ask them to stop using Word documents for instructions.
Ask them to use PDF or HTML.
Wait for LibreOffice to be released a stable build and then leave OpenOffice behind. Until then you'll just have to use it and keep in mind that the only thing Oracle did for OO was buy Sun, they didn't write any of the code.
...that you can use whatever software you like. If you were happy with the last Sun release of OpenOffice, then download and use that instead. It should be fine for a couple of years* and by then it should be clear which OSS office software is appropriate for you.
*It's not uncommon for Microsoft to go several years between releases of MS Office, so two years with Sun's last OpenOffice release isn't unreasonable.
and as such it remains vulnerable to potential legal attacks from Oracle which now owns the Java technology...
Disaster awaits if something isn't done about this...
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
If you weren't a Slashdot celebrity, that ridiculous submission would have been rejected as whining over a complete non-issue. Grab the OOo source, and build your own copy that doesn't display the Oracle logo. Problem solved. (Or just look away when the splash screen appears).
All Oracle did was buy Sun. There isn't some sort of magical evil contagion that instantly infected OpenOffice.org; the software is no different than it was before the sale.
Now, Oracle could potentially direct OpenOffice.org development to go down the path of evil. They could change the license under which OO.o is distributed to an unacceptable one. They could do all sorts of things! But they haven't had time to do it yet, and by the time they get their evil ducks in a row, LibreOffice will be up and running.
Little-known fact: many (most?) Linux distros are already shipping a non-pure OO.o. There is a collection of patches that were never part of the official OO.o, called Go-oo, and distros have been shipping Go-oo instead of the pure Oo.o.
I fully expect LibreOffice to merge all the Go-oo patches, leaving us with two office suites: Oracle OO.o, and LibreOffice. And I think it is very possible that the community will line up behind LibreOffice and leave Oracle OO.o completely irrelevant and unloved. (Consider the situation with Xfree86 and X.org. In that case, the switchover happened in a stunningly short period of time.)
The worst-case scenario is that Oracle adopts some license that keeps LibreOffice from merging Oracle patches, and then Oracle funds a development team to make giant improvements to Oracle OO.o; then the community might have to choose between the free LibreOffice and the Oracle offering. But even there, I am not actually worried. The current state of OpenOffice is usable. Even if Oracle poured huge resources into OO.o development, what could they really offer to tempt us away from LibreOffice? A toolbar with giant icons? A dancing paperclip? Meanwhile, if all that LibreOffice does is simply to fix bugs, improve speed, and rewrite to end Java dependencies, I for one would be completely happy.
If you use OO.o on Windows, just don't take any updates until LibreOffice is ready, and you will be fine. Or better yet, simply start getting your installers from the Go-oo web site. If you use Linux, you almost certainly can simply trust your distro to do a good job of keeping your office suite relatively evil-free.
Oracle may be evil, but they aren't magically evil. Don't worry about this.
P.S. After writing this post, my 'o' key on my keyboard is overheating. I'd better not use it for a while or it might stp wrking.
steveha
lf(1): it's like ls(1) but sorts filenames by extension, tersely
If I had points I'd mod you insightful. While the OP doesn't state it, I would assume that MS would be off the table, given that Larry Ellison is trying to be Bill Gates. But, if it's solely an Oracle problem, Office has nothing to do with that.
OP does state it, quite clearly in fact: " Is there some alternative out there that I'm completely overlooking for open source?"
Unless Microsoft recently released the source code to their office suite this option has been pretty clearly disqualified. RTFA.
I guess that means no java for you either :)
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Have you ever heard of LaTeX and subversion? Just checking...
He probably has....but everyone else he works with probably hasn't nor are they willing to spend all the time on the learning curve to use it.
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
OOXML is a documented standard, ISO/IEC 29500.
lol
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
Considering one of the things they did was pull in the go-oo patches that include better docx support, I doubt that is the big fear. It's mostly only RMS that think closed source lock-out is a way to promote freedom.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Not intended != Not suitable.
He's not just some guy, he's David Arlie. He's done work on Xorg stuff, including the nouveau driver. You should be honoured that he called you an idiot, especially since it's his second comment on Slashdot, after the first posted in 2005.
So what you're saying is... he's not just any pompous windbag going off on some random guy on a messageboard with the kind of insult most of us outgrew in the 7th grade, but a specific pompous windbag with some kind of claim to nerd street cred in a particular nerd subculture going off on some random guy on a messageboard with the kind of insult most of us outgrew in the 7th grade?
That's informative, but I still don't think the aforementioned random guy should feel honored. You've got somewhat odd criteria for choosing your objects of worship.