Don't Expect an OpenOffice/LibreOffice Merger

Since Oracle has decided to give OpenOffice back to the community, a lot of people wondered if there would be some sort of re-unification with the ex-Oracle and the Document Foundation run by a lot of the original involved folks. The latter has released a statement saying, "the development of TDF community and LibreOffice is going forward as planned, and we are always willing to include new members and partners. We will provide as many information as we can with the progress of the situation. We are currently making every possible effort to offer a smooth transition to the project."

Comments

What?

[somersault]

Why would I expect a merger? It feels like they only forked a couple of months ago.

Re:What?

[icebike]

Exactly right.

Further more, everybody who mattered in the developer base already bailed out of Oracle, and is working for LibreOffice. There is very little that Oracle has left to merge.

Oracle has thrown in the towel, (but you can rest assured there will be a few poison pills in anything they release that is not already in LibreOffice) and at best the open-sourcing of this project is their way of telling the remaining developers on their payroll, "here's your hat, what's your hurry". Those that didn't leave probably didn't because they needed the pay check.

Point, Set, and Match to LibreOffice. This is probably one of the most significant watershed events in Open Source development. Even more so than when XFree86 was forked and Xorg totally took over X servers on every distribution, leaving XFree86 into obscurity.

That being said, the article title does NOT square with the source, which makes no blanket statements about NO possible merger. I read it completely the opposite way, they will accept new members, and they may well cherry pick the released code.

Re:What?

[Jason Earl]

Actually, LibreOffice has several features that the newest OpenOffice.org lacks. Sun/Oracle dragged their feet on accepting contributions from outsiders. Part of this was due to the fact that Sun/Oracle wanted to charge money for certain features, part was simple Not Invented Here syndrome. Either way, when LibreOffice split off from OpenOffice.org it was already the better fork.

Now that LibreOffice has shown that it can organize a community, set up the needed infrastructure, and make a release that is better than Oracle's release Oracle is starting to get concerned about what this says about Oracle's ability to lead in other Free Software communities. Larry Ellison paid a lot of money for Sun's various Free Software businesses, and he does *not* want people getting the idea that these communities would be better off if they were forked away from Oracle.

Re:What?

[sumdumass]

Because, really ... "honestly mom, you should change to Libre Office, that Open Office from 2 years ago is so passe" ... I just don't see that helping the cause of coming up with a free alternative. I'm not really willing to go there for myself even.

And all this time, I have been just installing the software and renaming the icons Word, Excel, and so on. I didn't realize I was supposed to tell them the name of the programs as well as they weren't using the Microsoft versions.

It would be...

[M0j0_j0j0]

a dangerous move to merge back , Oracle cannot be trusted.

Re:It would be...

[erroneus]

That's kind of what I was thinking. The reason for moving away from Oracle was because it cannot be trusted. They asked for the name and did not get it so they moved on. Now Oracle says "we're sorry, here you can have the name!" Can Oracle be trusted not to pull some sort of stunt if it were accepted?

To Oracle: You're a big heavy company. You throw your weight around a lot. We don't like it, we don't like you and you simply can't be trusted any more than Microsoft or those of your ilk.

It's just fine the way it is now!

[chasm!killer]

Been using Libre Office since the first release (sorta buggy, but from second on, it's much more solid than Open Office ever was). Without the drag from the corporate offices, releases seem Really Fast (compared to the Open Office process) and easier to install, probably because of the shorter lag between underlying package releases and Office releases. I think the smaller group seems to have it together, and I sorta like it being fully independent (like Linux is). So in conclusion, let's just keep it the way it is....

What Oracle Could Do

[Bruce Perens]

Oracle has three things of value for the community:

The Copyrights

Oracle still owns the copyrights of OpenOffice. Everybody will be able to use, modify, and distribute OpenOffice under the rights granted in the license, which never terminates. That license is LGPL2 for versions before 3.0, and LGPL3 for 3.0 beta and later, and the PDL for documentation. However, if the copyrights were transferred to a non-profit foundation, that foundation would be able to re-license OpenOffice as licenses develop. Laws change over time, and licenses must change to meet them. It would also be possible for the non-profit to enforce the larger part of the copyright rights. Currently, individual contributors or the project as their representative can enforce the copyright rights and license terms only on post-Oracle modifications. It would also be able to protect OpenOffice against pernicious changes in the commercial copyright holder. Products and companies get sold and change management. Remember that SCO was a "friendly" Linux company called Caldera before they went on their legal rampage. 501(c)3's, however, can devise covenants that keep their copyrights public property forever, and are legally limited to disburse their holdings only to other 501(c)3's on dissolution.

The Domain

OpenOffice.org is well known, and most instances of the software on user systems still reference it. Transferring this to a non-profit would be helpful.

Patents

Oracle might hold patents that read on OpenOffice, or could be used to defend it against other companies that bring patent suits. We can use Oracle's patents that are embedded in OpenOffice under the terms of the LGPL2 and LGPL3. But it would be nice to have some help in defending the program.

How Oracle Can Hurt

Oracle can hurt by trying to muscle the non-profit into accepting some sort of control from Oracle, be it a board position or something else. We have ample evidence that the project, since 1999, did poorly in gaining developers under a corporation's control. And if anything, Oracle makes other companies less comfortable than Sun would have. It's time for the project to be independent. The project should reject any offers that come with a demand for continuing control.

Thanks

Bruce

Re:No it's not

[MrEricSir]

Are you aware that there are languages other than English?

Another Open Office based option.

[Magee_MC]

Around the time of the split, I decided to give IBM Lotus Symphony a try. It's based on Open Office and so far I'm really happy with it. No real interest in going back to Open Office, and no need to try LibreOffice at this point.

Re:really?

[hairyfeet]

Funny choice, because frankly unless there only goal is to make it popular in France ShitOffice would probably be a better name than leber-office (which is how I've heard everyone pronounce it so far, followed by WTF or WTH? )

Seriously is there like a bylaw or something that says every damned FOSS app has to have a shitty/stupid/smartass name? Would you drink Fungus coffee? How about a Goatse choc bar? Maybe wash your hair with moneyshot shampoo? No? Then WTF!

Would have really been so God damned hard, would it have REALLY put you out, to simply name it something like Freedom Office? Or Sharing Office? Names matter folks and the pretentious bullshit names really don't help your cause. At least open office (which FYI NOBODY called it OO.o) gave it a nice friendly sounding name. its open, like open house. Simple, easy, smart.

So PLEASE for the love of all that is good and decent pick another damned name, or just bundle the damned thing with the Gimp and label under "shit nobody uses cause it just sounds nasty". I'd love to see FOSS guys name a soft drink, they'd probably be trying to sell ballsack cola or some shit, where the initials came out to something smug. Give me a break.

Re:better name

[Crudely_Indecent]

I like LibreOffice better than OpenOffice, but you're right. It's still a bad name.

Personally I think "Document Foundation" sounds impressive. They should go with that.

"Document Foundation Suite" sounds pretty good.