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Cloud Version of OpenOffice In the Works
An anonymous reader writes "The Apache Foundation revealed in Sinsheim, Germany their plans for a cloud version of OpenOffice.org based on HTML5. Chinese and German engineers use OpenOffice in 'headless' mode as a base."
Will this be something you host or that they host. I would like it if I could host a open office cloud server on my own metal. If it is simply hosted on their server farm I may as well use google docs or desktop based open/libre office(.org). Also will it feature plug-ins? A cryptography plug-in that makes use of client side double public key encryption with collaborative editing would be great. For that matter will it have collaborative editing, or a git like document versioning for multiple editors? If so will it allow collaborative work between the cloud version a desktop version? This could be very useful or just something else I never use.
---Saying gnome 3 is better than windows 8 not so much a compliment as it is damning with light praise.
LibreOffice will be doing something similar:
http://www.muktware.com/news/3509/libreoffice-online-will-be-real-competitor-microsoft-office-365#.UJvrD281nK4
Since they're using OpenOffice as a back end anyway, what would be really awesome is if the desktop version could connect to the cloud service as well, so one wouldn't have to only use a not quite right browser based version if you had it installed, and it would have proper access to local files, and would use far fewer resources because nothing can hog up a CPU like a web browser.
You know, like an native app. But on a real computer. Perhaps we could call it an application. Or just program.
RTFA? It's slashdotted :(
SJW n. One who posts facts.
How long has an online version of OOo or LO been "in the works"? Maybe ten years? Show me a stinking beta, and quit showing me stinking press releases.
It will load sloooooooooooowly, look like the rich text editor Hotmail had in 2003 and require Java(tm) even though it's HTML5 based? /ducks
Dear aunt, let's set so double the killer delete select all
Why would you use a hosted Office solution in a business environment when you give up ownership of the content you create using such systems because the content is saved onto the cloud?
Lets say I use a hosted office solution to write a book. It saves by book onto the cloud. Who owns it?
Actually, the error message means that Apache 2.0.63 is working fine; it's the backend, which is likely running Tomcat, which is having problems... and that could be for various reasons.
Maybe this is a dumb question, but why do we still have the split between Open* and Libre*? Now that OpenOffice has been handed off from Oracle to Apache Foundation, isn't it equally open source again? So ideally, the best ideas of both packages should be merged into one product and then the top talent can be applied to improving it.
I notice LibreOffice is also talking about an online version. To me, this seems like a lot of redundant effort.
it's = "it is"; its = possessive. E.g., it's flapping its wings.
LibreOffice is where the real action is. They even import bug fixes from Apache Office if there are any not yet fixed in LibreOffice yet. Though activity at Apache seems really slow, so it isn't much work. So technically you can consider them merged in the LibreOffice code base. LibreOffice has much more features than Apache Office and Apache Office doesn't have any features not in LibreOffice.
Finally we get a suite combining the security and reliability of the cloud with the speed of OpenOffice and Java. Just throw in the usability of MS Office, and you're done.
Mostly cloudy.
SCNR
I like my spaghetti with source.
I am not too sure why would need a Cloud version of OpenOffice. A Cloud MS office makes sense as a subscription service you can pay a smaller amount per month/year or whatever vs paying a lot for the full version. OpenOffice is free. You are more or less going to be better off with a local version.
I am not one of those hate cloud everything. But for office tools you are better off it being a local app unless you cannot afford what you need.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Open Office on the cloud would allow you to run it on a device that supports web browsing, but does not have precompiled binaries. A good example would be a tablet, or smart phone.
So Open Office in the cloud would have to focus on co-operation on documents to make sense.
I think you're right on this, it'd be a nice way to add some value. One of the few reasons I ever use google's online office stuff is for quick and easy online collaboration in, say, a spreadsheet some friends and I are using.
In most cases I'm not interested in setting up traditional version control for documents. Even if I was willing to deal with it, my friends wouldn't be. Sharing a document with any of the locally cached "cloud storage" services involves file locking issues and no live collaboration. Emailing back and forth is worse than any of the above.
So a google docs style version of Open Office that I could choose to host myself would be pretty cool. I imagine it'd be even better for folks that don't like the idea of Google having access to their stuff (though it doesn't much worry me).