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Collabora and OwnCloud Announce LibreOffice Online (itworld.com)
sfcrazy writes: Collabora Productivity, a UK-based consulting company, has collaborated with ownCloud Inc. to release a developer edition of online LibreOffice, which they call CODE (Collabora Online Development Edition). "The office suite implementation runs on ownCloud server. That's where all the processing and heavy lifting is done. The rendering happens at the client side. Currently there are three apps: writer (equivalent to MS Word), spreadsheet (Excel) and presentation (PowerPoint). At the moment users can create new documents and edit them. Other functionality, such as collaborative editing, is in the pipeline."
I like LibreOffice, It is my default tool. But the reason why I like it is because it installs on my PC, so I can use it without internet. If I want a cloud office tools I would go with office. And not deal with compatibility issues.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Hopefully they've improved this. I tried this software about a year ago and it was nearly unusable due to the lack of features. It didn't even support page breaks at the time. Some functionality is optional (bibliographies), some is required (page breaks). They probably shouldn't have included it in ownCloud before it had all of the required functionality, because that bad impression stuck with me.
LibreOffice on the desktop is mediocre. Why try and make an online version to compete with... Google Docs... Office 365... Apple iWork whatever. The online versions are never as good as the desktop versions, and LibreOffice is already not that great!
Why would you name a product "code" when that term already has meaning? Name it "Own Office" or "Collabora Online" or even "Snicker Pig." Those are all terms that do not already have meaning. I can't ask a someone "Do you use code?"
It's easy to see why commercial software providers would want to push users toward the cloud: they get to charge subscriptions instead of a one-time buy.
But for users, there aren't any compelling advantages that I can see.
Sure, you outsource software maintenance, and if all goes right availability could be higher. But that comes at a high price: your data being exposed, absolute reliance on your internet connection, no control over e.g. the upgrade schedule, no more communication between applications etc.
Being able to access my documents from anywhere is no argument. My laptop goes everywhere with me, so I already have that without having to store my documents on the cloud.
People on Slashdot bash on everything.
Its not that bad of an idea to offer these kinds of capabilities to business. Some businesses might find that kind of integration leads to easier management of resources, and data.
That said, I wouldn't mind integration of an email/calendaring solution
..and is the only reason I need a cloud based office product.
Like others I like Libre Office, have been using since Star Office days. If I want cloudy office Google is there (or Office 365 which I seem to keep getting with various employments). Running the 'cloud' infrastructure costs, what is the capitalisation and revenue model? If it is subscription why would pay?
Remember that this is the UK, not the US. "Snooping" is guaranteed to the government, there is no fight about a Constitution. MI5 and MI6 have full access to anything you do in this product.
Sure, there is some cost benefits to using "Cloud" but that comes at the risk of Security. People may not like it, but I refuse to use Ubuntu for the same reason I would not use this product.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
..that they told me MS equivalent apps, otherwise how could I ever have guessed what they were: Write - for writing; Spreadsheet - for spreadsheets; Presentation - for presentations. Gosh that was difficult, but I worked it out in the end!
OwnCloud is usually self contained. Not out on the Public Internet. OwnCloud is a replication service that keeps Synchronization between different machines. It is a good stop-gap measure to address the LibreOffice Android issues.
I like LibreOffice, It is my default tool. But the reason why I like it is because it installs on my PC, so I can use it without internet. If I want a cloud office tools I would go with office.
...but if you go with owncloud, you'll get a cloud office that is free/libre opensource software - just like libreoffice.
and it installs on your server, so :
- you can use it without relying on some other potentially not secure 3rd party provider
- you and colleagues can use it without internet if all your laptop are on the same network as your server.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
If I want cloudy office Google is there (or Office 365 which I seem to keep getting with various employments).
BUT... these cloudy office suite that you mention (Google Docs and Microsoft Office 365) are proprietary and closed-source.
Your only possibility to use them is to connect to the servers of said companies.
(Although there are possibility of local install, but they cost way too much).
Whereas owncloud is opensource, and you can install it on your own servers. You can build your very own cloud if you want - hence the name.
If there are document that you don't want to (or can't legally afford to) transit through untrusted 3rd party, you basically only have 2 options:
- pay out the huge amount required to have a local server of Google Docs or Office 365 (some university actually do it. But they have the necessary rebate and microsoft makes a rebate).
- deploy an opensource solution on a local server
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Owcloud is a resource hog and it's syncing failes miserably when coworking on the same data sets. I betthos will be a failure,as soon as syncing gets involved..
This motherfucker apps the shit outa your cloud. The consequences will never be the same.
If you don't realize that app clouds are the only way forward, you're just too old.
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