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Collabora and OwnCloud Announce LibreOffice Online (itworld.com)

Posted by Soulskill on from the because-why-not dept.

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."

8 of 67 comments (clear)

  1. Why? by jellomizer · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.
    1. Re:Why? by watermark · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why do you choose LibreOffice over Microsoft Office? In your answer to that question, I think you will find your answer to your original question.

    2. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm not one to bitch about /. at all, and I think this might be my first time. But, seriously? Can they not include a link to the fucking product? No? So, I click a link to RTFA, a crime against nature, and do they have a fucking link to the damned site? No! Holy shitballs people. This is not complicated to add.

      Here:
      https://www.collaboraoffice.co...

      It comes, as the "easy' solution, of a VM based on openSUSE and they have an image there to download if you want to try it. There... Now we actually have a handy-dandy link to the actual site and application. It's a start. Normally I'm okay but I'm old, tired, and cranky. I'm also KGIII and still not logging in, damn it. In fact, I'm gonna take a nap.

  2. It used to be terrible by watermark · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.

  3. I don't get this by hackertourist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:I don't get this by hackertourist · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Now that is a fine theory right there except that OwnCloud is Free and Open Source,

      Yes, I got that. So the normal argument in favor of cloud software (the vendor gets to increase their income) doesn't apply.

      Am I the only one who prefers having applications run locally instead of having to cram everything inside a browser window?

  4. Re:Ugh. by chipschap · · Score: 4, Interesting

    LibreOffice on the desktop is mediocre

    I respect your right to your opinion, based on your own criteria in your own environment, but I find LibreOffice excellent. It does everything I need 100% of the time. I've done anything from letters to 500 page books and it's all been good.

  5. I'm so glad... by dhaen · · Score: 3, Funny

    ..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!