Today we’re announcing a new project: LibreOffice New Generation. This isn’t about the software, but about the people behind it. As you probably know, LibreOffice is made by a worldwide community of certified developers and volunteers, working on the source code, translations, documentation, design, QA, marketing, infrastructure and other areas. Well, we want to reach […]
One weird thing is that Wikipedia lists OnlyOffice mobile apps as “Freeware”. Are they proprietary? Why would they choose to make mobile apps be proprietary specifically when the desktop apps and server are both the excellently copyleft AGPLv3?
It’s worth noting that behind the scenes Libreoffice has been going through a bit of an identity and business model crisis. Their board lists have all the issues being discussed. They’re being crushed under the weight of their governance structure. OnlyOffice also doesn’t have a sustainable business model ATM except to expand as much as possible. I believe they’re keeping the mobile licenses proprietary in case that’s their only revenue model in the future.
Delete support for some propietary formats, include some bugfixes, prepare alternative APT repositories, tutorials to make a clean uninstallation of LibreOffice to install Apache OpenOffice in good conditions…
No, there’s 0% chance. Look at their Dev mailing list, they can’t even build the software on modern Linux systems they need to make workarounds to use outdated versions of Java. It’s quite embarrassing.
I get the sentiment but I don’t think you know how much of a zombie project Apache OpenOffice is. The only reason they release a minor update every year is because Apache Foundation rules require it to be considered an active project. Apache OpenOffice still can’t support .docx files even. It’s actually incredibly irresponsible for them to even to pretend to be active because there are ongoing security flaws that they can’t patch because they lack resources on their dated code.
On top of that, the reason no one contributes to Apache Open Office is because it’s licensed with the apache license! It’s a permissive license meaning there’s no incentive for any organization to contribute back to the project. OX-suite, and Libreoffice both picked off what was useable and have left the project to rot. It’s essentially being run by some die hards who would rather expose boomers to security flaws and shitty outdated software tarnishing Open Source reputation rather than admit defeat and fold into Libreoffice.
Ive found myself gravitating towards OnlyOffice for that reason… The ribbon interface in Office has somewhat grown on me.
One weird thing is that Wikipedia lists OnlyOffice mobile apps as “Freeware”. Are they proprietary? Why would they choose to make mobile apps be proprietary specifically when the desktop apps and server are both the excellently copyleft AGPLv3?
It’s worth noting that behind the scenes Libreoffice has been going through a bit of an identity and business model crisis. Their board lists have all the issues being discussed. They’re being crushed under the weight of their governance structure. OnlyOffice also doesn’t have a sustainable business model ATM except to expand as much as possible. I believe they’re keeping the mobile licenses proprietary in case that’s their only revenue model in the future.
Just help Apache OpenOffice to improve.
Delete support for some propietary formats, include some bugfixes, prepare alternative APT repositories, tutorials to make a clean uninstallation of LibreOffice to install Apache OpenOffice in good conditions…
Did Apache take up the reigns of OpenOffice again? Last I heard, OpenOffice was basically dead after Oracle screwed it over.
It is still maintained by the ASF with bugfix releases every year and they expressed opinion to see more developers participating.
Do they plan on continuing feature releases anytime soon?
No, there’s 0% chance. Look at their Dev mailing list, they can’t even build the software on modern Linux systems they need to make workarounds to use outdated versions of Java. It’s quite embarrassing.
I think they plan to do it since they call for more developers but I am not sure at all about it.
For me it is better to have a code cleaning and bug fixes releases by now.
I get the sentiment but I don’t think you know how much of a zombie project Apache OpenOffice is. The only reason they release a minor update every year is because Apache Foundation rules require it to be considered an active project. Apache OpenOffice still can’t support .docx files even. It’s actually incredibly irresponsible for them to even to pretend to be active because there are ongoing security flaws that they can’t patch because they lack resources on their dated code. On top of that, the reason no one contributes to Apache Open Office is because it’s licensed with the apache license! It’s a permissive license meaning there’s no incentive for any organization to contribute back to the project. OX-suite, and Libreoffice both picked off what was useable and have left the project to rot. It’s essentially being run by some die hards who would rather expose boomers to security flaws and shitty outdated software tarnishing Open Source reputation rather than admit defeat and fold into Libreoffice.