CERN Endorsing Microsoft Alternatives Like ownCloud, Kopano, Alt-Office Suite

[nh2_]

Hmmm, Alternative-Office? (Open/Only/Libre/etc. Office)...

I understand; what I meant is that the Phoronix article ("Alt-Office for office software") makes it sound as if "Alt-Office" was product name you could get interested in (I started googling it and was disappointed to find nothing), as all the other things mentioned are actual products. So I found it a bit misleading/confusing.

[Michael_S]

I never heard of Kopano before. I'm astonished that it's news to me. Did everyone else know about it?

[stiiixy]

Youre likely now to be quoted around the Internet for that trim and precise Franko-Anglo explanation.

And Michael would be only to happy to let it

[Ikaris]

French here.

We indeed use the words "logiciel libre" to mean "free software" as in "Freedom", and "logiciel gratuit" for "free software" as in "free beer".

The Office suite is usually referenced as "la suite Office" from Microsoft, and "une suite bureautique" to talk about any "office suite". "Une suite office libre" may be used, and Libreoffice is usually distinguished as a specific office suite alternative when talking about it, making any confusion between "office libre" and Libreoffice near-impossible.

[starshipeleven]

Probably paid support or something?

Nextcloud has enterprise support https://nextcloud.com/enterprise/

[Nocifer]

No, it doesn't sound like you do.

Care to enlighten us? I'd be very interested to know why anyone in their right mind would be using Owncloud instead of Nextcloud in ~2020, for reasons other than brand recognition (same as the Open/LibreOffice controversy back in the day).

It's in english that the word "free" can be confusing. As a matter of fact, "Libre" means free as in "freedom" not free as in "free beer" (that would be "gratuit"). So I don't really understand the issue with calling it LibreOffice in french...

It could supposedly be mistaken because in France they probably call free software "libre" (hence our use of the word in English as well), so the listener wouldn't know if we're referring to THE Libre Office or a generic libre, FOSS office suite. But still, if I'm not mistaken, in French "free (as in "freedom") office" would be "office libre", not "libre office" (even assuming they would be using the word "office" in the first place). So, I can only assume that they're simply still evaluating which alternative office suite to use, and until they make a final decision they refer to their future choice as an "Alt Office".

I don't know why they have choosen Owncloud instead of Nextcloud...

Probably paid support or something?

[KingOfFreeMen]

I'm guessing they just internally refer to it as alternative office despite being libre office? Maybe because french is one of the two recognized languages of CERN they wouldn't want to refer to it internally as libreoffice?

"I think we should be using libre office"

"Yes, we want our microsoft alternative software to be free but can you be more specific which office suite to use?"

It's in english that the word "free" can be confusing. As a matter of fact, "Libre" means free as in "freedom" not free as in "free beer" (that would be "gratuit"). So I don't really understand the issue with calling it LibreOffice in french...

[ElectricPrism]

It should be nextcloud+collabora online

https://nextcloud.com/collaboraonline/

I'm willing to give them a pass, smart people use Linux and open source. I do think though that we should push source-distros in the future though to protect software and ensure it's always available as humanity advances.

[torsionbar28]

I don't know why they have choosen Owncloud instead of Nextcloud...

No, it doesn't sound like you do.