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

[starshipeleven]

Probably paid support or something?

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

[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.

[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

[Michael_S]

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

[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.

[lowlands]

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

I've been using it for many years now. It's created by a Dutch company that used to be called Zarafa. Maybe that rings a bell? Kopano works very well in combination with Z-Push (for mobile phone integration). You get a webinterface, IMAP which works great with Thunderbird, Calender, Contacts, Notes, Tasks, LDAP integration, Sync, etc. It's all Open Source and they offer enterprise support too.

[M@yeulC]

and "logiciel gratuit" for "free software" as in "free beer".

The neologism "gratuiciel" ("freeware") might be encountered as well, occasionally

CERN has a history of being open-friendly. The worldwide web was born there, after all.

Edit: regarding the "Alt Office": reading the page, they call this initiative "Microsoft Alternatives". So I guess that Libreoffice comes out naturally as "alt office".

I personally had trouble integrating collabora online with my nextcloud instance, and ended up with onlyoffice instead, which isn't bad either.

[eltomito]

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.

Exactly. Michael probably copied the name from their list without clicking on it to see what it was. Or maybe CERN really uses that New-Delhi based office management company that comes up when googling Alt-Office as an alternative to LibreOffice. Who knows...

[Michael_S]

I've been using it for many years now. It's created by a Dutch company that used to be called Zarafa. Maybe that rings a bell? Kopano works very well in combination with Z-Push (for mobile phone integration). You get a webinterface, IMAP which works great with Thunderbird, Calender, Contacts, Notes, Tasks, LDAP integration, Sync, etc. It's all Open Source and they offer enterprise support too.

Thanks. I hadn't heard of Zarafa either. Interesting.

[torsionbar28]

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).

I don't work for CERN so I cannot speak to their selection criteria or process. I can however speak to these topics for myself, and my customers. I run ownCloud personally at home, and also manage oC enterprise installations (along with a ton of other FOSS products) for several corporate clients. Neither myself in my home usage, nor my business clients in a corporate setting have found any compelling reason to switch to the NextCloud fork. IMO as the established player, ownCloud is the default choice, and "anyone in their right mind" must have some compelling reason to chose the fork over the established product.

Edit: Not to mention the ugly way in which the fork was handled. To those in the business world, shady dealings that screw people over (financially speaking) are a huge turn off.