Apache Software Foundation Celebrates Two Decades Of OpenOffice

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Apache Software Foundation Celebrates Two Decades Of OpenOffice

While the LibreOffice fork is much more popular than OpenOffice these days, the Apache Software Foundation does continue maintaining the OpenOffice codebase born out of Sun Microsystems' StarOffice...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Apache-OpenOffice-20

[jabl]

TDF took the opportunity to "congratulate" AOO as well: https://blog.documentfoundation.org/...he-openoffice/

*grabs popcorn*

(what TDF is saying isn't wrong either, per se. AOO is a failure and a blotch on the Apache brand)

[kpedersen]

I believe AOO should not be killed but it should be put on ice as a viable backup in-case LibreOffice does something stupid such as focusing entirely on the cloud with LibeOfficeOnline (https://www.libreoffice.org/download...office-online/).

With such a massive project, creating a fork is hard. You need a lot of infrastructure (LO has actually been very impressive with theirs). So keeping AOO around may reduce the need for creating a new fork if it becomes necessary.

Choice is good. However I understand that some people may not know about LO because AOO is such a big name. That said, is that *really* the case? I don't see anyone using AOO unless they have a good reason for it.

[ALRBP]

It's pretty obvious that OpenOffice is dead and LibreOffice is the future (and present). Apache may be doing great work with projects like their HTTP server (even if some would disagree) but Apache OpenOffice is a dead-end and it's not really giving any value to FOSS (more like the opposite, with people still blocked on the "OpenOffice" name and not using the better LibreOffice). Seriously Apache, do what TDF asks for, that's the only reasonable thing to do.

[RahulSundaram]

I believe AOO should not be killed but it should be put on ice as a backup in-case LibreOffice does something stupid such as focusing entirely on the cloud with LibeOfficeOnline (https://www.libreoffice.org/download...office-online/).

Choice is good. However I understand that some people may not know about LO because AOO is such a big name. That said, is that *really* the case? I don't see anyone using AOO unless they have a good reason for it.

You can't really keep a project like that as an alternative backup without active contributions and AOO just doesn't have any. Libreoffice Online is almost entirely maintained by Collabora who have moved the source management away from LibreOffice so I don't think that's the real concern but lack of diversity in the contributor base is. That problem won't be solved by an even more moribund Apache project however. Also while you may not be aware of it, plenty of people especially Windows users tend to know about the OpenOffice brand a whole lot more still.

[Slartifartblast]

Yes, let's all thank the sole maintainer left making commits for OpenOffice by having a whip round to buy him a new ear trumpet and zimmer frame. When he pops his clogs (don't book any holidays) it will be rebranded Old Fred's AbandonedOffice in his honor.

[Spooktra]

Libre Office is so much better than open Office, OO still won't let you set an x.y intercept value manually when you are adding a trend line to a plot chart, every other Office software does, MS is light years ahead with their Excel, which really does excel, buy Libre Office is a decent legally free alternative, and WPS isn't bad either, but OO just feels ancient.

[timofonic]

Is OpenOffice still alive? I did think it was dead.

[bug77]

Of all the great things Apache did for us, I think OO is the least praiseworthy.

[chocolate]

There's no way the Apache Cemetery announcement cannot be viewed as malevolent. They know they're being harmful to LibreOffice and all end users, including OpenOffice users, but either they are too proud to change course, or they don't want to for other reasons.

Plus, their boomer lingo is revolting. They always insist on the "net worth" of their dead code (with random numbers that infallibly show a "plus" sign at the end), but there's maybe a project and a half that's worth exploring, not counting the Apache HTTP server. It's pathetic and sad.