Re: [tdf-discuss] New UI - OOo compatability - What we are about?

Drew,

On Nov 3, 2010, at 8:50 AM, drew wrote:
> This email is prompted from reading a couple of the discussions going
> on, or just recently having gone on.
>
> This question of a new UI for LibreOffice for instance, is a good one to
> move into what I wanted to touch on.
>
> I believe the question itself is wrong - or to say it avoids looking at
> other ways to achieve the goals of those wanting to explore options for
> change.
>
> Basically what I want to say is this - I hope we find a way to construct
> our association, or collective efforts, such that it fosters growth in a
> lateral fashion, not just from the perspective of a single application.
>
> Do we really want to say that we, our efforts, are only to support this
> one application, LibreOffice?
>
> Do we not want to rather say that we are all collectively working to
> deliver the best possible tools for the document generation market? (ok,
> not the best wording..)

I strongly agree with you. We need to approach the opportunity holistically, and address the 
underlying requirements, more than simply develop and promote a single application. A bundle of 
cooperative tools addressing different platforms and needs seems like the winning approach to my 
mind. 

> This new organization, freed from the dominance of a single vendor,
> should not limit it's scope to only the this one artifact, brought from
> the old, LibreOffice. Rather, I hope, it should be capable of supporting
> new ideas, and new approaches. 
>
> Certainly there are valid and proper, concerns with regards to
> compatibility with OO.o with regards to LibreOffice now and going
> forward. But they should not be an over riding concern when it comes to
> all our endeavors.

Compatibility with ODF is key, but otherwise--let's invent!

> Think about the situation back at OO.o with the Education project - How
> should we handle a situation such as this, where a group of active
> individuals, members of the larger group, decide to pursue a specialized
> derivative of the main application - would be shun them?
>
> What if a young designer, or an old one..lol.., proposes some radical
> ideas - and some young developers see the same vision and want to pursue
> it - will we have a way to help, and support them - or will we view it
> only as a loss from the perspective of work-hours on the libreOffice
> application?

I personally see a situation like this as a benefit to our community. As an analogy, Mozilla has a 
large "Labs" environment, in which new concepts are tested and experimented upon. Should they prove 
useful, they become additional projects of their own, under the larger Mozilla umbrella. Apache 
does this too, as do many large technology for-profits. It's clearly a model that works.

Thanks for bringing up this train of thought.

-Ben

Benjamin Horst
bhorst@mac.com
646-464-2314 (Eastern)
www.solidoffice.com


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