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On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 8:38 PM, AG <computing.account@googlemail.com> wrote:
On 14/11/10 11:25, Mirek M. wrote:

Hi everyone,
I've been meaning to write this e-mail for a while now, but haven't gotten
around to it until now -- I hope it's still relevant.

The Next Decade Manifesto and the recent press release (available at
http://www.documentfoundation.org/lists/announce/msg00016.html for those
who
haven't read it yet) open up a lot of question and comments:

"TDF founders foresee a completely different future for the office suite
paradigm, which - in the actual format - is over 20 years old, to be based
on the document (where the software is a layer for the creation or the
presentation of the contents)."

What exactly does that mean for the internal structure of LibreOffice?
Does
this mean that LibO will be more object-oriented?

"In addition, each single module of LibreOffice will be undergoing an
extensive rewrite, with Calc being the first one to be redeveloped around
a
brand new engine - code named Ixion - that will increase performance,
allow
true versatility and add long awaited database and VBA macro handling
features."

Great.


Yep - that +does+ sound interesting.  Any time-lines given for this or the
other improvements?

"Writer is going to be improved in the area of layout fidelity and Impress
in the area of slideshow fidelity. Most of the new features are either
meant
to maintain compatibility with the market leading office suite or will
introduce radical innovations."

Can't wait to see it. I'm very curious as to what the "radical
innovations"
will bring.


Ditto.

"The Document Foundation is going to be at the heart of the Free Software
universe, where users want to build a different future for office suites,
working together with developers."

It'd be great if TDF focused on integration and interoperability with
other
open-source projects.


+1

I agree too, this is extremely important. Let's focus on similar goals
of all these projects instead the differences and collaborate strongly
on that. The real enemy is the propietary software and non-standards,
no other free software.

I propose another idea: What about convert the file support of LibO
into a portable, resource efficient, well designed and multiplatform
library for all FOSS projects? I would imagine it like the WebKit of
document file formats, but governed in a less corporate way. This
library would have it´s own site into backed or being a TDF subdomain
(or both), and improved between all friend projects.

Of course this idea would need lot's of PR, negotiate with different
projects and probably even deep changes in the original source code.
This could make not only more interoperability, but FOSS projects
having a lot stronger file type support. It could be used easily for
non-interactive document converters too.

A strong official alliance about this and other interoperability stuff
could be very good for the FOSS productivity suite.

I'd really like to see Linux become the primary platform to focus on (yes,
Linux has a much smaller user base than Windows, but that will never
change
if software companies keep favoring Windows). For Linux, OpenOffice.org
(going forward LibreOffice) is vital.


+1

It would also be great if LibO, KOffice, AbiWord, Gnumeric, Ease, and all
the other open-source editors worked together to set standards. It'd be
great, for example, if you could choose a standard open-source font triad
that
was bundled with all (relevant) open-source software (and closed-source
software too) to counter MS's Times-Arial-Courier triad (and the rising
Calibri-Cambria-Candara triad). Or if you could agree on the same keyboard
shortcuts.


Personally, I couldn't care one way or another - I just want crisp and clear
fonts and a suitable range.

<snip>


"Users read, write, modify and share documents, and are focused on
contents
rather than software features. After 20 years of feature oriented
software,
it is now the right time to bring back content at the centre of user
focus".

Does this mean that the ribbonesque UI that came out of OOo Renaissance
will
be abandoned in favor of a more efficient and less distracting UI?



+1

This is a great aspiration: the art of software design would be similar to
the contribution the drummer makes to a song: reliable, robust, and not too
much in the way of the rest of the music.[1]  In the same way, in order to
help the user focus on the content, the workspace needs to be paramount with
the tools and options accessible and intuitive so that the user can get on
with the work and not worry about how things work and how to accomplish
common tasks.

And what I would really appreciate is a help guide that suggests *why*
someone might want to use a particular tool (especially for the more
esoteric options).  This would certainly help expand my usage of the suite
and tap into its power more effectively.

Cheers

AG

[1] Gratuitous information dept: metaphor inspired by listening to the great
grooves of Grand Funk Railroad's 1971 tour with drumming by Don Brewer.


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