Re: [tdf-discuss] Re: Do not support writing to OOXML format

On 02/01/2011 19:09, Larry Gusaas wrote:
> On 2011/01/02 12:47 PM  Italo Vignoli wrote:
> > If you want to have a say in software development you are welcome to 
> > contribute to the code
>
> So only people who write code have a say in the development of 
> LibreOffice? What about people who do the QA? Or the people providing 
> support? (I mainly provide support for OOo, mainly for Mac users)
>
> You can take your elitist developer attitude and stuff it.
>
> Larry
Larry,
There is more heat than light now.

I haven't counted, but my clear sense is that considerably more 
contributors to this thread have, however reluctantly, come down on the 
side of retaining the functionality of writing OOXML. In that sense, a 
'decision' is made, even though it's the ESC who ultimately decide.

Nevertheless, as you seem to imply, the OOO/LibO development process has 
always been broken.

In an effective development process (eg Firefox), the contents of the 
next release, including a positive decision on those bugs to be 
resolved, are decided by a steering committee. Work continues until all 
of that activity is complete and the release is ready. It is common for 
releases to be delayed because things are not ready. With this process, 
releases have very few bugs.

In an ineffective development process (eg OOO), the contents of the next 
release are set in large part by developers setting release targets for 
the bits of work they choose to focus on. If I understand correctly, the 
steering committee influences new functionality content, but not 
substantially the bug fix content of a release. Thus the content of the 
work, particularly bug fixes, is in large measure determined by 
developer interest rather than priority or end user wishes. A deadline 
for release contents is fixed and anything not ready at this date is put 
back to a later release, even P2 bug issues. Very serious issues are 
fixed after the chosen date, but nothing else. With this process, 
releases inevitably have an increasing number of bugs.

This is a cultural and organisational issue, not a result of an Open 
Source project. I hope TDF will recognise this and address it.

--
Mike Hall
www.onepoyle.net



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