Re: [tdf-discuss] Two questions about course of LO

On 31/03/2011 05:48, aqualung wrote:
> Got a couple of questions.
>
> (1) I heard that OpenOffice is restricted from re-using code from
> LibreOffice because Oracle insists on broader licenses than LO developers
> are willing to give, but the reverse is not true. So, from this aspect LO
> can only get stronger while OOo stagnates. Is this accurate?
As I understand it, this is more or less true though it is mainly due
to copyright assignments that Oracle insist on but that LibreOffice
will not grant.
> (2) According to what I've read so far, most of the work to create and
> maintain OpenOffice was done by a team of developers originally working for
> StarOffice, later bought by Sun, in turn bought by Oracle. Outside
> volunteers working without pay contributed only a small portion of the code.
This is certainly true, but let me say right now that it was
definitely the right way to work! I suggested and to some extent drove
a change to Impress to allow free-motion movement paths for objects.
Sun - this was before the Oracle takeover - were quite happy to let me
see code and to suggest changes and even where in the code they might
be made. But to be honest, the code was such a tangled and complex
mess that I would have needed months of work just going through code
before I even tried to change a single command.

I am slightly concerned that, even now, there is a damn good chance
the code for LibreOffice is still much the same tangled (and
uncommented) mess.


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