Re: [tdf-discuss] New "LibreOffice Reader" Eliminates Need for "PDF Reader"

On 07/06/2011 03:45 AM, Robert Derman wrote:
> Ian Lynch wrote:
> > On 5 July 2011 21:58, Robert Derman <robert.derman@pressenter.com> 
> > wrote:
> >
> > > e-letter wrote:
> > >
> > > > As far as the request for the ability to download individual
> > > > components of LO, this should not be enabled. The whole concept of the
> > > > predecessor staroffice product was to provide various functionalities
> > > > in terms of word-processing, spreadsheets, drawing, etc. and this
> > > > should be continued.
> > > Perhaps this was a bad idea way back when Staroffice was first 
> > > designed.
> > StarO was designed at a time when MSO had set the model for megalithic
> > design.  You can see why a proprietary software company would do 
> > this. It
> > focuses lock-in to the core productivity that could then extend 
> > further and
> > further. Cooperation between applications through interoperability 
> > based on
> > open standards was part of the original unix design concept but got lost
> > until the rise of the web. So at the time it was probably not seen to be
> > such a bad idea but in hindsight it clearly looks that way.
> >
> > Saying that because a design decision was made 15 or more years ago it
> > should not be changed is a recipe for disaster. Things change and 
> > without
> > change you will at best get stagnation ad at worst rapid death.
> Someone explained here in a more detailed and understandable way just 
> what the nature of the design of Staroffice actually is.  That in fact 
> it is just one big program and the different modules are just 
> different about 300 K each user interfaces which present different 
> controls and screens to the user.

As just one (of many) simple examples, Consider Calc. Each cell contains 
a text object. The text object is the main component for a Writer 
document. So, to provide a stand alone Calc document, you must also 
support most (if not all) of the things related to a text object.

Given the incestuous dependencies between modules, the difference in 
size between a single component and all components is likely small. That 
said, Some people may not care and desire to remove the other components 
while retaining integrated functionality (I mean I may not want Base, 
but I still desire to be able to do a mail merge). Feels like a lot of 
work for very little return.

--
Andrew Pitonyak
My Macro Document: http://www.pitonyak.org/AndrewMacro.odt
Info:  http://www.pitonyak.org/oo.php


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