Hi Aravind, I've answered Alex's email.
Se if you are satisfied with my comments. I've also answered the questions related to the slides in a reply sent to Uwe today. Executive summary: There will be no restrictions to anybody, no change of licensing, no new LibreOffice flavours and the only change we are proposing is to add a tag line like "Community Edition". There will be no LibreOffice Enterprise Edition, LibreOffice Enterprise is just a collective name that regroups the members of the ecosystem. I hope the answers provided clarify even the questions you haven't asked yet ;-) Ciao Paolo On 09/07/2020 17:17, Aravind Palla wrote: > I second the opinion of Alex (a...@documentfoundation.org). > > The moment any kind of restriction is imposed or proposed to be imposed on > the user (be it individual, be it an NGO, be it a community, be it an > enterprise) is no more a Freedom Software. As such the proposed LibreOffice > Community Edition / Personal Edition cannot be a free software and it cannot > be called "libre". > > LibreOffice has reached this stage following the free software principles. > There is no reason to commercialize the project for want of more > contributions by 'demand'. > > I also noticed (from Slide 16) that 68% of the contributions are from > eco-system companies. They contributed their code without any enterprise > edition. LibreOffice had evolved to this stage and can continue to evolve > without any need of enterprise edition. > > If at all TDF wants to focus on an enterprise edition, it is appropriate if > they do it on a separate brand name, but not on LibreOffice. The draft > marketing plan makes it clear that the eco-system companies' focus in future > might be on the enterprise edition, leaving the 'actual' LibreOffice behind. > > LibreOffice has been an outstanding freedom software suite till date. The > proposed marketing plan may kill the positive direction in which the office > suite had been heading. I feel that the board has already decided the matter > since the Development Branch already has the personal edition tag without any > sound discussion before the community. > > - Aravind Palla > > > ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ > On Thursday, July 9, 2020 8:00 PM, Alexander Werner > <a...@documentfoundation.org> wrote: > >> Dear board, dear community, >> >> Abstract: >> I request the board to: >> >> - provide software in accordance with the statues. >> - remove parts of the software that are of no use for the intended >> audience, hereby meaning the support key "feature" of LOOL. >> >> - undo the "Personal" edition branding. >> >> I am very concerned about the recent developments regarding the >> strategic future of LibreOffice and The Document Foundation. As this >> concern is shared by many no quick decision should be taken. >> >> I want to remind all of you what The Document Foundation is all about, >> as stated in the unalterable statutes >> (https://www.documentfoundation.org/foundation/statutes/): >> >> "The objective of the foundation is the promotion and development of >> office software available for use by anyone free of charge." - this does >> not restrict the target audience. >> >> "This software will be openly available for free use by anyone for their >> own files, including companies and public authorities, ensuring full >> participation in a digital society and without detriment to intellectual >> property." >> >> I would like to remind all members of the board of directors that first >> and foremost you are obliged to pursue these statutes. As a consequence >> you must not restrict the target audience of LibreOffice to a specific >> user group in any way. >> >> But this already happens for quite some time and is now getting worse: >> >> >> 1. LibreOffice Online - Unsupported Warning >> >> The website for LibreOffice Online states: "The Document Foundation will >> not be maintaining binaries for enterprise use". This is clearly in >> violation of the statutes. >> (https://www.libreoffice.org/download/libreoffice-online/) >> >> The website also includes a picture of a warning message that often >> appears >> >> (https://www.libreoffice.org/assets/Uploads/LibreOffice-Online-limit.png), >> and it is also stated: "... is designed for personal and/or development >> use ..." This is not only in violation of the statues, but also very >> questionable behaviour for Free/Libre and Open Source Software. >> >> I hereby request the board to take action to provide the software in >> accordance with the statutes. >> >> 2. LibreOffice Online - Containing Support Keys >> >> Looking through the source code of LibreOffice Online, it can be easily >> found, that there is a build option for support keys, this makes >> absolutely no sense in our software product. >> >> (https://git.libreoffice.org/online/+/refs/heads/master/wsd/LOOLWSD.cpp#1259) >> >> I hereby request the board to take action to remove parts of the >> software that are of no use for the intended audience. >> >> 3. LibreOffice "Personal Edition" >> >> As I have already mentionend in my comment to the Bug Report >> (https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=134486#c23), I see >> any restriction or even suggested restriction of the intended audience >> in violation of the statutes. >> >> I would also like to remind, that there are still and fresh versions >> existing right now (https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleasePlan), >> and that the still versions are intended for "conservative, corporate >> deployments". Will the "still" "Personal Edition" then be recommended >> for "corporate deployments"? I don't believe that this is understood by >> our audience in any way. >> >> Also: I don't see the reason for the "Personal Edition" tag, as this >> means that TDF must also provide another edition that is then targeted >> for all other use cases. >> >> I hereby request the board to take action that this change be undone >> to gain time for the community to find a consensus. >> >> My personal opinion is to keep the Brand LibreOffice as a name, and >> certified vendors are able to provide support and services as >> "LibreOffice Enterprise" partners. If you change the product, the name >> is to be changed. >> >> As this topic already gained significant public interest, it is now the >> time for the board to re-evaluate the Marketing Plan and its hopefully >> unintended side-effects. >> >> The primary goal of The Document Foundation is to fulfill its statutes, >> and the secondary goal is to cater for ecosystem vendors needs. >> >> Alex >> >> -- >> To unsubscribe e-mail to: >> board-discuss+unsubscr...@documentfoundation.org >> Problems? >> https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ >> Posting guidelines + more: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette >> List archive: >> https://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/board-discuss/ >> Privacy Policy: https://www.documentfoundation.org/privacy >> > > -- Paolo Vecchi - Deputy Member of the Board of Directors The Document Foundation, Kurfürstendamm 188, 10707 Berlin, DE Gemeinnützige rechtsfähige Stiftung des bürgerlichen Rechts Legal details: https://www.documentfoundation.org/imprint
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