All, As others have noted… well, this is interesting news.* And it comes as news, indeed. It also comes unattached with any actual explication as to what it means in practice. And there are many questions, and I've asked my former colleagues some of them. The most obvious being, of course, Will Oracle contribute code to the development of OpenOffice.org as it has in the past? Right now, Oracle does virtually all of the coding for OpenOffice.org. The resulting code is then worked on by competing projects—either to make it more compatible with Microsoft Office, or to make it work with established frameworks, or whatever.
As of now, the code is mature and powerful; it is being used by tens of millions and being adopted by even more every year. I am not concerned about the present, for OpenOffice.org addresses present needs more than adequately. I am, however, really interested in seeing what the future brings. And for that, I think we, the OpenOffice.org community, need to be bold. I envision a future where the tools for intellectual production are free, use open standards that can be widely implemented, and that are not limited to this or that environment but freely adaptable to a range of devices, mobile or not. The anchor here is the ODF, the format that transcends any particular implementation but which is only fully realized by the most comprehensive, OpenOffice.org. And the tools, such as those making up OpenOffice.org, to satisfy my vision, and the vision of the community, as I understand it, must be free and open. Best, Louis * http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Oracle-Announces-Its-Intention-to-Move-OpenOfficeorg-to-a-Community-Based-Project-NASDAQ-ORCL-1428324.htm ---- Louis Suarez-Potts, PhD Community Manager Chair, Community Council OpenOffice.org Blog: http://ooo-speak.blogspot.com/ -- ----------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe send email to dev-unsubscr...@marketing.openoffice.org For additional commands send email to sy...@marketing.openoffice.org with Subject: help
