Hello, As a newcomer to development who is looking for a way to get involved in one project or the other, I thought I would share my impressions.
The LibreOffice website and development materials seem friendlier to newcomers. It is easier to navigate and find simple instructions for how to get the code, set up a development environment, or contribute in other ways. I use a Mac, and almost right away I found a detailed set of instructions that was (relatively) current for how to build LO for the first time on my machine. The AOO website is confusing and disorganized for people approaching it for the first time and some of the information is outdated. I still haven't found simple instructions for how to build on a Mac. I have found a set of instructions but they are confusing, appear to be outdated, and suggest that I need to install older Xcode, etc., without any suggestions or resources on how to do it, if it is really necessary, etc. I haven't given up on AOO, and part of me wants to figure out how to do it and then write the instructions clearly for the next person who comes along, but you can understand how a person who is given two opportunities is tempted to choose the one that is easier to get started on (the hard work comes later - entry should be easy) and more clearly structured. Just my two cents. On Thu, Oct 2, 2014 at 10:06 AM, Chuck Davis <cjgun...@gmail.com> wrote: > I've seen quite a number of new people show up here lately indicating > interest coming from someplace. If one out of 10 of them sticks and > becomes a regular contributor the project is in a very good position I > think. > > My observations regarding LO: > 1) They've copied some features from MS Office that make it equally > difficult to use....It's not as pleasant to use as AOO. It's very > unfortunate the distributions have adopted LO in lieu of AOO. > 2) Their constant AOO bashing is a real turn-off for me and I hope > others as well. I don't think I want their people in our camp. > 3) They seem to be very proud of getting rid of Java and replacing it > with Python. I've looked at Python a little and it seems to me any > language dependent on indentation rather than syntax is > just........dumb! There is nothing wrong with Java -- especially now > that OpenJDK is the reference implementation and is being worked on by > every major player except MS. > 4) LO seems to have major QC issues. The quality is definitely > several notches below where AOO rests in my experience. > > These are just my observations as a long time OpenOffice user. And > Apache has some very interesting related projects (i.e. ODF Toolkit) > that can propel ODF as a standard reporting framework as well as the > new project to read and write OOXML for document exchange. > > My advice: stay the course. Emphasize quality and dependability over > glitz. If developers are not attracted to AOO on those terms they're > not developers the project needs. Those of us in business just need a > tool to get our work done and it doesn't need to be fancy -- just > dependable. LO falls on it's face at this point. > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@openoffice.apache.org > >
