Hi Cassio,
Cassio Neri wrote:
Hi Jurgen.
ok, lets assume that OOo Calc would become viable, the issues would be fixed
and the missing features would be implemented. What do you think would
people really think about a shift from Excel to Calc or is it more
hypothetical. I mean is there really interest to move to an open source
solution with all the pro and cons to save money, to become standard based,
to become open etc.?
It would be really helpful to get some more insight and it helps also to
prioritize our efforts correct.
Juergen
The short answer is:
No, I don't see concrete moves towards open source products in the
financial markets at this moment but it's good to be prepared.
i haven't really expected something else but the best way to convince
people is to show them something available and working.
The long answer is:
In the financial markets the issue is the same you find in other
industries, namely, culture and inertia. People are used to some
products and systems and are very reluctant to change. The argument "I
already know it" seems to be much more powerful than all the much more
reasonable ones you have cited: cost savings, quality, openness,
standardization, ...
However, there are a few positive signs that are worth knowing.
1. Take a look at https://www.openadaptor.org/ scroll down and, at the
bottom of the page, see the copyright holder. This open-source project
was started by Dresdner Kleinwort and is still maintained by
Commerzbank (which acquired Dresdner Bank about a year ago). In the
very top of the page, click on "adopters" to see two other important
financial institutions listed: Abbey and Deutsche Bank.
2. Another one from Deutsche Bank (DB). It Head of IT recently gave a
web-talk about Collabnet. He praised some open source projects for the
high quality software they deliver. He said to have implemented some
open source practices in DB. I mean, their code is still proprietary
for the outside world but open inside DB. He was really satisfied with
the results (If you wish, I can try to find the web-link again.)
3. I heard once a radio interview where Red Hat's CEO said that Morgan
Stanley is one of his major clients. I don't believe all their systems
are open source, though.
4. I have the impression that in Brazil (my country of origin) open
source is much more popular than in the UK (where I live). The
Brazilian government decided to use open source products in state
offices. Once, in a visit to my local branch of Banco do Brasil (the
Brazilian state bank), I saw OOo Writer being used. The latest
economic analysis about Brazil are strongly positive. If Brazil
achieves the predictions and becomes a major economic player then the
open source culture already present there might expand as well.
(That's simply guess and hope of mine.)
Therefore, despite we have positive signs, I think there is nothing
concrete to make you change your priorities right now.
Let me tell you where I'm. I'm a quantitative analyst, as I said, in a
major German bank but my interest in open source is much older than my
current job. To be very clear, all what I'm saying is my personal
opinion. My employer has no liability, intention or whatsoever in this
matter and I have no influence or power to decide to use OOo in our
offices.
i understand and nevertheless it's good and interesting that you share
your view with us
Since I joint the company 3 years ago, I started working with pricing
of financial products. My team runs sophisticated mathematical models
which often requires costly computations. Our final product is a
collection of Excel add-ins and spreadsheets. Other quantitative
analytic teams inside the bank and in other institutions develop
similar products. In particular, the add-ins share many design
features.
sophisticated mathematical models -> costly comutations -> did you have
thought about grid computing, computing power on demand and highly
scalable. In short you can prepare a job containg the stuff needed to do
your calculations. Transfer it on the grid and run it. Data can be
loaded from a database or from some where else via some special and
secure data channels and can be stored back. It depends on your onw
configruation how many CPU and sub jbs in parallel are runnig ...
Ok it is a little bit off topic but i think interesting. Becasue you can
trigger such jobs from calc difectly and can feed the data into the
sheets for later use ... Or using webs wervices to get furher necessary
data, stock trades ...
About 2 years ago, for research purposes, I wanted to do the same kind
of development at home. From the first moment my thought was to
replace Excel by OOo Calc (now I'm using both). As soon as my project
started to take form I was faced with the issues covered in my
previous messages. I totally agree with you that they are minor bugs
and simple enhancements. However, I stress, without having them fixed
I can't do what I do with Excel.
well i am sure that these issues can addressed. They are also
interesting for interoperability.
Addressing this issues will not garantee to OOo a better share in the
market, but not addressing them would make OOo fail in any assessment
made by a quantitative analyst regarding the possibility to replace
Excel in the daily basis job. I thought that it would be helpful to
share my experience with you guys. Then I wrote my first message.
definitely
I've reported some of the issues I'm concerned with. I do understand
that Calc developers are busy and I don't have time to address all the
issues in the bug tracker. Hence, I've decided to hack the code to
see if I could fix the issues myself. I'm very happy with that. So
far, I worked on one issue only. I'm amazed that in a so huge project
I could rapidly spot the point where I should make the change.
that sounds good and it shows that it is not always so difficult to get
started ;-)
The
merit is rather on the clean design and well written code than on my
programming skills.
By the way, talking about skills, I forgot to properly introduce
myself appart from saying few words about my job. I've got a PhD in
Applied Mathematics in France. I'm a self-taught C and C++ programmer
(no formal education in Computer Science) having read some of the
classics: Eckel, Meyers, Sutter and Alexandrescu. I want to colaborate
with OOo but, for the time being, my intention is to focus on the
mentioned issues (if you don't mind) and then go back to my own
project.
thanks for the info
Juergen
Regards/Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Cassio.
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