On Tue, 14 Nov 2006 09:31:02 +1100, Terry wrote: > Paul_B wrote: >> On Mon, 13 Nov 2006 15:09:26 +1100, Terry wrote: >> >> >>> Paul_B wrote: >>> >>>> On Sat, 11 Nov 2006 18:53:03 -0700, Matt Nicolaysen wrote: >>>> >>>> >>>>> <snip> >>>>> >>>>> One of my dear friends just recently asked me to join him in the beta >>>>> testing of Microsoft's new Office 2007. It is pretty amazing. I hope you >>>>> can get your hands on a copy and see the new interface. I think a lot of >>>>> the improvements I could suggest would be in the OOo interface. If you >>>>> could make the OOo interface more like the new Office 2007 interface then >>>>> OOo could win many more converts. >>>>> >>>>> Thanks for all of the hard work you do and for the wonderful software! >>>>> >>>>> -Matthew T. Nicolaysen >>>>> >>>>> >>>> I think the beta program is over. They gave me an incredibly hard >>>> - actually, impossible - time about signing up for it last week. >>>> Finally I tried out the online version of the prog today. I have >>>> to say that it looked pretty good. The mail merge, for instance, >>>> was quite intuitive. I like OO very much, but it's inner workings >>>> are often far from intuitive. >>>> >>>> p. >>>> >>> I guess that's what money can do. This is largely a community effort >>> without input from large ticket prices. Those who want more just have >>> to contribute more. >>> >> >> Maybe monetary contributions would help? But I've come across a >> defensiveness when I sometimes make suggestions or criticisms >> that I mean to be constructive, which leads me to think that >> money is not the problem. Some people, who seem to be in key >> positions, like the way OO's internal structure is organized. >> >> p. >> > > I know what you mean. This is still on topic, I think, because it > relates generally to improvements in the software such as that mentioned > by the OP. > > There are other ways of contributing. But it's very difficult. I've > looked at contributing on the documentation side and the issues > process. For the former, I had to hunt high and low to find the mailing > list for "online help"; the authors' list is no better than a social > club. For the latter, I have to install at least the latest version, > which, as everyone knows by now, is regressive. > > I had correspondence recently with a software distributor who makes > generous monetary payments to open-source developers. This distributor > has all but given up on OpenOffice because ideas for improvents just are > not welcome. > > I've had a taste of one of the distribution problems. Several people > have had problems getting isos. The bittorrent link for the "extras" > iso does not work, and with good reason: there appears to be no iso. > When you search on the mirrors, the best you can do, depending on the > mirror, is the 2.0.2 installation iso and the 2.0.1 extras. A blessing, > in my view, having regard to the "quality" of the later releases, but > frustrating for anyone wanting to distribute them. > > Incredibly bad and unpopular decisions have been made. The organisation > seems to be out of touch with users and, it seems, distributors.
Terry, I don't have the experience you do trying to officially help with OO, but I do know my own personal experience with the prog, and to what degree I've been successful finding/giving help here. V. 2 is a big step over v 1; maybe that trend will continue forward and with similar speed. I hope so, but I don't know. I simply have no idea what's going on at the top. I do firmly believe that if OO is to continue succeeding it will have to make itself accessible for the legions of users who are not tech nerds and have no desire or time to become so. That means, in a nutshell, that it must strive to become *intuitive*. I'm not trying to criticize the good work that's being done. Perhaps better communication of the OO vision to us, the technically interested who function as intermediaries to the more pedestrian users, and more willingness on the part of the leaders to listen to the frustrations of those at the bottom, are the keys to moving forward. The competition is not sleeping. Google's online office, for instance, is simple at this point, and may always remain so for all I know, but it works well and is quite easy to use. Be well, p. -- Using OOo 2.0.3 on Win XP sp2. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
