Hello, This is my first post to [email protected], so the suggested introduction:
My name is Jacob L Anawalt. I am a programmer by hobby and trade and have grown up with computers. I started with the Macintosh platform, did windows where I have to (work) and switched to Debian GNU/Linux where I can (servers & my computers.) I have been using OpenOffice.org for quite some time. I was drawn to it initially because of it's office suite nature (vs a collection of individually developed office tools) and saw something that would work for my immediate family. I love to see all the great stuff happening in OOo. My main personal hitch is documentation and the installation process flow. I would like to see it continue to mature into something that I can recommend to my extended family without reservation (or personal tech support.) This leads into the reason I've taken the time to register for the bug tracking system and this list to post: Yet Another Upgrade email. My thoughts are about the flow and documentation of the upgrade or even the installation process, not about saving download time or whatever. I have been using OOo for a number of years. The workstation-centric installation process in the first few versions seemed very foreign for a single-computer windows application, but I understood the concept it and figured out how to install a 'workstation' setup for myself and my wife on Windows XP. I welcomed the installer with the newer versions that dropped the workstation question, but then this Installation Folder appeared and I didn't know what to do with it. Searching the web and mailing lists you can see that I am not the only one who is confused. The plan-b upgrade tutorial [1] says to delete the thing when you're done but the OOo tips 'n tricks blog [2] says don't do that, or you can't do a clean uninstall. While the folder seems like a bit of a wart on the windows installation process (fortunately the Debian package has no such weirdness) it would be easier to accept with some good documentation explaining why you may or may not want to keep the folder, and giving a suggestion on where to save it would be very appreciated. (The desktop or wherever the 120MiB self-extracting installer is saved is not a great place to keep a huge folder for the next 6-18 months.) [1] http://plan-b-for-openoffice.org/intro/topic/upgrade-openoffice-org [2] http://blogs.sun.com/oootnt/date/20071026 I was even happier to see the beginnings of an automatic update process in 2.x. I didn't know how it worked, so I was a little wary to try a potentially beta feature. One time when it said there was an update I tried it out. After a bit I was asked where to save the folder "OpenOffice.org 2.3 Installation Files", but I already had that folder and I had no idea if I should choose the same directory, rename it to 2.3.newx, or what. Nothing on the site told me. So, I just uninstalled downloaded and reinstalled. So much for the automatic update. Now 2.4 is out with lots of fixes and improvements. Thank you very much! I want it, but the same roadblocks are thrown up. Do I uninstall first? Is there some recommended upgrade path? Does it matter if I'm upgrading from 1.x, 2.0.x or 2.2 or 2.3? These are questions floating through my mind as I bittorrent the download, so I click the Installation Instructions link on the download page [3], but the page says it's for 2.0 and doesn't answer the questions in my mind. Download done. Start the installer and I'm reminded of the other questions. Where do I stick this folder and do I keep it around? What if there is a 2.4.x update? [3] http://download.openoffice.org/common/instructions.html I'm not proposing code changes or process changes because I don't know the reasons behind the current methods. I'm just looking for an official OpenOffice.org explanation of why the Installation Folder exists, recommendations on where to keep it (if it should be kept), and instructions on how to upgrade from version X to the current version. I'm not asking for support either, I can make it work as I have for the past several years. I am hoping to hear ideas that can be turned into issues to update the OOo infrastructure so that I and others have a source to turn to for these answers. Jacob --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
