On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 4:12 PM, Claudio Filho <[email protected]> wrote: > From H-Online[1]: > .... > The beta release of LibreOffice 4.1.0 also includes a large number of > enhancements and bug fixes related to the new Sidebar user interface > feature. The Sidebar feature is based on IBM's Symphony code > contribution and design work already implemented in the Impress task > pane; the code and design work is being currently being integrated > into Apache OpenOffice which plans to ship it as part of its > forthcoming 4.0 release. The Sidebar code is being brought into > LibreOffice and will be the first large UI change being implemented in > the office suite since the project was forked from OpenOffice.org. In > the LibreOffice beta, the feature is currently disabled by default as > it still causes a significant number of UI problems. It can be enabled > by navigating to Tools ➤ Options ➤ Advanced ➤ Optional (unstable) > options and checking "Enable experimental sidebar (on restart)". > .... >
This is good, very good. The more AOO code they swallow, the more this will lead them to end their fork. They'll find the same thing that IBM found out with Symphony -- maintaining a "downstream fork" is expensive because of the cost of merging features. This is what is missed in the copyleft philosophy. It is not licenses that shape sharing behaviors, but the cost of merging and the expense of maintaining the fork. It is one thing to merge the feature, but then you want to merge in the bug fixes, the enhancements, etc., This all becomes far more difficult over time, as the code streams diverge and automated merging devolves into detailed manual merging. But since the licenses only permit sharing in one direction they are the only ones who face the constant temptation of merging our code, as well as the constant cost of maintaining that fork. Eventually they (or the smart people who pay their salaries) will figure out that the fork is a horrible waste of Redhat and Suse resources. We have good stuff. We know it. They know it. And soon their users will know it. But let's focus on finishing the testing of AOO 4.0 so we can ship a stable version of this feature, something our users at least expect. Regards, -Rob > [1]http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/LibreOffice-4-1-0-Beta-1-arrives-with-over-a-thousand-changes-1872242.html > > The curious was to talk in a presentation some time ago that our (AOO) > main "client" is the TDF and its software. > > My 2 ¢, > > Claudio > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] > For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected] > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
