On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 3:26 PM, Jean Weber <[email protected]> wrote: > On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 06:07, Jean Weber <[email protected]> wrote: >> On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 05:46, Rob Weir <[email protected]> wrote: >>> On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 2:37 PM, Jean Weber <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> On 06/03/2012, at 4:30, Larry Gusaas <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> On 2012-03-05 12:08 PM Rob Weir wrote: >>>>>> On Mon, Mar 5, 2012 at 12:29 PM, Dennis E. Hamilton >>>>>> <[email protected]> wrote: >>>>>>> If there is no solution for extensions, Apache OpenOffice 3.4 early >>>>>>> incubator releases should not overload prior versions of OO.o. I >>>>>>> recommend that AOO 3.4 install in its own locations and not do anything >>>>>>> that would prevent side-by-side functioning. (My recommendation would >>>>>>> be that it do that anyhow. But with known breaking of an important >>>>>>> down-level feature, that becomes imperative.) >>>>>>> >>>>>> In general, it is important for OOo 3.3 and earlier installs on >>>>>> desktops to go away. Old releases increasingly become security >>>>>> hazards, especially if they are no longer being actively maintained. >>>>>> We do a great service to the community in general if we overwrite them >>>>>> with the AOO 3.4. This is true even given the inconvenience the user >>>>>> experiences from the need to reinstall extensions. >>>>> >>>>> Users need to be informed that they will need to reinstall extensions if >>>>> AOO 3.4 overwrites OOo3.x.x >>>>> >>>>> One option would be to not use the same user profile as OOo 3.x.x and >>>>> create a new profile for AOO 3.4. Or do as LibreOffice did when it came >>>>> out and import the data that can be used from the OOo user profile into a >>>>> new profile. >>>>> >>>>>> In any case, I think the overwrite is fine. It is what OOo 3.3 and >>>>>> OOo 3.2 did as well by default. We can document in the install >>>>>> intructions how this can be overridden. >>>>> >>>>> The warning would have to be on the download page before the download >>>>> link. How many current users of OOo actually read the install >>>>> instructions before installing a new version? >>>>> >>>>>>> I think there should be OOo-dev releases only until this is handled as >>>>>>> well. It is now clear that integration has problems and there is no >>>>>>> reason to provoke more of it. >>>>> Agree >>>>> >>>> >>>> Rob, >>>> >>>> When an installation wipes out some or all of the user's extensions or >>>> other customisations of a previous version, that is a sure way to alienate >>>> a LOT of people and create a lot of very bad publicity, in addition to the >>>> inconvenience to users. I agree with Dennis and Larry that this is >>>> unacceptable. Indeed, I am very dismayed that anyone would seriously >>>> consider doing that. And documenting the issue, while necessary, is far >>>> from sufficient. Most people don't read the instructions, as you should >>>> know. >>>> >>> >>> I'm not aware of "other customizations" being overwritten in this >>> case. Can you say more? >>> >>> -Rob >>> >> >> Generic statement, intended to cover other possibilities of which I >> might not be aware. > > > I note that you have ignored the real issue in my previous note: > alienating users. I would like to hear how you expect or intend to > deal with that. >
I don't equate any amount of user inconvenience with "alienating users." To suggest this is pure hyperbole, divorced from reality. Microsoft breaks their plugins with every release and requires reinstall. They seem to manage to preserve a non-negligible market share. Many programs do this. Some do better, some check for compatibility and enable some but not all extensions. I suppose if the Mozilla developers said that they had to bread the compatibility checking code in a release, that some project members might resort to hyperbole about alienating users and say that it was unacceptable. But not that their unacceptable solution is just life as usual for OpenOffice, since we don't do compatibility checks on upgrade. And what you call unacceptable in OpenOffice is just life as usual for MS Office. A little perspective goes a long way. This is not the end of the world. Not even close. I recommend dealing with it with user education. -Rob > --Jean
