On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 1:47 AM, Jürgen Schmidt <[email protected]> wrote: > On 7/17/12 6:03 PM, Rob Weir wrote: >> I'd like to see if we can agree on a statement along these lines. I >> think it is important that we show how our project aligns with >> Apache's overall mission, which the apache.org home page phrases as: >> "provides support for the Apache community of open-source software >> projects, which provide software products for the public good." >> >> I think we do and always have been strongly aligned with this goal. >> But still, sometimes, we're questioned about our emphasis on >> distributing binaries, or seeking support for items related to >> distributing binaries. In some ways we're the oddball at Apache, >> being the only prominent end-user facing project. So I think it will >> help if we can express in clear terms how what we are doing is in fact >> for the public good, and our aims and achievements are at least as >> noble as what any other Apache project can claim. > > I totally agree and that is of course the most annoying point here at > Apache for me. But that is another topic and not for this thread. > >> >> Please, review and suggest improvements. In the end I'd like to work >> this into a webpage or blog post. >> > > see comments inline > >> Regards, >> >> -Rob >> >> -------------------------- >> =Introduction= >> >> Along with an email client and a web browser, an office suite is a >> core essential application that almost every computer user requires. >> Although there is a dominant commercial product in this category, its >> price and limited platform and language support makes it an >> unsatisfactory option for many. OpenOffice, for over a decade, has >> helped fill this gap. Our goal is to develop, publish and support >> OpenOffice as a world-class office suite, free for anyone to use, and >> since it is open source, free for anyone to build upon. Using the >> generally available discounted price of commercial office products, >> the value of OpenOffice downloads over the past decade exceeds USD 10 >> billion (10,000,000,000), >> > > I like this example calculation which makes the value of OpenOffice > really visible. The number is so impressive that really everybody can > understand it. > > >> ==Overcoming the "Digital Divide"== >> >> More than 40% of the world population lives on less than US$ 2 per >> day, and around 20% live on less than US$ 1 per day. Against these >> numbers, commercial shrink-wrapped office software is often seen as a >> luxury good. End-user facing open source software, like OpenOffice, >> brings high-quality software to those who would otherwise have no >> other affordable options. Within the ICT for Development (ICT4D) >> community, OpenOffice has long been an important part of achieving >> development goals. >> >> ==Support for Linguistic and Cultural Diversity== >> >> There are over 6,000 languages in the world, but unless the language >> is associated with a G20 economic superpower, commercial vendors tend >> to ignore it. The OpenOffice community has a long standing tradition >> of supporting a large number of languages, including languages used by >> smaller populations, minority languages, endangered languages, etc. >> For example, South Africa has 11 official languages. OpenOffice has >> been translated to all of them. By supporting languages that would >> not otherwise be supported we help reduce "digital exclusion" and >> promote development, local education and administration. >> > > It shows me again how important it is to work for and with the l10n > community to support all the languages where we had support before. I > will start a campaign right after our 3.4.1 release drive this forward. > >> ==Accessibility== >> >> Persons with disabilities, especially those with visual impairments, >> commonly rely on "assistive technology" to interact with computers. >> Such technologies work well only when applications are designed and >> coded to work well with them. Additionally, users who create >> documents must do their part to ensure that the documents they create >> work well with assistive technology, for example through the use of >> image captions, consistent list levels, etc. OpenOffice provides >> strong accessibility support, including broader ecosystem support via >> extensions, for working with Braille printers, exporting to DAISY >> talking books, etc. >> >> ==Open Standards== >> >> Open standards are those standards which are created in an open, >> transparent process, where the specifications can be freely accessed >> and implemented without royalties. Most core web standards are open >> standards. The default document format in OpenOffice, OpenDocument >> Format (ODF) is also an open standard. Widespread use of open >> standards promotes interoperability and choice in the market. But >> this does not come without effort on our part. We commit to faithful >> implementation of open standards, and to work with standards >> organizations and other vendors to improve these standards and to test >> and improve interoperability. >> > > As Donald mentioned already it might be worse to add a short paragraph > about extensibility and the programability at all that helps to adapt > OpenOffice to special needs, or integrate AOO in other important products. > > In general very nice >
I've put the draft up on the wiki and made a few tweaks based on comments received so far: https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS/%28Draft%29+The+Public+Service+Mission+of+OpenOffice I'd encouraged anyone interested to help improve this statement. -Rob > Juergen >
