Re: [tdf-discuss] java / phone strategy ..
On Nov 3, 2010, at 12:56 PM, Ian wrote: On Wed, 2010-11-03 at 11:34 -0500, T. J. Brumfield wrote: The cheapest iPad is $500, and comparable tablets are priced along the same lines. There are cheap tablets more in the $99-$150 range, but they are underpowered compared to the iPad and Galaxy Tab. The iPad only has 512 MB of RAM, and we're talking about lesser hardware than that. Hardware gets better and prices drop as we move forward into the future, but if you want to be able to reach developing countries with a tablet version within the next year, then you need a slim build. I was looking more 3-5 years on. Android tablets will stimulate fierce competition including phone tablets free on contracts - that is how I have my Galaxy S and G1 before it. Its just free with my contract. Apple is making 50% margins on i-phones and probably at least that on i-pads. Ok while Apple enthusiasts pay premiums for new gadgets but that will wear off. I would be surprised if in 5 years, $99 tablets, netbooks and similar devices based on Android and possibly a Nokia free software based platform are not common place. Say 4 gig of RAM and quad core ARM 2 GHZ processors. OOo could easily run in that now and as new devices come on line the older ones get resold into Africa. I have a G1 here that is virtually worthless but was state of the art less than 2 years ago. So reduce LO to something that will run in close to to-days state of the art phone technologies and the developing world will have devices next to free that will run it in 3-5 years. Yes, agreed. As tablets become standardized, more of their components will be produced in system-on-a-chip configurations. Prices will drop steeply and access will explode. OLPC is planning on a tablet for its next major system, and India's government has been talking about building a $35 tablet. From a broad view of future success, tablets merit a great deal of attention on our part. As I mentioned elsewhere, a LibreOffice Touch for tablets would be huge. We'd outflank our main opponent, capture vast new markets and develop great momentum, and then with that increased strength, address the initial marketplace (of PC desktops and laptops) with a much larger arsenal at our disposal. That sounds great. I think it could be a strong growth market, and help push not only OSS, LibreOffice, etc. but also the ODF format. However I think the key to that strategy is jumping out in front quickly. GoogleDocs can already by accessed via the web on tablets, and Microsoft has their online office offerings. Quite so and K-office is being adopted by Nokia. If LO was the choice for Android, odf becomes the de facto standard on mobile devices. Google would then almost certainly beef up the odf fidelity of Docs. LibreOffice would need a slim build with a tablet UI, and it would need one quickly. Is there developer bandwidth for such a project? I think this would be a good Google Summer of Code project that could get some funding and a new developer that way, but I'm not sure the work could be handled by a single developer over a summer. It's why we desperately need an alternative source of income to fund these type of developments. It doesn't even need to be built on the existing LibO code--it could be built using LibO's ODF libraries, though, for perfect file compatibility. Users won't care what the underlying code is; as long as the interface and branding match LibO, and documents can be seamlessly shared, then LibreOffice Touch will be the younger sibling of LibreOffice in their eyes. It feels like a plan for a smart new startup, perhaps even backed with VC money from Apple or Android's development funds for their platforms. -Ben Benjamin Horst bho...@mac.com 646-464-2314 (Eastern) www.solidoffice.com -- Unsubscribe instructions: Email to discuss+h...@documentfoundation.org Posting guidelines: http://netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html Archive: http://www.documentfoundation.org/lists/discuss/ *** All posts to this list are publicly archived ***
Re: [tdf-discuss] java / phone strategy ..
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 On 11/05/2010 03:35 PM, Benjamin Horst wrote: It doesn't even need to be built on the existing LibO code-it could be built using LibO's ODF libraries, though, for perfect file compatibility. Users won't care what the underlying code is; as long as the interface and branding match LibO, and documents can be seamlessly shared, Depending upon how extensive those libraries are, and how well they can be used as an API, that might be the simplest and fastest way to get LibO on Android, iPhone, and the rest of the mobile platforms. It feels like a plan for a smart new startup, perhaps even backed with VC money from Apple or Android's development funds for their platforms. Where will the money that the VCs want come from? jonathon -BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkzUmecACgkQaC1raifmCuFcrwCfQP1fPV5/RwGmbBTr8K7v2bcv IUQAn3EEaLxIWaCsktEUg1Qz0t/Bk1Vq =jaN3 -END PGP SIGNATURE- -- Unsubscribe instructions: Email to discuss+h...@documentfoundation.org Posting guidelines: http://netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html Archive: http://www.documentfoundation.org/lists/discuss/ *** All posts to this list are publicly archived ***
[tdf-discuss] java / phone strategy ..
Hi Ian, On Wed, 2010-11-03 at 12:50 +, Ian wrote: Ok, perhaps a daft suggestion but the principle is that all cell phones will have a vast amount of RAM and fast CPUs in the next 2 to 3 years. A gig of RAM is normal now, it would have been unthinkable 10 years ago. Sure - but our existing performance problems will get no better by re-writing in Java :-) I think native code is the best approach. I've seen OO.o running quite nicely on small ARM devices as native code; that would be my approach to mobile. So why is there no strategy to get OOo on to these mobile devices? Or maybe there is ? Sure - improve performance and memory footprint - that work is underway, and beef up the ARM port. Beyond that - a new UI shell is required on top - and we have a mobile phone version. Ultimately - the techincal strategy is easy; the only problem is people to actually hack on doing it :-) are you volunteering ? if so, we can certainly help out with code pointers, review, encouragement, community building etc. All the best :-) Michael. -- michael.me...@novell.com , Pseudo Engineer, itinerant idiot -- Unsubscribe instructions: Email to discuss+h...@documentfoundation.org Posting guidelines: http://netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html Archive: http://www.documentfoundation.org/lists/discuss/ *** All posts to this list are publicly archived ***
Re: [tdf-discuss] java / phone strategy ..
Hi all, On Nov 3, 2010, at 9:38 AM, Ian wrote: On Wed, 2010-11-03 at 09:09 -0400, Michael Meeks wrote: Hi Ian, I've seen OO.o running quite nicely on small ARM devices as native code; that would be my approach to mobile. So why is there no strategy to get OOo on to these mobile devices? Or maybe there is ? Sure - improve performance and memory footprint - that work is underway, and beef up the ARM port. Beyond that - a new UI shell is required on top - and we have a mobile phone version. That sounds good. I expect the iPad and upcoming Android tablets to become the dominant computing platform in developing countries--they are cheaper and make a simple upgrade path from the mobile phones that are the primary means of internet access in many places already (India, China, Africa, etc). There is no inertia from an installed base in this category--thus we can achieve first-mover advantage and define expectations for the next billion users. We don't have existing UIs (and brand names) to retrain users from, and we don't have an entrenched document format they will need to be compatible with. From a broad view of future success, tablets merit a great deal of attention on our part. As I mentioned elsewhere, a LibreOffice Touch for tablets would be huge. We'd outflank our main opponent, capture vast new markets and develop great momentum, and then with that increased strength, address the initial marketplace (of PC desktops and laptops) with a much larger arsenal at our disposal. Ultimately - the techincal strategy is easy; the only problem is people to actually hack on doing it :-) are you volunteering ? What will be much more effective is for me to devise a strategy that can pay several developers to work on the project. I'm out of date in hacking, but I know how we should be able to make money. I think that is just a better use of the resources I can provide. You're the General in my above, overly-military sounding metaphor. :) As a person who appreciates strategy myself, I agree with you on the importance of what you do. -Ben Benjamin Horst bho...@mac.com 646-464-2314 (Eastern) www.solidoffice.com -- Unsubscribe instructions: Email to discuss+h...@documentfoundation.org Posting guidelines: http://netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html Archive: http://www.documentfoundation.org/lists/discuss/ *** All posts to this list are publicly archived ***
Re: [tdf-discuss] java / phone strategy ..
On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 10:35 AM, Benjamin Horst bho...@mac.com wrote: I expect the iPad and upcoming Android tablets to become the dominant computing platform in developing countries--they are cheaper and make a simple upgrade path from the mobile phones that are the primary means of internet access in many places already (India, China, Africa, etc). There is no inertia from an installed base in this category--thus we can achieve first-mover advantage and define expectations for the next billion users. We don't have existing UIs (and brand names) to retrain users from, and we don't have an entrenched document format they will need to be compatible with. The cheapest iPad is $500, and comparable tablets are priced along the same lines. There are cheap tablets more in the $99-$150 range, but they are underpowered compared to the iPad and Galaxy Tab. The iPad only has 512 MB of RAM, and we're talking about lesser hardware than that. Hardware gets better and prices drop as we move forward into the future, but if you want to be able to reach developing countries with a tablet version within the next year, then you need a slim build. From a broad view of future success, tablets merit a great deal of attention on our part. As I mentioned elsewhere, a LibreOffice Touch for tablets would be huge. We'd outflank our main opponent, capture vast new markets and develop great momentum, and then with that increased strength, address the initial marketplace (of PC desktops and laptops) with a much larger arsenal at our disposal. That sounds great. I think it could be a strong growth market, and help push not only OSS, LibreOffice, etc. but also the ODF format. However I think the key to that strategy is jumping out in front quickly. GoogleDocs can already by accessed via the web on tablets, and Microsoft has their online office offerings. LibreOffice would need a slim build with a tablet UI, and it would need one quickly. Is there developer bandwidth for such a project? I think this would be a good Google Summer of Code project that could get some funding and a new developer that way, but I'm not sure the work could be handled by a single developer over a summer. -- T. J. -- Unsubscribe instructions: Email to discuss+h...@documentfoundation.org Posting guidelines: http://netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html Archive: http://www.documentfoundation.org/lists/discuss/ *** All posts to this list are publicly archived ***
Re: [tdf-discuss] java / phone strategy ..
On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 12:34 PM, T. J. Brumfield enderand...@gmail.com wrote: On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 10:35 AM, Benjamin Horst bho...@mac.com wrote: From a broad view of future success, tablets merit a great deal of attention on our part. As I mentioned elsewhere, a LibreOffice Touch for tablets would be huge. We'd outflank our main opponent, capture vast new markets and develop great momentum, and then with that increased strength, address the initial marketplace (of PC desktops and laptops) with a much larger arsenal at our disposal. That sounds great. I think it could be a strong growth market, and help push not only OSS, LibreOffice, etc. but also the ODF format. However I think the key to that strategy is jumping out in front quickly. GoogleDocs can already by accessed via the web on tablets, and Microsoft has their online office offerings. LibreOffice would need a slim build with a tablet UI, and it would need one quickly. Is there developer bandwidth for such a project? I think this would be a good Google Summer of Code project that could get some funding and a new developer that way, but I'm not sure the work could be handled by a single developer over a summer. Nokia is already developing a mobile/tablet version of Koffice for Meamo/Meego. -- Unsubscribe instructions: Email to discuss+h...@documentfoundation.org Posting guidelines: http://netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html Archive: http://www.documentfoundation.org/lists/discuss/ *** All posts to this list are publicly archived ***
