Rod Engelsman wrote:
Now I'm not going to advocate that OOo should include a
calendar/PIM/email client, but I believe the relevant issue is limited
resources rather than what belongs in an office suite. I'm
particularly struck at the artificiality of Daniel's distinction
between "document creation" and "communication" tools.
I don't think it's just a matter of resources. Even with infinite
resources, we don't want to include absolutely everything on OOo. We
have to decide what belongs in OOo and what doesn't. I don't think my
distinction is arbitrary. I see two distinct groups of applications:
1) word processor, spread sheet, drawings, diagrams, presentations
These are "documents". They contain information.
2) a calendar, an email client, a contact list, an address book.
I'm not sure what to call these, but I think they lie in a category of
their own, and they are different from making documents.
For example, I would not oppose adding bitmap editing to OOo. Okay, I
might say that it's a lot of work and we don't have resources. But
bitmap drawings still fit within my idea of "content".
In the first place, what's the purpose of a document if not
communication? That to me makes it a type of communication tool.
I disagree. I think there's a difference between creating content and
sending it. I recognize that there are fuzzy regions. But you have to
draw a distinction somewhere and I think that the distinction I draw is
a good one.
On the other hand, isn't a calendar a kind of document?
I would put it in category (2).
And if I register my Mozilla address book as a data source in OOo does
it then magically transform from a "communication" tool into a
"document creation" tool?
No, I don't think it does. I think it fine for which ever program you
use for making content to interact well with whichever program you use
for sending it. But that's different.
Is a list of addresses in a spreadsheet a document creation tool but
the Mozilla address book not?
I call that grey. :-)
Isn't a web page a document as well?
I think a web page is a document, a web browser is not a
document-creation tool, but a web page making program is.
Finally, what is the essential difference between an e-mail and a
letter that is printed and mailed the slow way? Other than the speed
of delivery?
Let's draw a distinction between creating the letter and sending it. An
email client's primary function is working with a mail server to send
and receive email.
Look... I'm no fan of Microsoft the corporation. But I believe their
idea of an "Office Suite" is right on the money: A set of common
software tools that almost any office needs for daily operation.
I don't. I don't think that "office suite" should be "everything you use
in an office". I think programs should be reasonably self-contained in
sensible categories. Otherwise you get code bloat and the program
becomes unmaintainable, big, and a dozen other bad things.
Now you can accomplish all that with open-source tools, but
unfortunately not with a set of tools that have a consistent look and
feel like you get with MSO.
Let's not confuse the desire for consistent use and feel with saying
that OOo should have an email client.
Cheers,
Daniel.
