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When people want OpenOffice, I just give them LibreOffice. Non technical people can deal with that dissonance, after all, Office says something like "FILE untit
by captainmuon 9y ago
When people want OpenOffice, I just give them LibreOffice. Non technical people can deal with that dissonance, after all, Office says something like "FILE untitled" on top, and not "Microsoft Office".
LibreOffice and the document foundation can't use the OpenOffice trademark, but that doesn't mean we can't. We should write a lot of articles pointing to LibreOffice and calling it The OpenOffice, and try to make LibreOffice the #1 search result for OpenOffice. Let's genericize the hell out of OpenOffice.
Trademarks should ideally serve to protect customers, so they get what they think they are buying. But this is one of the cases where the exclusive right to the trademark hurts customers.
- mcbits 9y agoDiluting the trademark is an interesting thought, but I'm pretty sure it would backfire. After all that effort, it will still take a court battle just to gamble on proving the trademark generic. The lawyers will dig up threads like this to show conspiracy. When it all flops, OpenOffice comes away with a ton of publicity and a stronger brand than ever before. Silver lining: maybe that would be enough to jump-start development. If the community were to write a ton of articles pointing to LibreOffice and calling it anything, that would help brand recognition for whatever they're calling it. MindStream, Keen Suite, Able Office, The Expressive Toolbox, the open office called LibreOffice, ... (random ideas) I think LibreOffice can and probably will absorb OpenOffice's mind share over time, but I don't think either one stands a chance to become the standard suite that everyone expects to find everywhere. Not as long as dull license terms that almost nobody cares about remain the core of their identity.
- chris_wot 9y agoLicense terms don't lie at the core of Libreoffice's identity...