8 ms·

Hopefully, this will start a trend away from MS Office to other office programs. Preferably open source solutions.

Analemma_ 9y ago
Why would you assume moving to GSuite is indicative of a trend toward open-source? You have even less control than with Office.
- braderhart 9y ago
  That is simply not true. Google has been a much stronger supporter of open source. Ever heard of Android? What about Kubernetes? Chromium? Also, Google Docs supports exporting to ODS and other document formats... in addition to automatic conversion into Google Drive.
  - freehunter 9y ago
    >Google has been a much stronger supporter of open source That's debatable. According to GitHub, Microsoft is the biggest contributor to open source projects. http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-github-open-source-2016-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-github-open-source-... In addition, there are quite a few high-profile open source software packages directly from Microsoft. https://opensource.microsoft.com https://opensource.microsoft.com
    - patrickaljord 9y ago
      > That's debatable. According to GitHub, Microsoft is the biggest contributor to open source projects. Sorry but this is so wrong, Google does not host any of its biggest project on github: Chromium and Android. There were articles written about this.
      - dec0dedab0de 9y ago
        Yet android is distributed in a way leaves users with even less control than Windows.
        riku_iki 9y ago
        So, is it possible to create your own forked open source Windows like CyanogenMod and tons of others in Android ecosystem?
        dec0dedab0de 9y ago
        would you call anyone capable of creating, or even installing something like CyanogenMod a user?
        seba_dos1 9y ago
        You're proving the grandparent's point. Android's "openness" matters only if you want to build your own OS based on Android or you're a system integrator. For users buying Android devices, it's more often than not just as closed platform as any other alternative.
        riku_iki 9y ago
        what kind of extra openness you expect from android?
        Sylos 9y ago
        For example: - A way for users to prohibit internet access per application - no forced installation of the whole Google Play Services, just to get access to the Play Store - better root management, so that manufacturers can ship access to root to all users - less politics in the Play Store. Google has for example thrown out 3rd party YouTube apps that offered background playback, because those supposedly violated YouTube ToS with that, shortly before introducing a paid option for background playback in their own YouTube app.
    - magicalist 9y ago
      FWIW, those numbers are based on "the number of unique contributors (users who pushed code, opened or commented on an issue or PR)" to a project in those orgs. So not really a measure of those companies' contributions to open source (it counts any action from any user, not just someone from those orgs), but companies also have more than one org (you can see the problem with all the articles covering this from the fact that both angular and google are in the top ten list...).
    - braderhart 9y ago
      Let me know when they open source their spyware OS and then we'll talk. Until then you are just continuing to campaign for exploiting educational tools by locking them down so that students can't understand why they are getting forced upgrades, always getting viruses, and having their shopping and browsing information sent to Microsoft Moscow or Mossad.
      - arbie 9y ago
        Entirely too much FUD in your comment.
    - braderhart 9y ago
      Did you know that GitHub doesn't equal the definer of open source, in fact in many ways they are the opposite, and that GitLab and many other projects operate outside the confinements of a commercial solution?
- aaronarduino 9y ago
  I'm not assuming, I just hope that would be a trend.
- folbec 9y ago
  As a massive POC, I'm happy it happens ... in another company than mine. Time will tell if it works. If yes prices will go down for everybody.
- granttimmerman 9y ago
  (Disclaimer: I work on G Suite Open Source) I open sourced our developer samples this week: github.com/gsuitedevs There's an increasing amount of things you can do with G Suite, almost all our products have APIs and Apps Script libraries. If there's something missing in our APIs, feel free to let us know.
  - icebraining 9y ago
    Microsoft Office has plenty of COM and VBScript APIs as well. It has really nothing to do with the product being open source.
  - threeseed 9y ago
    Not sure what your point is here. Almost every single company I've ever seen for 20+ years has open sourced their developer SDK examples. It literally makes no sense what so ever to do anything else. This has nothing to do with what the OP was talking about which is open sourcing the core app.
    - granttimmerman 9y ago
      The comment was about trending G Suite into open source. You've got to start somewhere. It starts with developer samples, moves into tools, languages (Apps Script), then sub-products. If you're asking for Google to open source it's products in one big blow, I don't think that will happen without smaller steps. I'm on the team that would probably best start the conversation of considering G Suite in open source. Would love to hear proposals.
      - ocdtrekkie 9y ago
        I'd be truly excited if Google was prepared to state it had any intention to open source it's actual web apps. But everything I know about the company says that isn't even an option. What you open source is the same as most of the other things Google open sources: The things that funnel you into Google's proprietary services. Even suggesting that Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides might be open source someday is as unbelievable as suggesting Google's considering open sourcing their search algorithm. But I'd love to be proven wrong.
golergka 9y ago
I'm yet to find a single decent alternative to Excel. It's an excellent data modeling and analysis tool. And yes, I've learned Python, R and SQL, but these tools are not a replacement for the Excel workflow.
- braderhart 9y ago
  What features are lacking specifically that LibreOffice, Google Sheets, or some other cross-platform solution doesn't have?
  - dspig 9y ago
    execution speed would be a big one
    - braderhart 9y ago
      Do you have any performance benchmarking to show the difference between Excel and LibreOffice Calc, because my experience LibreOffice is much better on resources. I would like to see what tests you are using so that I can run them myself.
  - bko 9y ago
    Keyboard shortcuts are huge. Also I’m used to the ribbon which I don’t think they copied yet
    - braderhart 9y ago
      All of the apps I suggested have excellent keyboard shortcuts and options as well. So this is really about the ribbon interface to you? I am wondering which Microsoft PR company you work for?
      - bko 9y ago
        > I am wondering which Microsoft PR company you work for? That’s really unnecessary. I don’t have any of the alternatives available to me right now but if you’re honestly curious I could take another look this weekend and see if every widely used function has a shortcut. But from what I remember many don’t. I would love to see a plugin that maps excel shortcuts to either libre office or open office
aw3c2 9y ago
There is nothing comparable to Powerpoint's ease of layout in the open-source world sadly.
- r00fus 9y ago
  Are you serious? Basic animations were super easy to figure out in Google slides, whereas I still stumble in Powerpoint. Perhaps it's because there's less functionality but I'm only making slides for internal consumption, so it just has to hide/show the relevant info.
  - crispyporkbites 9y ago
    Never put animations in your PowerPoint decks. Ever.
    - arbie 9y ago
      I started following this religiously for recurring decks, and the results have been outstanding. If you want to hone your communication skills in general: * Do not add animations * Do not use themes * Force every bullet point to fit on a single line * Points need not be grammatically complete * Use a font size that you can read from more than nine feet away * Talk about - don't read from - the slide And now, some unconventional advice: PowerPoint can absolutely replace Vizio, and you should disregard all the rules when you create product announcement decks where style can trump substance. Some of those slides have over a hundred animations and must be split up into three or more pseudo-slides (initial state, N keyframe slides, final state) seamlessly. PowerPoint is an extremely versatile tool, and its success and failure modes directly mirror the user's.
  - aw3c2 9y ago
    First of all Google slides are even less free software related than Powerpoint (can't use them offline etc) but more importantly I said "layout" specifically. Aligning stuff nicely just works very well in Powerpoint.
- paulie_a 9y ago
gaius 9y ago
In what way is G-Suite open source? The same way as Android.
maxxxxx 9y ago
If the result is that we have moved from MS straight into the arms of Google we have won nothing. I wish LibreOffice would get more dev investment from big companies. As of now they are unfortunately way behind MS Office in terms of usability and design.
- severino 9y ago
  > If the result is that we have moved from MS straight into the arms of Google we have won nothing We would have won, at least, the freedom to use the operating system of our choice. Microsoft software means you eventually need to use theirs.
  - Sylos 9y ago
    Instead, they force you to use their browser. It's not terribly different.
    - jenscow 9y ago
      Much much better than being forced to use an OS that you dislike. Installing an additional browser is a nice sacrifice.
    - themacguffinman 9y ago
      How? G Suite works on all mainstream browsers.
      - Sylos 9y ago
        Hangouts didn't work for a long time on Firefox. They fixed it around a month ago or so, but that's pretty much three years after they knew that this problem would arise (deprecation of NPAPI plugins in Firefox). For other parts, for example GMail, I've heard that they don't work as well on Firefox. And to some degree, this is also just what I expect to see more of in the future, as outside of G Suite they're not exactly known for treating other browsers well either. Android Firefox in particular gets bullied by Google a lot. Last time I checked, the Google Custom Search that webpages can embed, just straight up returned a 404 when contacted by a browser with Android Firefox user-agent. And they serve some age-old version of google.com to it.

Why would you assume moving to GSuite is indicative of a trend toward open-source? You have even less control than with Office.

braderhart 9y ago
That is simply not true. Google has been a much stronger supporter of open source. Ever heard of Android? What about Kubernetes? Chromium? Also, Google Docs supports exporting to ODS and other document formats... in addition to automatic conversion into Google Drive.
- freehunter 9y ago
  >Google has been a much stronger supporter of open source That's debatable. According to GitHub, Microsoft is the biggest contributor to open source projects. http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-github-open-source-2016-9 http://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-github-open-source-... In addition, there are quite a few high-profile open source software packages directly from Microsoft. https://opensource.microsoft.com https://opensource.microsoft.com
  - patrickaljord 9y ago
    > That's debatable. According to GitHub, Microsoft is the biggest contributor to open source projects. Sorry but this is so wrong, Google does not host any of its biggest project on github: Chromium and Android. There were articles written about this.
    - dec0dedab0de 9y ago
      Yet android is distributed in a way leaves users with even less control than Windows.
      - riku_iki 9y ago
        So, is it possible to create your own forked open source Windows like CyanogenMod and tons of others in Android ecosystem?
        dec0dedab0de 9y ago
        would you call anyone capable of creating, or even installing something like CyanogenMod a user?
        seba_dos1 9y ago
        You're proving the grandparent's point. Android's "openness" matters only if you want to build your own OS based on Android or you're a system integrator. For users buying Android devices, it's more often than not just as closed platform as any other alternative.
        riku_iki 9y ago
        what kind of extra openness you expect from android?
        Sylos 9y ago
        For example: - A way for users to prohibit internet access per application - no forced installation of the whole Google Play Services, just to get access to the Play Store - better root management, so that manufacturers can ship access to root to all users - less politics in the Play Store. Google has for example thrown out 3rd party YouTube apps that offered background playback, because those supposedly violated YouTube ToS with that, shortly before introducing a paid option for background playback in their own YouTube app.
  - magicalist 9y ago
    FWIW, those numbers are based on "the number of unique contributors (users who pushed code, opened or commented on an issue or PR)" to a project in those orgs. So not really a measure of those companies' contributions to open source (it counts any action from any user, not just someone from those orgs), but companies also have more than one org (you can see the problem with all the articles covering this from the fact that both angular and google are in the top ten list...).
  - braderhart 9y ago
    Let me know when they open source their spyware OS and then we'll talk. Until then you are just continuing to campaign for exploiting educational tools by locking them down so that students can't understand why they are getting forced upgrades, always getting viruses, and having their shopping and browsing information sent to Microsoft Moscow or Mossad.
    - arbie 9y ago
      Entirely too much FUD in your comment.
  - braderhart 9y ago
    Did you know that GitHub doesn't equal the definer of open source, in fact in many ways they are the opposite, and that GitLab and many other projects operate outside the confinements of a commercial solution?
aaronarduino 9y ago
I'm not assuming, I just hope that would be a trend.
folbec 9y ago
As a massive POC, I'm happy it happens ... in another company than mine. Time will tell if it works. If yes prices will go down for everybody.
granttimmerman 9y ago
(Disclaimer: I work on G Suite Open Source) I open sourced our developer samples this week: github.com/gsuitedevs There's an increasing amount of things you can do with G Suite, almost all our products have APIs and Apps Script libraries. If there's something missing in our APIs, feel free to let us know.
- icebraining 9y ago
  Microsoft Office has plenty of COM and VBScript APIs as well. It has really nothing to do with the product being open source.
- threeseed 9y ago
  Not sure what your point is here. Almost every single company I've ever seen for 20+ years has open sourced their developer SDK examples. It literally makes no sense what so ever to do anything else. This has nothing to do with what the OP was talking about which is open sourcing the core app.
  - granttimmerman 9y ago
    The comment was about trending G Suite into open source. You've got to start somewhere. It starts with developer samples, moves into tools, languages (Apps Script), then sub-products. If you're asking for Google to open source it's products in one big blow, I don't think that will happen without smaller steps. I'm on the team that would probably best start the conversation of considering G Suite in open source. Would love to hear proposals.
    - ocdtrekkie 9y ago
      I'd be truly excited if Google was prepared to state it had any intention to open source it's actual web apps. But everything I know about the company says that isn't even an option. What you open source is the same as most of the other things Google open sources: The things that funnel you into Google's proprietary services. Even suggesting that Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides might be open source someday is as unbelievable as suggesting Google's considering open sourcing their search algorithm. But I'd love to be proven wrong.

golergka 9y ago

I'm yet to find a single decent alternative to Excel. It's an excellent data modeling and analysis tool. And yes, I've learned Python, R and SQL, but these tools are not a replacement for the Excel workflow.

braderhart 9y ago
What features are lacking specifically that LibreOffice, Google Sheets, or some other cross-platform solution doesn't have?
- dspig 9y ago
  execution speed would be a big one
  - braderhart 9y ago
    Do you have any performance benchmarking to show the difference between Excel and LibreOffice Calc, because my experience LibreOffice is much better on resources. I would like to see what tests you are using so that I can run them myself.
- bko 9y ago
  Keyboard shortcuts are huge. Also I’m used to the ribbon which I don’t think they copied yet
  - braderhart 9y ago
    All of the apps I suggested have excellent keyboard shortcuts and options as well. So this is really about the ribbon interface to you? I am wondering which Microsoft PR company you work for?
    - bko 9y ago
      > I am wondering which Microsoft PR company you work for? That’s really unnecessary. I don’t have any of the alternatives available to me right now but if you’re honestly curious I could take another look this weekend and see if every widely used function has a shortcut. But from what I remember many don’t. I would love to see a plugin that maps excel shortcuts to either libre office or open office

aw3c2 9y ago

There is nothing comparable to Powerpoint's ease of layout in the open-source world sadly.

r00fus 9y ago
Are you serious? Basic animations were super easy to figure out in Google slides, whereas I still stumble in Powerpoint. Perhaps it's because there's less functionality but I'm only making slides for internal consumption, so it just has to hide/show the relevant info.
- crispyporkbites 9y ago
  Never put animations in your PowerPoint decks. Ever.
  - arbie 9y ago
    I started following this religiously for recurring decks, and the results have been outstanding. If you want to hone your communication skills in general: * Do not add animations * Do not use themes * Force every bullet point to fit on a single line * Points need not be grammatically complete * Use a font size that you can read from more than nine feet away * Talk about - don't read from - the slide And now, some unconventional advice: PowerPoint can absolutely replace Vizio, and you should disregard all the rules when you create product announcement decks where style can trump substance. Some of those slides have over a hundred animations and must be split up into three or more pseudo-slides (initial state, N keyframe slides, final state) seamlessly. PowerPoint is an extremely versatile tool, and its success and failure modes directly mirror the user's.
- aw3c2 9y ago
  First of all Google slides are even less free software related than Powerpoint (can't use them offline etc) but more importantly I said "layout" specifically. Aligning stuff nicely just works very well in Powerpoint.
paulie_a 9y ago

gaius 9y ago

In what way is G-Suite open source? The same way as Android.

maxxxxx 9y ago

If the result is that we have moved from MS straight into the arms of Google we have won nothing. I wish LibreOffice would get more dev investment from big companies. As of now they are unfortunately way behind MS Office in terms of usability and design.

severino 9y ago
> If the result is that we have moved from MS straight into the arms of Google we have won nothing We would have won, at least, the freedom to use the operating system of our choice. Microsoft software means you eventually need to use theirs.
- Sylos 9y ago
  Instead, they force you to use their browser. It's not terribly different.
  - jenscow 9y ago
    Much much better than being forced to use an OS that you dislike. Installing an additional browser is a nice sacrifice.
  - themacguffinman 9y ago
    How? G Suite works on all mainstream browsers.
    - Sylos 9y ago
      Hangouts didn't work for a long time on Firefox. They fixed it around a month ago or so, but that's pretty much three years after they knew that this problem would arise (deprecation of NPAPI plugins in Firefox). For other parts, for example GMail, I've heard that they don't work as well on Firefox. And to some degree, this is also just what I expect to see more of in the future, as outside of G Suite they're not exactly known for treating other browsers well either. Android Firefox in particular gets bullied by Google a lot. Last time I checked, the Google Custom Search that webpages can embed, just straight up returned a 404 when contacted by a browser with Android Firefox user-agent. And they serve some age-old version of google.com to it.