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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.
        riku_iki 9y ago
        > A way for users to prohibit internet access per application For background data: https://ting.com/blog/ting-tip-for-android-control-which-apps-use-background-mobile-data/ https://ting.com/blog/ting-tip-for-android-control-which-app... > - better root management, so that manufacturers can ship access to root to all users Are you sure it is Android problem and not manufacturers decision, because they are afraid to be flooded with warranty issues from broken rooted phones? > ess 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. So, these apps are illegal from law standpoint, and make damage to Google. How is this politics?
    - onetimemanytime 9y ago
      >>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. I guess they are open source but they exist to line Google's pockets with even more money
      - mrkstu 9y ago
        And that is different than any corporate open source project how, exactly?
      - patrickaljord 9y ago
        Most of Microsoft contributions to open source are "how to make X work on windows or Azure" kind of projects such as linuxkit, node etc. There are a few exceptions though and it's getting better (yay) with really cool projects such as VS code and now many more.
  - 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.

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.
        riku_iki 9y ago
        > A way for users to prohibit internet access per application For background data: https://ting.com/blog/ting-tip-for-android-control-which-apps-use-background-mobile-data/ https://ting.com/blog/ting-tip-for-android-control-which-app... > - better root management, so that manufacturers can ship access to root to all users Are you sure it is Android problem and not manufacturers decision, because they are afraid to be flooded with warranty issues from broken rooted phones? > ess 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. So, these apps are illegal from law standpoint, and make damage to Google. How is this politics?
  - onetimemanytime 9y ago
    >>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. I guess they are open source but they exist to line Google's pockets with even more money
    - mrkstu 9y ago
      And that is different than any corporate open source project how, exactly?
    - patrickaljord 9y ago
      Most of Microsoft contributions to open source are "how to make X work on windows or Azure" kind of projects such as linuxkit, node etc. There are a few exceptions though and it's getting better (yay) with really cool projects such as VS code and now many more.
- 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.