3 ms·

Seriously if they want to sell LO just stop offering free downloads. Yes, its free software, and alternative builds would percolate around for normal users but

by zanny 6y ago

Seriously if they want to sell LO just stop offering free downloads. Yes, its free software, and alternative builds would percolate around for normal users but you have the brand and I cannot imagine most companies would be keen on either doing self managed builds or getting them from filehippo or something. And yes, removing the free builds would severely stymie consumer adoption, but I don't even think there is much of that left to begin with. Your average kid uses Google Docs and has no reason to download anything.

ghaff 6y ago
Some hobbyist--or some company offering optional support in some form--will just do the builds. There are tons of Linux distros in this category. Builds for open source software are a commodity. You can't stop them and still be open source.
- wmf 6y ago
  There's always trademarks, although I don't know if LibreOffice brand recognition is strong enough to overcome not being free.
  - ghaff 6y ago
    True. On both counts. The potential users are probably not the casual ones who are just using free online office suites by default anyway.
smart_jackal 6y ago
The author says that some firms indeed sell LibreOffice with support but then file the bugs upstream and expect them to be solved at zero cost. >> Another pathology is that there are companies who ship LibreOffice, often claiming support, but then file all their tickets up-stream and hope they are fixed for free.
zucker42 6y ago
The person who wrote the linked email is not part of the same organization (TDF) who controls the LibreOffice brand and is offering a free download. He's part of a company (Collabora) which provides commercial support for LibreOffice and contributes significantly to the codebase. I'm sure your suggestion would help solve his problems. However, it's considerably more drastic than some of the things he's proposing, which mostly amount to marketing changes. Taking away a free download for casual users would likely be opposed by TDF.

by zanny 6y ago

ghaff 6y ago

Some hobbyist--or some company offering optional support in some form--will just do the builds. There are tons of Linux distros in this category. Builds for open source software are a commodity. You can't stop them and still be open source.

wmf 6y ago
There's always trademarks, although I don't know if LibreOffice brand recognition is strong enough to overcome not being free.
- ghaff 6y ago
  True. On both counts. The potential users are probably not the casual ones who are just using free online office suites by default anyway.

smart_jackal 6y ago

The author says that some firms indeed sell LibreOffice with support but then file the bugs upstream and expect them to be solved at zero cost. >> Another pathology is that there are companies who ship LibreOffice, often claiming support, but then file all their tickets up-stream and hope they are fixed for free.

zucker42 6y ago

The person who wrote the linked email is not part of the same organization (TDF) who controls the LibreOffice brand and is offering a free download. He's part of a company (Collabora) which provides commercial support for LibreOffice and contributes significantly to the codebase. I'm sure your suggestion would help solve his problems. However, it's considerably more drastic than some of the things he's proposing, which mostly amount to marketing changes. Taking away a free download for casual users would likely be opposed by TDF.