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A couple of thoughts: Many enterprises are moving away from thick client office software and moving to browser based office software with cloud backends. Googl
by indymike 6y ago
A couple of thoughts:
Many enterprises are moving away from thick client office software and moving to browser based office software with cloud backends. Google apps, Zoho, OnlyOffice, Bitrix, and Microsoft all have very usable cloud offerings. Collabora is trying to build an LibreOffice based cloud offering, but LibreOfice remains old-style "thick client" software.
Apache OpenOffice is still available and free. LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice, and gained marketshare by building goodwill with users who did not trust Oracle or (to a much lesser extent) the Apache Foundation.
Having three "enterprise" partners to buy from makes it hard. I don't have a business relationship with CIB, Collabora, or Adfinis SyGroup, and honestly, I don't know why packaged office software would require one.
In short, I think there's a deep marketing problem here, and a misunderstanding of something fundamentally different about free software (using the Stallman meaning): it is possible to have widely used software that is critical to a user, but where that user is not willing to pay for it. This is because the user selected it because it was free (as in freedom) and the user knows they do not have to cooperate with a market capture by a developer.
- Shorel 6y agoOld style. Sure. Thick? Stuff that runs in the browser definitely uses more memory and CPU cycles. There's a huge difference in resources between XWindow servers and the new Electron based applications.
- ksec 6y ago>Apache Foundation I can understand Oracle, but why Apache?
- dsr_ 6y agoI don't think that there's a problem trusting the Apache Foundation. I think that under the Apache Foundation's supervision, OpenOffice did nearly nothing in the last five years, while LibreOffice fixed bugs and added features.
- johannes1234321 6y agoLibre office was actually created earlier, while Sun was still at the helm. When Oracle took over it got more mindshare only a short bit later Oracle "donated" it to the ASF.
- core-questions 6y agoThere is a long history of open source projects going to Apache being like sending an old racehorse 'to the farm'.
- indymike 6y agoThe fear was the product would not advance.
- empressplay 6y agoIs this really a problem for businesses though? My experience is they're generally pretty conservative when it comes to upgrades.
- mathfailure 6y agoYes, in cases like this (no foss office is on-par by quality and functionality w/ Microsoft Office).
- TAForObvReasons 6y agoGiven the sheer number of companies still using Office 2010 or 2007 or older, thick clients aren't the problem. A huge part of the LibreOffice value proposition is price. And choosing free LibreOffice over paid Office is a lot easier than choosing a paid option. Once you open the conversation about paying, Office is a no-brainer and you need a compelling reason to switch to something else.
- Person5478 6y agoHard agree for businesses. Office just isn't that expensive anymore, especially if you're in the MS ecosystem already.