(off-topic) Re: [libreoffice-accessibility] IAccessible2 / LibreOffice / OpenOffice.org

At 12:06 9-9-2011, Tom Davies wrote:
> Hi :)
> I think IBM have a lot of power in this relationship.  If Oracle are 
> being slow about passing IBMs contribution to Apache then i think 
> IBM might be able to make that happen faster.

I have no evidence that anyone is deliberately being slow. It may 
simply be a matter of resources that can be used for it. (But I admit 
I was beginning to lose my patience.)


> I heard that Oracle and Apache are in court fighting each other at 
> the moment or fairly recently about things that are nothing to do 
> with OOo.  Oracle seemed to be just playing with OOo without any 
> really clear objectives other than just trying to make money from it 
> somehow.  They seemed to treat it as though it was a mill-stone 
> around their neck because of it's OpenSource part.

Making money is a very clear objective, if you ask me ;-)
Not making enough money was why Sun got acquired by Oracle in the 
first place. (Sun also asked IBM if they wanted to buy them, but IBM said no.)


> Apache have a strong passion for  projects that are at least partly 
> OpenSource.  IBM seems to need OOo to be developed with strength and 
> determination to be strongly viable against MS Office rather than 
> just being allowed to crumble.

Straying off topic once more ;-) :
From IBM's point of view, which office suite should have been that 
competitor? OpenOffice.org, IBM Lotus Symphony or both? IBM has an 
"IBM Lotus Symphony Savings Calculator" at
<http://www-03.ibm.com/software/lotus/symphony/ROICalc.nsf/mainForm>.
Not buying MS Office licenses for its 400,000 employees (or a bit 
less if you count only those who need an office suite) probably saves 
IBM enough money to finance OpenOffice.org / IBM Lotus Symphony development.


> So it seems that IBM were able to push Oracle into handing OOo to 
> Apache who are not struggling as much as Oracle possibly 
> hoped.  Perhaps delaying the transfer of IBM's gift is the most they 
> can do to make things difficult for Apache?  Maybe IBM has some leverage there?

Delaying the IAccessible2 code (if that is what is happening; we 
don't really know that; and Dennis Hamilton sent us a URL to the 
Mercurial CWS'es where that code may be available) does not benefit 
Oracle or create difficulties for Apache, as far as I can tell. The 
only victims would be people with disabilities on Windows who want to 
use a free and/or open source office suite, and this group is not 
involved in the lawsuit between Oracle and Apache.

Best regards,

Christophe

> Regards from
> Tom :)
>
>
> --- On Fri, 9/9/11, Christopher Chaltain <chaltain@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Christopher Chaltain <chaltain@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [libreoffice-accessibility] IAccessible2 / LibreOffice 
> / OpenOffice.org
> To: accessibility@global.libreoffice.org
> Date: Friday, 9 September, 2011, 3:46
>
> I haven't looked into this issue as much as others, but what's left here
> for IBM to do? It sounds like they've already donated the code. BTW, who
> in IBM did you contact? I used to know some of the guys working on
> accessibility inside IBM.
>
>
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--
Christophe Strobbe
K.U.Leuven - Dept. of Electrical Engineering - SCD
Research Group on Document Architectures
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