Re: [libreoffice-design] Take inspiration from Lotus Symphony ?

Hi Cyril!

Am Montag, den 25.04.2011, 09:58 -0400 schrieb Cyril Arnaud:
> Hi,
> I am currently wondering which office suite I should recommend to my
> customers : Symphony or LibreOffice.
> As far as I can tell there is no difference between the two in terms of
> performance.

Mmh, in terms of speed we should be a bit better ... there is a lot of
Java stuff built around the OOo core - but if working with Symphony is
more efficient for the tasks of your customers, that's not an issue.

> But in term of interface and usability it's a different story.
>
> After using Symphony for few days, I found that the interface being more
> inviting, you are more likely to "play" with the settings and thus
> discovering more efficient ways to work.

Yes, the UX team there was quite active - and we also had some
discussion on the OOo user experience list with them, also reviewing
their stuff. I can even say that one tiny thing in Symphony was based on
my recommendation :-)

> I spend a lot of time training and explaining to my customers where to
> find which option in OpenOffice/LibreOffice.

Mmmh, I think it would us to know what you are explaining to them (just
a brief overview will already help...). Maybe this is already known
stuff, but maybe we get some more insight.

> So my dilemma is as follow : should I recommend using LibreOffice to
> benefit from the rapidly evolving features, or should I recommend
> Symphony for it's nice interface ?

Well, if your customers primarily care about the interface, then chose
what is more helpful for them. But - I'm sure you are very aware of that
- there are other things that make LibO attractive: extensions, the
support by the community, a more direct way to ask for improvements /
resolving issues (here I mean real bugs that are more clear to the
development), and of course we are future proof ;-)

In my personal opinion, chose what is good for them now + n years in the
future (n = the time in years the customers might revisit their
decision).

> Another way to ask the question is : Will LibreOffice's interface evolve
> toward a Symphony' style in the near future (3.5, 3.6 ?) ?

LibO will be improved, of course. But the community hasn't yet decided
what direction to take ... that'll need a bit more time. So I think (my
personal opinion), the next year there won't be drastic changes ...

> Thanks,
>
> -Cyril

Did that help? And a proposal: please consider to ask on the users or
discuss list - there are some trainers and consultants as well, who
might provide some more detailed feedback why they chose the Symphony /
MS-Office / Insertnamehere product for their customers.

Cheers,
Christoph


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