Re: [libreoffice-marketing] Fwd: Libre Office's future strategy - suggestions from a Computer Weekly article that may be of use to the Foundation

Le 2010-10-29 18:16, Michel Gagnon a écrit :

> I think LibreOffice is already a rather large suite, and the larger it
> is, the heavier it is and the harder it is to maintain and develop. So
> where shall we stop?
>
> There are good reasons to integrate Writer, Calc and Draw (or Inskscape)
> and Impress. After all, the same individuals typically will write
> letters and reports. Those documents are likely to include calculations
> or even simple tables, charts and basic plans. It is likely that the
> same document may lead to a corporate presentation. Likewise, teachers
> may work the other way around and prepare a presentation (i.e. their
> course) and an accompanying document (i.e. course material). So it makes
> sense to integrate all those modules, and even to develop a much better
> integration so that even tables written in a document (i.e. Writer doc.)
> are done using the Calc module. Better integration should also mean that
> a nice presentation done in Impress could be imported as is and expanded
> to make the accompanying document, for example. Right now, one has to
> restyle the entire document twice: once in Impress, once in Writer.
>
> As far as I am concerned, integrating a database into LibreOffice is not
> really essential. After all, it is not every day that one designs a
> database and writes a report within the same project. On the other hand,
> seamless data exchange between the database and Writer or Calc is
> essential.
>
> On the other hand, the publication is typically done afterwards, and
> very often by a different person than the one who wrote the document. So
> the important consideration is to allow one to import the ODT document
> and make a really good printed document, and ideally to allow one to
> export the text back in ODT for future work. It would also be good to
> develop filters that allow one to import an ODT document into InDesign
> and QuarkXpress.
>
> As for e-mail and calendar product, I find Thunderbird with Lightning a
> much better piece of software than Outlook. I also find it much easier
> to use, but my 13 other colleagues stick with Outlook 2003 and don't
> want to touch Thunderbird with a 10-ft pole. One nice feature of
> Lightning is that it allows me more than one calendar.

I also second Michel's concerns regarding making LibO larger. We have to 
be mindful that in adding more options to LibO that we become a 
programme with an unsustainable dev future. The really only option 
missing in LibO is, as often said, a mail and calendar agent. I too use 
the Thunderbird + Lightning option and it is a delight to use. Lightning 
still has a little more "growing up" to do, but Thunderbird is "rock 
solid" and rarely fails.

Module integration should be strengthened just as described by Michel. 
This would be a very welcomed effort from the part of many users.

Marc


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