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

Hi, :-)

> 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?

I don't think its useful for LibreOffice to get too bloated, or to
want to absorb or compete with other major FOSS projects out there.
The only exception might be a tie-up with Inkscape. Michel's right,
LibO would become very cumbersome to maintain and develop.

However, it might be useful to have a library that gives outside
products an approved and standardized means of interacting and
integrating with LibO. And that might be more achievable within a
reasonable time frame.

IMHO, it would be important to be able to also field LibO on tablets
and other mobile appliances. So, one would need full-featured
"theming/skinning" to be integrated into the existing menu/interface
configuration capabilities. And it would be useful to have greater
control/modularity in the installation process (be able to pick and
choose what to install).

But, I don't see current implementations of tablets and other mobile
appliances totally replacing desktops and laptops in the near term.
There's a lot of work that is better done on a conventionally-sized
keyboard and display (I'm sure enterprise users would agree). LibO
just has additional niches to cater for.

As for the idea of going cloud-based? Huge development effort: the
resemblances in the code base between a desktop-based application and
a server-based app must be very limited. Only the user interface might
look visually similar. Nor can one ignore that  Google, Zoho and
Microsoft have a big headstart.

Plus, personally, I'm a lover of FOSS that runs totally independently
on my computing device, with no loss of functionality if I'm offline.
That way, it's really mine, and I'm really in control. Give me my
Linux and my LibO like they are now: only hardware failures, EMF and
power outages can stop me computing. I'm not at the mercy of network
factors or the whims of *any* organization.

However, there's obviously a big potential to use Web-based community
dictionaries, translation engines, templates, bibliographical
services, online storage services, and other stuff we haven't even
thought of yet...

Nonetheless, I think LibO/TDF needs to stay real and not take its eye
off the ball (especially as the ball appears to be morphing and
splitting into multiple instances before our very eyes).

0.2 cents...

David Nelson

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