I totally understand Italo's frustration. I also hate when I am expected
to make a decision and people, who were absolutely silent and
indifferent before, suddenly start to verbalise their opinion, which
"happens to be" different from mine.
Regarding the version number, I think people who liked 7.x, will continue
to like 8.x too. The rest may find the big jump attractive enough
to try it but I believe most of the articles would emphasize "Hey people,
here is the new version but there is nothing remarkably new in
it". Which erodes the reputation of the product.
Therefore, I second Eyal's suggestion. Let's keep the new major version
number for something really big jump.
Such a big jump could be an AI integration (like ChatGPT). It could really
change how people use LO (at least, Writer and Impress)
Csongor
On 28/03/2023 20:43, Italo Vignoli wrote:
I have been asked to provide my opinion by developers, who seem to think
that the change of version has to be a marketing decision. As I have said
quite clearly, I am pissed off by the current situation, where I am asked
to take a decision and then I am blamed because I take one. I leave the
decision to the community.
28 Mar 2023 08:18:13 Eyal Rozenberg<eyalroz1@gmx.com>:
I respectfully disagree with Italo.
First, about the "frame of reference". In my opinion, decisions such as
major version number bumping are not, first and foremost, marketing
decisions. That is a _consideration_, since the version number is
declarative than technical. But - such an action should be "truthful"
before being "marketable".
It is more important, in my opinion, that users and potential users
receive trustworthy signaling from the project - not just w.r.t. version
numbers, but generally - than for the media to get a gimmick for coverage.
A second point is that bumping a version number without a major
innovation moves you a few more steps into the category of, say, Firefox
and such, where versions just increase automatically with no meaning
whatsoever. Italo, you said we are perceived as a "real innovator"; well,
when a real innovator starts having hollow version number bumping, that
perception fades.
Finally, everyone who likes the marketing potential of version 8 -
great, but - keep that benefit for when we have a significant step forward
to celebrate. Don't squander it.
Eyal
PS: availability on a new platform is not a reason to bump a version
number. It's the "same" software, but built for another target, so same
version as before. IMHO anyway.
On 27/03/2023 20:11, Italo Vignoli wrote:
Moving to LibreOffice 8 (instead of 7.6) makes sense for marketing
purposes, as media is looking at LibreOffice as the real innovator in the
open source office suite market, and the feeling of journalists is that we
are forever stuck at 7.x.
We all know that the next version will not include any significant
innovation which can justify the change of version, apart from the new
build system for Windows and the availability of LibreOffice for Arm
processors on Windows (which has not been announced).
Playing with the number 8, which can be rotated 90° to become the
"infinite" symbol, we can frame the next version as LibreOffice for an
infinite number of users, as we cover all hardware platforms and all
operating systems for personal productivity.
This is my opinion. If the community wants to stick with 7.6, I won't
insist. I have received enough insults both public and private for the
marketing plan, and I am still receiving them from a few people, that I am
not willing to enter into that process again (even if the decision on the
"community" tag has not been mine, but it looks like people have a very
short memory).
Looking forward to your thoughts.
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