[libreoffice-marketing] Re: [libreoffice-design] Re: Moving to LibreOffice 8?

/(I see that I replied to only one list, so just wanted to include 
design and marketing. Sorry for the double-up.)/

Thank you all for sharing your opinion.

Please keep in mind that "a really big jump" or "a major innovation" 
will always be very subjective and depend on personal areas of interest 
or specialties, and I suspect that we will have dozens of different 
opinions (and no agreement) if we ask what constitutes a feature that is 
significant enough to warrant a major version number.

Concretely, here is the shortlist of things that, in my _subjective_ 
opinion, are important in the upcoming version (somewhat similar to 
László's):
- availability on all major desktop platforms, including through 
official app stores
- advertise availability for ARM processors on Windows
- build baseline bump
- zoom gesture support
- cementing of updated visual identity and improved theming following 
the OS's
- improvements in accessibility of documents, including accessibility 
checked in sidebar and tagged PDF export by default
- two new languages
- multi-page floating tables
- _maybe_ Skia by default on macOS
- _maybe_ new Windows installer

Waiting for significantly "bigger" (again, very subjective) changes in 
LibreOffice is a bit unrealistic, knowing the project grows and has 
grown very organically.

In the end, I have no strong opinion about it. I just hope everyone can 
remain respectful and understand that sometimes, decisions have to be 
made, and I believe the marketing team, after some discussion with the 
rest of the TDF team, the Design team and the ESC, are a good fit to 
take such decisions, instead of heated conversations filled with 
subjective opinions on what feature is or isn't important.

The recent interaction makes me think a year/month versioning scheme is 
beneficial in that discussing version bumps will not be needed anymore. 
It's definitely not worth getting insulted, and I am sorry Italo had to 
be at the receiving end of that. And as Jorge said: let's not get bogged 
down into something that is in the end quite trivial.

I do however want to say I appreciate and take note of input from people 
like Regina (associating major releases with ODF releases, the default 
standard we are proud of), Kelvene (cultural aspect of the number), 
David (deciding early on to allow work on more disruptive projects) and 
Nigel ("The universal office suite", highlighting our strength in 
language and platform support).

Cheers!

On 29/3/23 21:36, Jaron Kuppers wrote:
> I agree with Italo that changing to version 8 makes sense and that it 
> is a marketing decision. Office suite updates that become new version 
> numbers rarely include much in the way of ground breaking innovation 
> and waiting for some integration of some new 'ground breaking' feature 
> does not make sense. Nor does waiting for ODF1.4 which is not a change 
> in some way unique to LibreOffice. A new version can also be framed 
> around the plan for that new version. What huge changes are we going 
> to make during version 8? It does not have to be limited to what 
> changes warranted a number change. I think universal accessibility 
> warrants a number change and makes for great marketing.
>
> Italo, the way people talk to you is not okay... know that you have 
> the respect of many/most community members who trust in your marketing 
> expertise. Many are quick to speak on a topic they have no formal 
> training in.
>
> My 2 cents...
>
> Cheers,
> Jaron
>
>
> On Wed, Mar 29, 2023 at 5:14 AM Pedro Rosmaninho 
> <mota.prego@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>     I would just like to counter what Eyal Rosenberg says. Version number
>     should be a marketing decision.
>     But I agree with his points that marketing must consider that major
>     innovations or missing features should be included with a major number
>     change otherwise said number change will fall flat.
>     The number 8 is a great opportunity so it shouldn't be wasted without
>     having something impactful when it is launched.
>
>
>     Regina Henschel <rb.henschel@t-online.de> escreveu no dia terça,
>     28/03/2023
>     à(s) 15:40:
>
>     > Hi Italo,
>     >
>     > the change from 6.x to 7.0 happens together with the change from
>     ODF 1.2
>     > to ODF 1.3. If the decision it to keep this kind of numbering, I
>     think a
>     > change to 8.0 should happen when LibreOffice starts support for
>     ODF 1.4.
>     > ODF 1.4 will hopefully be released end of 2024.
>     >
>     > Kind regards,
>     > Regina
>     >
>     > Italo Vignoli schrieb am 27.03.2023 um 19:11:
>     > > 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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Stéphane Guillou
Quality Assurance Analyst | The Document Foundation

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