Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: Suggestions to PTB

On Fri, 2011-08-26 at 06:42 -0400, webmaster for Kracked Press
Productions wrote: 

> Question:  Which version of LibreOffice are you using? 3.3.3, 3.3.4, 
> 3.4.1, 3.4.2?  Many issues/bugs have been fixed in the 3.4.x line that 
> has not yet been fixed in the 3.3.x line.  3.4.x reads MS formats 
> better, is one of the fixes in that line.
>
> I kissed MSO completely on Feb. 2010 when I choose Ubuntu as my OS on my 
> new desktop.  Then when LibreOffice came out I kissed OpenOffice.org 
> goodbye.
>
> I had been using MSO since Office 95 or 97, with the last one Office 2003.
>
> As for releasing software with "bugs", this is normal, even with MS 
> products.  Many bugs are found in real world testing that happens on 
> some systems, but not others.  When these bugs are reported, they are 
> placed on some type of "bug needing to be fixed list".  Then it is up to 
> the individuals who do the programming/developing [all volunteers] to 
> choose which bug they have the skills to fix.  I was a mainframe 
> programmer.  I was really good.  I am not skilled in the programming 
> needed for developing/fixing code for LibreOffice.
>
> We all hope that the next release has the bug fixed that causes problems 
> for some groups of users.  Each release does its best to have as many 
> issues fixed as it can with the fixed release schedule.  With a fixed 
> release schedule, it give the developers/helpers/bug-fixers a time line 
> to do the work.  Some bugs takes a long time to find the code that is 
> the problem.  I was once told that the code base for LibreOffice [and 
> OpenOffice.org] is 100's of thousands of lines of code.  Some are no 
> longer used, while some are in need of "cleaning up".  The LibreOffice 
> developers took OpenOffice.org's open source code base and dedicated 
> themselves to cleaning up all the messy and bad coding that was in the 
> OOo code base.  They did a lot of that and made improvements and more 
> functions/abilities in their 3.3.0 release and came out with it before 
> Oracle's people came out with OOo's 3.3.0 package.  Plus, the tech-media 
> stated that LibreOffice was a better product from the volunteers for The 
> Documents Foundation/ LibreOffice than was put out by the paid employees 
> [and some volunteers] at Oracle.
>
> To be honest, I was told that many of the bugs that are annoying 
> LibreOffice users can be traced back to the original messed up core 
> coding and the fixes placed on top of that coding to make it work, 
> instead of fixing that core code that is not working correctly.  That is 
> some of the hardest work for our volunteeers, to trace and fix the core 
> coding that should have been fixed long time ago when it was developed 
> during the time Sun Microsystems "owned" the OpenOffice brand.
>
> Our developers are all volunteers and they are doing the best that they 
> can.  If Sun, and then Oracle, paid employees working 8 hours a day 5 
> days a week was working on developing/fixing/improving the 
> OpenOffice.org product and did not do as good of a job putting out the 
> 3.3.0 version of OOo as was put out with the all volunteer package of 
> LibreOffice, we have to give our people a hand for all that they did to 
> make LO better than OOo.  Our volunteers are doing the best job as 
> possible for volunteers and their limited amount of time after they come 
> home from their paid jobs.  They deserve out thanks for their dedication 
> to making LibreOffice the best they can make it with the limits to their 
> time to do the work.
>
> Sorry for the band standing, but our volunteers are doing everything 
> they are able to do to make LibreOffice the best free MSO alternative 
> office package.

Well said, the vast majority of people working on any aspect of LO are
volunteers doing the best they can with the time available.


> On 08/26/2011 02:16 AM, Alexander Thurgood wrote:
> > Le 25/08/11 19:37, Twayne a écrit :
> >
> > Hi Twayne,
> >
> > >     I would love to tell MS to kiss my shiny metal butt, but I can't as long
> > > as some of these serious bugs continue to be ignored. One man can push one
> > > car; as you're doing now, but not three or four at the same time. All this
> > > is part of watching out for the future of LO and being able to say its users
> > > are solidly behind it. Anythng that doesn't work shouldn't have been
> > > released until it does work.
> > I fear you might have misunderstood how this project functions. Most of
> > the bugs get fixed as and when someone decides that their "itch to
> > scratch" is really starting to annoy them. The developers working as
> > employees of some of the software companies involved in the LibreOffice
> > project do not have set agendas with regard to bug fixing as such that I
> > know of - no doubt they have their own internal work pressures and
> > priorities to deal with before sorting out bug X or bug Y. Most of the
> > volunteer developers participate in the project because they like
> > developing, i.e. for fun. There's no fun involved in being told which
> > bug to fix and why that particular bug should trump all others, in that
> > case, they might as well go and develop something else. The fact of the
> > matter is that there are still too few developers to be able to maintain
> > the massive beast of code which LibreOffice represents. Add to that the
> > fact that an even smaller number really know anything about the code
> > base and how it works as a whole (i.e. where poking one thing causes the
> > butterfly to explode on your screen 50,000 miles away).
> >
> > If you can live with the way the project functions, then you can live
> > with the bugs. If not, then from a pragmatic point of view you can
> > either do it yourself, pay someone to do it for you, or else come back
> > to the project in a few months/years time to see if things have moved on
> > in the direction you want.
> >
> > Alex



-- 
Jay Lozier
jslozier@gmail.com

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