Re: [libreoffice-users] Working on an archive site/pages for LO and the DVD[s] I have been working with

Hi :)
Good work chap! :)  It's good to see all that work will remain available for a good long time :)

I think you are thinking of Debian, this is LO and uses a different system.  "Stable" and "Old" are 
not always inter-changeable.    

As far as i can tell the 3.4.x branch has never been claimed to have long-term support.  Patches, 
updates and such are never likely to be back-ported to that branch.  Although that is not really an 
issue as LO doesn't seem to do updates anyway.  It's the long-term support that makes something 
"stable" and thus useful to corporate clients.  

At the outset the 3.3.x branch was claimed to have long term support of up to 1 year from release 
date.  Quite what that support means in a project that develops so much so fast that it has no time 
for minor updates is unclear.  The 3.4.3 is claimed to be "stable" but again it's unclear what that 
means.  Perhaps LO will decide whether to use the Debian or the Ubuntu plan or make a new one.  At 
the moment it's just unclear or at least not obvious.  

On the plus side it is relatively trivial to test new releases and then roll-out upgrades without 
messing-up peoples settings or even to revert back to previous releases if a serious problem 
happens.  People seldom need to be on the same release at the same time in order to share stuff but 
to create some things initially you might need the latest.  


The Ubuntu model differs from the Debian one by having strictly scheduled releases every 6 months.  
These are it's equivalent of "Development" releases and have a limited "shelf life" of 'only' 
18months.  Every 2 years (2006, 2008, 2010) one of their 6 monthlies is developed as an "LTS" so 
more effort goes into making it more solid so that it will last longer.  More importantly during 
the 3 years after release any important patches and updates writtten for any of the normal 
6monthlies gets back-ported to the supported LTSes and some updates and patches get written 
specifically for those LTSes.  In around 2005 or before it was decided that so much work was going 
to be focused on the LTS that there would only be 1 release that year and it would be pushed back 2 
months to June making it 6.06 LTS rather than having a 6.04 LTS and a 6.10 (err 
normal/development/6monthly).  Technical support and documentation also continue to be developed 
for the LTSes
 but i think it's the updates including the back-ported ones that are the crucial part of claiming 
that a release is stable.

So, Ubuntu has a system that is clear and obvious to non-geeky corporate clients.  It gives them 
confidence in planning for the future, such as when to schedule a roll-out of upgrades across a 
large number of machines.  They also gain confidence knowing that if threats develop or accidents 
happen then updates will happen 'automatically' and they can rely on getting tech support if 
needed.  

Of course the flip-side, as most non-business types appreciate, is that the product might be better 
sometimes with a little more work which might take 5 mins or might take 5 months.  Most OpenSource 
projects (before Ubuntu) were quite happy delaying releases until they were ready with the better 
product.  It's more rigorous and the product has better integrity but it is exactly the opposite of 
corporate culture and totally beyond their understanding.  They see it as lazy and unpredictable 
even tho that misses the point completely.  Ubuntu's answer was to 'freeze' development of each 
project at a point the product is "good enough" and then the next release hopefully contains the 
better product.  

The 3.4.3 is the best release to use.  I'm not sure it's appropriate to describe one branch as 
better than another for any particular reason now that the 3.4.3 is claimed to be stable (whatever 
they mean by that).  Existing users of 3.3.0 and 3.3.1 will need to start thinking about details of 
upgrading soon as their year is almost up already.  3.3.2 and 3.3.3 need to start planning if they 
haven't already.  My plan is to sit&wait for the Ppa to give me a new one but i have already 
downloaded the 3.4.3 for both Windows and Debian-family (Ubuntu) and saved it to the network so i 
can upgrade if i happen to have time and access to a particular machine.  Not exactly a good 
corporate strategy and not a great plan for places that have a lot of machines!  

Good luck and regards from
Tom :)


--- On Fri, 7/10/11, webmaster for Kracked Press Productions <webmaster@krackedpress.com> wrote:

From: webmaster for Kracked Press Productions <webmaster@krackedpress.com>
Subject: [libreoffice-users] Working on an archive site/pages for LO and the DVD[s] I have been 
working with
To: "LibreO - Users Global" <users@global.libreoffice.org>
Date: Friday, 7 October, 2011, 2:12


I have had the idea for a few months now, so I figured it was time to start working on it.

The original NA-DVD site has a set of archive pages for the installs that went into the NA-DVD[s].  
There are all of the OSs and the language and help packs that were linked within the "default" 
install page[s].

This version of the site pages will have the contents of the DVDs, but will have installs for:
3.3.2, 3.3.3, 3.3.4
3.4.1, 3.4.2, 3.4.3
plus the new ones when they come out.

See what you think.  I need to work on the wording to describe the differences between the 3.3.x 
line and the 3.4.x line.  I could use some words to describe what line is best to use where.  I 
know that soon the 3.4.x line will be "enterprise ready" and the "most stable" and "cutting edge" 
words soon will not be the best.  Also, when 3.5.x line comes out, "most stable" will be describing 
3.4.x versions.  So maybe not using that phrase would be better for marketing.

http://libreoffice-na.us/multi-version/install.html

Any advice could be helpful.

-- For unsubscribe instructions e-mail to: users+help@global.libreoffice.org
Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/
Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/
All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted


-- 
For unsubscribe instructions e-mail to: users+help@global.libreoffice.org
Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/
Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/
All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted