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<eyalr...@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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