Hi Gallo,
thanks for your nice introduction and your interest in the project and
community of OpenOffice.org! Can you let me know your username, so I can
grant you observer status in the distribution project?
The point you've risen are topics amongst between many projects, like
marketing, distribution, development and the like. Have a look at the
projects and make yourself comfortable, and you'll surely find some
helping hands and nice discussion partners. ;-)
The distribution project deals with distributing OpenOffice.org in
various ways, like DVD images, internet and many more. Currently, we're
undergoing a major change, moving from our old mirror system to a new
one with a new tool called MirrorBrain. The change will be finished
soon, and we will send details to the list if things are working.
Welcome to the show, and glad to have you on board! ;-)
Florian
Well, thanks Florian for being interested in me
I'm Gallo, and I'm a mac. I have used apple computers for many many
years, since the days of AppleWorks 1, all the way up. I have limited
experience in programming, and some formal teaching in a University
setting. I'm still trying to grasp the different version control
systems and how exactly they work for submitting and reviewing
changes, and I'm trying to branch out into Xcode, ObjC, Cocoa and
iPhone development. My current experience is editing using BBEdit or
nedit, compiling using GCC from the command-line, and coding with the
languages of C++ and java.
While I hate the fact that this project is a near perfect mirror image
of the Microsoft line of the same solution which encompasses the most
famous bloatware in the history of software, I appreciate very much
the fact that the project is:
1.) Free
2.) Open Sourced, with a thriving community contributing in many aspects
3.) Every Platform
4.) Gaining serious ground against the vastly overpriced Microsoft
suite of office tools.
I heard of Open Office quite some time ago, perhaps as early as the
1.1 version. It was not much to write home about, and got quietly
tucked into a pocket somewhere never to be taken seriously. I Picked
up version 3.0 around a year ago and began earnestly recommending it
to friends and colleagues. This software has come quite a distance
since I last heard about it from a linux-geek friend.
So far I have a rather limited point-of-view of the user-experience
that is provided by the software. I have only installed the PPC-Mac
Version of OpenOffice on my own system, and have once or twice
installed the Windows version for a friend or two, but did not use nor
maintain a Windows version. I hope to improve this point of view for
development and testing reasons as time passes.
The software seems to work pretty well once installed and running,
however the distribution and installation seems to be a bit clunky. So
far I haven't seen any updaters. I haven't looked at the language
packs which are available, nor how they integrate with an existing
installation. I have seen listings of files on http/ftp mirrors, as
well as the same for the experimental p2p distribution, and the sheer
number of files, duplicated information, and the size of the
repository is staggering. It even has a tendency to be difficult to
understand from filenames alone. In addition I found the RSS file
containing lists of all torrents in the p2p distribution system to not
work for me. No idea why, or if it was a problem with my client, but I
mean to figure that out and make sure it works for myself and
everyone.
I am currently drawing up a rough draft for a project I want to embark
upon within the OOo community. It will encompass distribution,
installation, and native language, and some of the goals of my project
may have been started or finished. The primary reason for this project
would be to improve the user (or administrator) experience as a whole
right up until the point where they launch the program and create/open
their first document. I also want to look into the possibility of
patches/updaters.
So for now I want to lurk, get to know the members of the community,
and research how the product works, is put together, organized, and
contributed to. I have a lot of learning to do before I can even
formulate a plan for my project. It seems there are some things that
have been somewhat done, thought of, and worked upon already. For
example I am reading a rumor about a java installer program that's
been around since some subversion of OOo2.
So far I have a few notes, and I don't want to share them until I've
discovered some things about what kind of work is going to be
involved.
Well. That's all for now. Hope to get to know all of you better soon.
Oh. And if any of you wants to make a suggestion for where I look for
some of the information I need in order to draft my proposed project,
feel free to contact me off-list, or... on list if that's what you
think is best.
On Sat, Oct 24, 2009 at 1:23 AM, Florian Effenberger
<[email protected]> wrote:
Hello,
you recently applied for the observer role in the OpenOffice.org
Distribution Project at http://distribution.openoffice.org - thank you very
much for showing your interest and support! We would like to ask you to
introduce yourself to our community, so other people know who you are and
how you want to contribute. It also helps you, because you get used to the
way we work and to the people behind the project.
Please subscribe to our mailing list, [email protected], by
sending an empty e-mail to [email protected]. Once
you have confirmed your subscription, please send your introduction to the
list, which is read by all members of the Distribution Project. Please also
copy me directly on that e-mail so I don't miss it, and don't forget to
mention your username. Shortly afterwards, we will grant you the observer
role.
We look forward to working with you! Again, thank you very much for your
interest in OpenOffice.org! Should there be any questions, please don't
hesitate to ask them.
Florian Effenberger
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