On Sun, Dec 1, 2013 at 9:53 AM, Andrea Pescetti <pesce...@apache.org> wrote: > On 30/11/2013 Louis Suárez-Potts wrote: > >> On 30-Nov-2013, at 16:22, Rob Weir wrote: >>> >>> And let's not forget that Emilia-Romagna recently announced a >>> migration to OpenOffice > > > (the discussion has evolved into many interesting directions, but I'm > picking this message for answering) > > The main issue I see here is that the OpenOffice adoption (or non-adoption!) > happens without the OpenOffice project being aware of anything. > > It is natural that private or public entities considering a migration will > have their established consultants and ask them. But we should have enough > "official" information available to anybody who is considering a migration.
So the fact that migrations are occurring without contacting the project is a positive sign that the publicly available information, on the website and wiki, is sufficient, yes? > Something that can immediately reassure them that the "OpenOffice is dead" > meme is false, that a lot of innovation is ongoing at OpenOffice, that > OpenOffice is not only maintained, but also getting much better. > I'm not seeing any credible arguments to the contrary. > There's a lot of work to be done here, not only by writing "Why" pages and > wiki pages, but being more visible at small, local events and conferences. > Technical excellence is to be pursued and is our main focus at the moment, > but we also need to improve outreach and to get people to see correct > information. > It depends on the conference. Small open source conferences can be fun, I'm sure. But are we really introducing OpenOffice to new people? Or are we "preaching to the choir"? Is this really the way to reach the 70% of computer users who have never heard of OpenOffice? > I learned that my region is migrating to OpenOffice from a post by Rob to > this list. They had never contacted the project in public or in private. > It's OK of course; they are not forced to do so; but it deserves a > reflection. How many other "silent" decisions to migrate (or not to migrate) > are taken every day without the project being aware of it? And can we as a > project do something more for decision-makers to be properly informed? > The download trend is our best indication of use of AOO. Because use of open source in general is no longer novel, I don't expect to hear much news generated from those who migrate to OpenOffice. That is what success looks like. As OpenOffice becomes mainstream it is not newsworthy to use it. -Rob > >> And I would also >> point to Italo V's rather heated denunciation of the migration and >> AOO about it > > > To the benefit of those who do not speak Italian: that was later somewhat > retracted/rectified, see same site. But I agree with other people on this > list that everyone's focus should not be on which open source office suite > is better; the real obstacle is persuading organizations to adopt free and > open source software and do it with the right spirit. Fights over which > variant is better undermine the credibility of free/open source in general, > and contribute to keep more organizations tied to proprietary solutions. > > Regards, > Andrea. > > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@openoffice.apache.org > --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@openoffice.apache.org For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@openoffice.apache.org
