Hi Stefan, 2010/10/12 Stefan Weigel <stefan.wei...@bildungskreis.org>
> Hi Jon, > > Jon Hamkins schrieb: > > > To explain what LibreOffice means, first I have to explain what libre >> means, because it isn't an English word. >> > > Well, LibreOffice isn´t an English product. It´s made by an international > community from all over the world. And it´s made for users all over the > world. I am sure, it will be available in an amazing number of different > languages. > > So, why do you think things would be easier, if the name of the product was > English? > > > It's as easy to explain as any other foreign word >> > > What do you mean by "foreign"? I think, "open" is a foreign word to at > least as many people as "libre" is. Well, I'm a Czech and my native language is Czech. The problem I have with "LibreOffice" is that it's just hard to pronounce. I'm not very good at saying the French "r", so I try to say "LibreOffice" with an English accent, which doesn't sound very good either. "LibreOffice" with a Czech accent sounds even worse. It's not a problem of foreign words: "OpenOffice" is easy to pronounce for Czechs, just like "e-mail", "Firefox", "Google," "Linux," "Inkscape," and other English-based names. But "LibreOffice" is just a bit too complex, mainly due to the French "r" and the different possible pronunciations of "Libre".o the French "r" and the different possible pronunciations of "Libre". > > > On the other hand, I don't have to explain OpenOffice.org, because it's >> already in the lexicon -- 300 million people have already downloaded it. >> For those that haven't, they at least already know what "open" means, and >> it's easy to explain how that relates to the software. >> > > Yes, but now the software is not (only) open any more, but has become free > (in sense of liberty). And IMO it´s a very good way to demonstrate this > transition by the changing of the name from "OpenOffice" to "LibreOffice". > > Stefan. > > > > -- > To unsubscribe, e-mail to > discuss+h...@documentfoundation.org<discuss%2bh...@documentfoundation.org> > All messages you send to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be > deleted. > List archives are available at > http://www.documentfoundation.org/lists/discuss/ > > -- -------------------------------------------- Q: Why is this email five sentences or less? A: http://five.sentenc.es -- To unsubscribe, e-mail to discuss+h...@documentfoundation.org All messages you send to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted. List archives are available at http://www.documentfoundation.org/lists/discuss/