Guys, I think the debate is going in to the wrong direction.

I stumbled across this via planet ubuntu and I really want to add my
thoughts here.

I plan to switch from fedora 9 to ubuntu 810 asap. While fedora almost always 
has the latest versions of desktop (and not only this) software available, the 
whole distro feels unstable to me (bad network manager integration, bad cups 
integration etc.) and on top of this their hardcore hackers don't like desktop 
users (they don't like gstreamer related topics in their launchpad equivalent). 
But I like to work on a stable, unbroken env.
So back to ubuntu, no, to kubuntu for me - if I need the latest software 
release of something, I can add this by myself now.

So I am not really affected by the decision of not having ooO in ubuntu
8.10. - If this really will happen - I will install it manually (via
.deb or whatever).

But anyway. I see two major arguments in this debate here for holding
ooO v.3 back:

1. It's to late now - it can't be integrated after the feature freeze
because it is to complex and has to many dependencies to build a package
- also there is no time to test it the right way - it might be unstable.

2. The masses will use ubuntu without asking questions. They want a out
of the box "working" experience, they don't care if it's 2.4 or 3.0 - as
long as it works like they want.

I think, both arguments are *not* correct / fair.

Lets look into *1.* I seriously do believe that it is not a problem for
a serious packager to create a fully working deb within 1 day. Maybe ooO
is a b**ch to pack - but that's why I am talking about "serious" and I
mean experienced packagers. Even with the dependencies, the language
packs and so on. That's daily routine for a packager. Also - there is
not much need to test it *entirely*. If there are some aspects of ooO
which interact with other ubuntu features (I couldn't think of even
one), then those are the ones which should be tested in an intense way.
Anything else is already tested by the OpenOffice folks. That's why they
had some RCs before releasing 3.0 .  If there are problems with ooO - no
one from the user base will blame ubuntu for it - the ooO guys have to
react then - and all the ubuntu team has got to do is to release a patch
within its update repositories. Right? On the other side: I mean. I had
ubuntu 7.10 last year (yes, before switching to fedora 9) and there was
gimp 2.4 RC1 in it - remaining for MONTHS unpatched (gimp 2.4 final was
out, bedore ubuntu 7.10 was released).  So if this is going to be the
fate for ooO too - ok - than stick on 2. 4 - but expect the consequences
(I'll talk about consequences later).

Point2 (most of the users won't realize this anyway): Where is the proof about 
what kind of user base ubuntu has? Who is telling that the masses of ubuntu 
users bought their stuff at wall mart (something more or less completely 
unknown in Europe btw.) and don't know / don't wanna know about linux and 
stuff, especially version numbers of software packages? 
I agree - this usergroup might exist. But I believe the opposite. I guess the 
largest group of users dealing with ubuntu are guys which switch from windows, 
like compiz, are proud to show they can handle linux and expect to have access 
to knew software exactly like they had on windows. Which they don't. If in 
germany the Spiegel (a popular mainstream mag) writes about ooO v.3 - ubuntu 
users with windows experience of course want to install it - but they surely 
can't - there is no install.exe, the repositories show v.2.4 for months and how 
to add a new repository is out of their skills (and, I know, I know, not even 
recommended in terms of stability and later distro updates, dependencies 
blabla). So the only thing ubuntu could do to satisfy this large group of 
potential users is to have the *latest* software in it, when the release comes 
- and this should do it for 6 months from now on. 
So maybe I am wrong, and the wall mart dudes are the bigger group. Maybe I am 
right, and the converted windows guys are the biggest group. Maybe to our all 
surprise the largest group of ubuntu users consist of disappointed slackware 
users. BUT WHO KNOWS?

* What I do know, is, what the press will write. *

They will write: Hey, thanks to kernel 2.6.27 (released after feature freeze) 
we have cool wireless, cool bluetooth, and thanks to the new X.org our 2 Screen 
setup fails now (*cough*). But hey: Gimp 2.6 (released after feature freeze) 
Gnome 2.24 (released... you know when) and KDE v.4.1.* are great. The only 
thing which is strange is: Open Office is still on v.2.4 - so there is no way 
to open MS Office 2007 xdocs (xdoc is standard there). 
If you want to work further on your MS Office 2007 documents but want to switch 
to an easy to use linux distro then better consider to switch to open suse or 
mandriva - they are also absolutely easy to install, have the same software 
base but they even work like a charm with MS Office 2007 stuff. Its of course 
possible to install Open Office 3 on your own - but then you might consider to 
switch to a distro for more experienced users like fedora, debian or errm 
gentoo. 

It would be a pity. There is so much good stuff in 8.10 - and then the press 
will b**ch about the old office version. 
And then the windows users... "Why should I install ubuntu - they do not even 
have the 1 month old Open Office 3 inside!!". If I would still stick on 
windows, my first look would be on the blender version. I am sure it's not 2.48 
:)
 
It's just my personal cup of tea. No hard feelings :)

Herr Irrtrum / Italy

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[Request] OpenOffice.org 3.0 in Intrepid Backports
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/267376
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