Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice

[Kay Schenk <ka...@gmail.com>]

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 6:07 AM, Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org> wrote:

> On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 8:55 AM, Ariel Constenla-Haile
> <ar...@apache.org> wrote:
> > Hi Jürgen, *,
> >
> > On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 07:47:42AM +0200, Jürgen Schmidt wrote:
> >> On 7/17/12 6:03 PM, Rob Weir wrote:
> >> > I'd like to see if we can agree on a statement along these lines.  I
> >> > think it is important that we show how our project aligns with
> >> > Apache's overall mission, which the apache.org home page phrases as:
> >> > "provides support for the Apache community of open-source software
> >> > projects, which provide software products for the public good."
> >> >
> >> > I think we do and always have been strongly aligned with this goal.
> >> > But still, sometimes, we're questioned about our emphasis on
> >> > distributing binaries, or seeking support for items related to
> >> > distributing binaries.  In some ways we're the oddball at Apache,
> >> > being the only prominent end-user facing project.  So I think it will
> >> > help if we can express in clear terms how what we are doing is in fact
> >> > for the public good, and our aims and achievements are at least as
> >> > noble as what any other Apache project can claim.
>

Well I am still getting caught up from a while back and reviewing this
post. I think the wiki page is very good as it stands and this this
information should be incorporated on the "project" web page at least, may
be directly under the What is OpenOffice section, a new section "The Public
Service Mission", or, if we want to remain flexible, make it into a page
that we can use to link from other areas -- the main www.openoffice.org. We
have this old about.html page, http://www.openoffice.org/about/

that is currently linked from the project web site. I think this mission
information should be included on that.

Yes/no? to any of these suggestions.



> >>
> >> I totally agree and that is of course the most annoying point here at
> >> Apache for me. But that is another topic and not for this thread.
> >
> > I guess it is because in Apache, so far, the idea was to provide
> > software for the public good in form of source, for others to build
> > their solutions upon. In OpenOffice's case, distributing binaries is
> > also for the public good, not only for the reason mentioned by Rob, but
> > mainly because OpenOffice provides a way to build your solution on top
> > of its binary distribution with extensions, without needing to compile
> > the source yourself, nor learn/modify a single line of code.
> >
>
> This is a good point.  I remember reading, years ago, in a magazine
> called "Computer Languages" (now defunct) about a survey they did of
> corporate programmers, seeing what the most popular programming
> language was.  This was 1992 or so.  The answer was not C, not COBOL,
> but the 1-2-3 Macro language.   Today maybe such a survey would say
> Javascript?
>
> But the meaning is clear;:  there are more application developers than
> system developers.  And more script developers than application
> developers.  The closer you get to "end user programming" the larger
> your audience is and the more people you are helping.  You could think
> of the spreadsheet itself as support end-user programming.
>
> > So it would be nice to have some numbers about extensions in Rob's paper
> > (of course, we can only measure extensions on the extension's site; this
> > will not include all the people builder their solutions in a commercial
> > way).
> >
> >
> > Regards
> > --
> > Ariel Constenla-Haile
> > La Plata, Argentina
>



-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MzK

"Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think."
                                                                        --
Niels Bohr

Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice

[Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>]

On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 5:09 PM, Kay Schenk <ka...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 6:07 AM, Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 8:55 AM, Ariel Constenla-Haile
>> <ar...@apache.org> wrote:
>> > Hi Jürgen, *,
>> >
>> > On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 07:47:42AM +0200, Jürgen Schmidt wrote:
>> >> On 7/17/12 6:03 PM, Rob Weir wrote:
>> >> > I'd like to see if we can agree on a statement along these lines.  I
>> >> > think it is important that we show how our project aligns with
>> >> > Apache's overall mission, which the apache.org home page phrases as:
>> >> > "provides support for the Apache community of open-source software
>> >> > projects, which provide software products for the public good."
>> >> >
>> >> > I think we do and always have been strongly aligned with this goal.
>> >> > But still, sometimes, we're questioned about our emphasis on
>> >> > distributing binaries, or seeking support for items related to
>> >> > distributing binaries.  In some ways we're the oddball at Apache,
>> >> > being the only prominent end-user facing project.  So I think it will
>> >> > help if we can express in clear terms how what we are doing is in fact
>> >> > for the public good, and our aims and achievements are at least as
>> >> > noble as what any other Apache project can claim.
>>
>
> Well I am still getting caught up from a while back and reviewing this
> post. I think the wiki page is very good as it stands and this this
> information should be incorporated on the "project" web page at least, may
> be directly under the What is OpenOffice section, a new section "The Public
> Service Mission", or, if we want to remain flexible, make it into a page
> that we can use to link from other areas -- the main www.openoffice.org. We
> have this old about.html page, http://www.openoffice.org/about/
>
> that is currently linked from the project web site. I think this mission
> information should be included on that.
>
> Yes/no? to any of these suggestions.
>

I have it here, on this page, but it is not linked to from anything yet:

http://incubator.apache.org/openofficeorg/mission.html

It might work well to publicize this once we graduate.  But no
objections to using it earlier.

-Rob

>
>
>> >>
>> >> I totally agree and that is of course the most annoying point here at
>> >> Apache for me. But that is another topic and not for this thread.
>> >
>> > I guess it is because in Apache, so far, the idea was to provide
>> > software for the public good in form of source, for others to build
>> > their solutions upon. In OpenOffice's case, distributing binaries is
>> > also for the public good, not only for the reason mentioned by Rob, but
>> > mainly because OpenOffice provides a way to build your solution on top
>> > of its binary distribution with extensions, without needing to compile
>> > the source yourself, nor learn/modify a single line of code.
>> >
>>
>> This is a good point.  I remember reading, years ago, in a magazine
>> called "Computer Languages" (now defunct) about a survey they did of
>> corporate programmers, seeing what the most popular programming
>> language was.  This was 1992 or so.  The answer was not C, not COBOL,
>> but the 1-2-3 Macro language.   Today maybe such a survey would say
>> Javascript?
>>
>> But the meaning is clear;:  there are more application developers than
>> system developers.  And more script developers than application
>> developers.  The closer you get to "end user programming" the larger
>> your audience is and the more people you are helping.  You could think
>> of the spreadsheet itself as support end-user programming.
>>
>> > So it would be nice to have some numbers about extensions in Rob's paper
>> > (of course, we can only measure extensions on the extension's site; this
>> > will not include all the people builder their solutions in a commercial
>> > way).
>> >
>> >
>> > Regards
>> > --
>> > Ariel Constenla-Haile
>> > La Plata, Argentina
>>
>
>
>
> --
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> MzK
>
> "Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think."
>                                                                         --
> Niels Bohr