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Posted to dev@openoffice.apache.org by Phillip Rhodes <mo...@gmail.com> on 2016/09/08 20:18:26 UTC
Differentiate or Die
Marketing gurus Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin wrote a book titled
"Differentiate or Die". It's a classic in the marketing field and
its message has broad applicability. I think it's applicable, and somewhat
important, to us.
The basic idea is that you have to have something... some "thing" that makes
your (product|service|project|whatever) **different** from the other
players.That is, when somebody says "why use this Mr. Coffee coffee pot
instead of this Generic Joe coffee pot", the Mr. Coffee people should have
something they can say that truly defines what makes their thing
different. It might be "we ship a carafe that's nearly unbreakable" or
"our better temperature control gives better tasting coffee", or whatever.
Likewise, if somebody asks "why should I contribute to (and/or use) Apache
OpenOffice instead of LibreOffice (or whatever)" we should have some good
answers, or at least *an* answer.
Now for some people, there already is an easy answer, and it's about the
ALv2 versus the LGPL/MPL. But I posit that for many people, that isn't an
important differentiator. So my thought is, we should think hard about,
and articulate, a message in terms of what we want AOO to *be* and how
that's *different* from other office suites.
It could be anything... maybe we want to double down on doing static code
analysis, using fuzzing tools, security audits, etc. and pitch that AOO is
"the most secure office suite", sort of akin to the way OpenBSD tout
security as their key differentiator.
Or maybe it should be aesthetics and/or UX? Or maybe best code quality in
terms of "fewest crashes". Or maybe it should be performance (which
relates to UX, but I digress).
Or maybe there's a particular feature, or set of features, that we want to
adopt that will help define what we are. Of course this is complicated by
our OSS nature given that any competing projects can easily crib whatever
we do, so maybe features aren't the best choice as a differentiator. OTOH,
maybe there are things we would do that other projects might not be as
interested in. Just to use a made up example, maybe there are features we
could add to specifically make AOO more useful for doing "business
intelligence", or maybe scientific report generation. Who knows, I just
made those examples up with no real thought.
So anyway, just wanted to seed this discussion and hopefully provoke some
serious thinking around this. Let's think hard about what we want to be so
that
we can easily say "Why develop/use AOO instead of X?" type questions.
Cheers,
Phil
~~~
This message optimized for indexing by NSA PRISM
Re: Become the IMAP client for documents [Re: Differentiate or Die]
Posted by Peter Kovacs <le...@gmail.com>.
Yeah I mean weird.
Xen <li...@xenhideout.nl> schrieb am So., 18. Sep. 2016, 15:17:
> Peter Kovacs schreef op 18-09-2016 5:38:
>
> >> I don't know how much can be gained by simply using an alternative
> >> that is in essence, the same kind of program. I still won't have cloud
> >> access and will be far away from using something like Google Drive or
> >> OneDrive.
> > btw. have you tried dropbox?
> > they have an official Linux client.
>
>
> I wouldn't really ever feel safe with Dropbox.
>
> That's just disaster waiting to happen, in a way.
>
>
>
> > I recommend the documentary: indi games: the movie. Gives you an Idea
> > on why people do wired things.
>
> You mean weird?
>
> I am not really talking about those kinda guys. I am really talking
> about games that have no market at all. Downloading the film though.
> When Diablo II was released it was not a many-million-dollar budget
> game. Of course they had professional musicians and all of that.
>
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Re: Become the IMAP client for documents [Re: Differentiate or Die]
Posted by Xen <li...@xenhideout.nl>.
Peter Kovacs schreef op 18-09-2016 5:38:
>> I don't know how much can be gained by simply using an alternative
>> that is in essence, the same kind of program. I still won't have cloud
>> access and will be far away from using something like Google Drive or
>> OneDrive.
> btw. have you tried dropbox?
> they have an official Linux client.
I wouldn't really ever feel safe with Dropbox.
That's just disaster waiting to happen, in a way.
> I recommend the documentary: indi games: the movie. Gives you an Idea
> on why people do wired things.
You mean weird?
I am not really talking about those kinda guys. I am really talking
about games that have no market at all. Downloading the film though.
When Diablo II was released it was not a many-million-dollar budget
game. Of course they had professional musicians and all of that.
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Re: Become the IMAP client for documents [Re: Differentiate or Die]
Posted by Peter Kovacs <le...@gmail.com>.
On 17.09.2016 17:10, Xen wrote:
>
> I had not known about it, so thank you.
>
> I am not impressed with its looks, but they don't feature large size
> screenshots, so I don't know.
you are welcome. I was also not impressed. the last writing tool that
impressed me was Scribus. However that tool is really bad with tables.
[...]
> I don't know how much can be gained by simply using an alternative
> that is in essence, the same kind of program. I still won't have cloud
> access and will be far away from using something like Google Drive or
> OneDrive.
btw. have you tried dropbox?
they have an official Linux client.
>
> Migrating to a non-prominent tool for me is never a very appealing
> thing. It's the same with computer games: there are a 100.000 of them
> but only a few that really appeal. The "no name" or "B-brand" computer
> games generally are not that interesting and I wonder why companies
> even *try*. If you do something, at least try to be the best, and
> don't just copy what another has done in the hopes of some success.
>
> With computer games, this is often shown with the lack of creative story.
I recommend the documentary: indi games: the movie. Gives you an Idea on
why people do wired things.
>> I believe Open Source as such has no Market interest. They exist as
>> long as someone has the Code. Development is not the main focus.
>
> That almost sounds like it is just a storage place for projects, a
> dump place of sorts, where projects can retire ;-).
I am sure Oracle had the same thought. ;-)
All the best.
Peter
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Re: Become the IMAP client for documents [Re: Differentiate or Die]
Posted by Xen <li...@xenhideout.nl>.
Peter Kovacs schreef op 17-09-2016 12:46:
> Hello
>
>
> I have a question.
>
> I dont know the Open Document Foundation. But maybe they work on it. I
> mean they forked from Oracle OpenOffice because they were frustrated
> that the errors were not fixed.
>
> I personly do not know, but I would not be surprised if Apache
> Foundation as the successor to Oracle has not has such structures. I
> think classic way is within Apaches Foundation that they cooperate
> with one or more interst groups (free devlopers, communities,
> cooperations / Companies) that has an interest in development of the
> Product. With this method different Companies can cooperate in order
> to achieve their individual goals and save money with synergy. Can
> someone maybe enlight this point? Am I right?
>
> So the question is which Structures does Apache Open Office offers to
> users?
>
>
> Xen are you willing to pay a sum in order to get a fullfillment of
> your needs? - Or is it more important to you that the feature you need
> already exist?
>
> (Maybe WPS is a good alternate to you then. I read in the german Linux
> magazin (I think latest edition) that they are pretty stable and quite
> good on working with docx.)
I had not known about it, so thank you.
I am not impressed with its looks, but they don't feature large size
screenshots, so I don't know.
I hesitate to go to completely new solutions particularly if it means
abandoning what I am already familiar with and also if it is not
actually a new type of solution, but really more of the same. Something
like Google Docs is, of course, inspiring. I am also a developer.
I don't know how much can be gained by simply using an alternative that
is in essence, the same kind of program. I still won't have cloud access
and will be far away from using something like Google Drive or OneDrive.
At least on Linux, and even though on Windows these things are obviously
much easier....
I don't want to bitch here but Windows usage is not very possible for me
just yet. Having stuff in the Cloud is even a form of data security for
me. I have little to hide at this point and just having secure data (not
losing it) is more important than any thoughts of "oh google".
Migrating to a non-prominent tool for me is never a very appealing
thing. It's the same with computer games: there are a 100.000 of them
but only a few that really appeal. The "no name" or "B-brand" computer
games generally are not that interesting and I wonder why companies even
*try*. If you do something, at least try to be the best, and don't just
copy what another has done in the hopes of some success.
With computer games, this is often shown with the lack of creative
story.
> I believe Open Source as such has no Market interest. They exist as
> long as someone has the Code. Development is not the main focus.
That almost sounds like it is just a storage place for projects, a dump
place of sorts, where projects can retire ;-).
I realize what I say could be visionary or "different" or challenging or
odd or weird or non-functional.
It is just that I approach it as a developer with a bit of an
entrepeneurial mind. I see the potential for something, you just have to
believe in it. Not saying I can do it, but if people would be inspired
with the same, I would not be the last to be interested to join in on
that.
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RE: Become the IMAP client for documents [Re: Differentiate or Die]
Posted by "Dennis E. Hamilton" <de...@acm.org>.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Xen [mailto:list@xenhideout.nl]
> Sent: Saturday, September 17, 2016 12:57
> To: dev@openoffice.apache.org
> Subject: Re: Become the IMAP client for documents [Re: Differentiate or
> Die]
>
> toki schreef op 17-09-2016 17:52:
> > On 17/09/2016 10:46, Peter Kovacs wrote:
> >
> >> (Maybe WPS is a good alternate to you then. I read in the german
> Linux
> >
> > Why would a program whose developers, in the name of destroying the
> > user
> > experience, removed features, functionalities, and capabilities. The
> > only user case in which that is a virtue, is one in which the user has
> > no qualms about not being able to open documents created with the
> > software.
>
> After reading some threads on a Dutch review site I can't say I have
> really seen any positive reviews or remarks about WPS. Most of that came
> down to ill compatibility with MS products. I am sure it works fine on
> its own but also cannot save or open(?) in ODT.
>
> I'm not sure if it is still based on OpenOffice?
[orcmid]
Current versions of WPS do not support ODF Formats. Only Microsoft Office formats are supported, beside the native .wps format.
The Windows version uses Qt and while one might see similarities in the GUI, I don't think there is any meaningful connection with OpenOffice. The "native" .wps format does not use a Zip package. LibreOffice opens it though. It is in the Microsoft DocFile format and could be a flavor of .doc.
Also, the software installs in AppData\Local\Kingsoft\WPS Office\ (on Windows 10).
It all appears very smooth. I have no idea about the quality of Microsoft format support, including OOXML.
[ ... ]
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Re: Become the IMAP client for documents [Re: Differentiate or Die]
Posted by Xen <li...@xenhideout.nl>.
toki schreef op 17-09-2016 17:52:
> On 17/09/2016 10:46, Peter Kovacs wrote:
>
>> (Maybe WPS is a good alternate to you then. I read in the german Linux
>
> Why would a program whose developers, in the name of destroying the
> user
> experience, removed features, functionalities, and capabilities. The
> only user case in which that is a virtue, is one in which the user has
> no qualms about not being able to open documents created with the
> software.
After reading some threads on a Dutch review site I can't say I have
really seen any positive reviews or remarks about WPS. Most of that came
down to ill compatibility with MS products. I am sure it works fine on
its own but also cannot save or open(?) in ODT.
I'm not sure if it is still based on OpenOffice?
Seeing the number of changes they have made to their (international)
versions and their name, I don't think they have a very consistent
outlook on the thing. It seems rather 'spurious' or haphazard. Very
successful in China apparently. And the Android app is apparently
greatly recommended over any alternative (so for tablet use etc). Recent
free versions should have less limitations (no watermark on printing)
but may still not save in .docx format.
Personally I generally mistrust Chinese products. I have only once tried
a Chinese email client, and it was not a good product.
I also hardly trust their "phone home" capabilities, but that aside.
I tend to want to filter Chinese products through Japanese or western
agencies ;-).
Also never really happy with the cheap stuff I order from the cheap
websites... it just feels dirty to me, except one time with some plugs.
So I don't really think WPS is a good alternative, but then I also don't
really know what you mean here, Toki ;-).
Regards.
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Re: Become the IMAP client for documents [Re: Differentiate or Die]
Posted by toki <to...@gmail.com>.
On 17/09/2016 10:46, Peter Kovacs wrote:
> (Maybe WPS is a good alternate to you then. I read in the german Linux
Why would a program whose developers, in the name of destroying the user
experience, removed features, functionalities, and capabilities. The
only user case in which that is a virtue, is one in which the user has
no qualms about not being able to open documents created with the software.
jonathon
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Re: Become the IMAP client for documents [Re: Differentiate or Die]
Posted by Peter Kovacs <le...@gmail.com>.
Hello
I have a question.
I dont know the Open Document Foundation. But maybe they work on it. I
mean they forked from Oracle OpenOffice because they were frustrated
that the errors were not fixed.
I personly do not know, but I would not be surprised if Apache
Foundation as the successor to Oracle has not has such structures. I
think classic way is within Apaches Foundation that they cooperate with
one or more interst groups (free devlopers, communities, cooperations /
Companies) that has an interest in development of the Product. With this
method different Companies can cooperate in order to achieve their
individual goals and save money with synergy. Can someone maybe enlight
this point? Am I right?
So the question is which Structures does Apache Open Office offers to
users?
Xen are you willing to pay a sum in order to get a fullfillment of your
needs? - Or is it more important to you that the feature you need
already exist?
(Maybe WPS is a good alternate to you then. I read in the german Linux
magazin (I think latest edition) that they are pretty stable and quite
good on working with docx.)
I believe Open Source as such has no Market interest. They exist as long
as someone has the Code. Development is not the main focus.
All the best.
Peter
On 16.09.2016 13:40, Xen wrote:
> Phillip Rhodes schreef op 08-09-2016 22:18:
>
>> So anyway, just wanted to seed this discussion and hopefully provoke
>> some
>> serious thinking around this. Let's think hard about what we want to
>> be so
>> that
>> we can easily say "Why develop/use AOO instead of X?" type questions.
>
> I just wanted to take this opportunity to voice my ideas again ;-).
>
> I will keep it short this time.
>
> I am a user who is disgrunted by both the features and stability of
> LibreOffice and probably also OpenOffice, since many features are the
> same. One important feature for me is a GOOD undo facility and both
> products don't have it, because they don't store, or merge, block
> level undo's resulting from typing. In mostly any editor I can go
> infinitely into the past as I undo stuff but in OO and LO it is
> limited to a few sentences at most.
>
> Last time this happened I swore to never use LO again and started
> using Google Docs.
>
> The only reason I am not using Microsoft Office (365) now is that
> there is no Linux variant of it.
>
> Given these flaws and failings for me (and sometimes LO just crashes
> and takes your work with you and it is unrecoverable) and given the
> fact that I think OO looks outdated (on Linux), I would have ventured
> in the past that these were the most important things for me:
>
> * I do not want to be exclusively dependent on the ODT format editors
> anymore
> - In Windows I have much better fonts available (or more of them) than
> in Linux
> - Even Google Docs just has much better fonts than Linux and it even
> has the Linux fonts, so there you ahve that.
>
> * I would like AOO (or anything) to be a glue between the platforms.
> Cloud is becoming very important or is already so. Being able to
> reference documents on Google Drive can be important. Being able to
> reference documents on Microsoft OneDrive can be important.
>
> - Google Docs natively saves.. or ehm, downloads, documents in .docx,
> but can also process .odt, I believe. So in order to stay relevant you
> must focus, for instance, on perfect interoperability between AOO and
> the .docx that result from Google Docs.
>
> - Since there is no Microsoft Office client on Linux, and neither do
> they have an online editor, it becomes product to become that client
> to Microsoft OneDrive that can also edit or save in .docx format. Now
> there are a few meagre solutions for using OneDrive on Linux, but it
> is not much.
>
> Suppose AOO had its own OneDrive client plugin? That you could use AOO
> to browse and modify, load and save, documents on OneDrive?
>
> Just the same as that Microsoft Office would do, is what I mean. Just
> become cloud-ready. Just allow a person to save on OneDrive.
>
> * Fix the OpenOffice looks (at least on Linux). That black hard shadow
> behind the "page" is not good enough anymore. Make sure it looks nice
> enough and start with that thick black border.
>
> Google Docs works awesomely if a bit slow (due to the internet
> connection) and you can't do everything you can do in a regular editor
> (particularly positioning and such things) (and you can only choose a
> few font sizes) but in general (apart from not being able to actually
> manually really save stuff) the editing experience is much nice than
> either OpenOffice or LibreOffice. And it's just a new product, right.
>
> It's not perfect but looks much better than anything else I've seen
> and you don't run the risk of losing your content, that I constantly
> have with LibreOffice/OO.
>
> I have probably lost important court battles due to LibreOffice.
>
> So I will say 3 things:
>
> - fix the looks
> - interoperate with OneDrive and Google Drive if possible (OneDrive
> more important) and ensure perfect compability with these formats
> - focus less on your own prominence as a True Alternative and become a
> slave, so to say, to the document formats used by the Big Two, (which
> are .docx and .odt) and just make sure your program can use these
> formats AND interface with the cloud storage that they use.
>
> Then if you've got that settled you can eventually maybe migrate or
> move to your own cloud platform or provider or choice of providers so
> that you become like an IMAP client to IMAP servers, even being
> capable to copy documents in between, etc. Become the IMAP client for
> documents.
>
> That's what I will say: become the IMAP "mail" client for documents,
> that can interface with various cloud platforms as you edit locally
> but can also save remotely.
>
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Re: Become the IMAP client for documents [Re: Differentiate or Die]
Posted by Xen <li...@xenhideout.nl>.
Dennis E. Hamilton schreef op 16-09-2016 18:23:
> However, OneDrive does accept ODT documents and they can be viewed
> on-line via Microsoft Office Web Apps (now called Office Online).
> There is online editing although it might require being a Microsoft
> Office user. I will have to check that. Also, it might be that a
> Linux-operating browser isn't compatible with what the Web Apps
> require.
Oh, apologies. I seriously had not been able to find "Office Online"
when I had searched for it :-/.
I haven't been able to test it and the site is very slow, also your
screens didn't make it through(?).
I can say I instantly dislike it though. But then, I dislike most of
anything Microsoft does these days (that started with Windows 7 and the
ribbon and the new configuration screen and start menu, and got much
worse with Windows 8).
I probably personally could not get myself to use this product (Office
Online) even though it seems to work fine with Linux (I am not an
exclusive Linux user, but for now..) and Google Docs is just a much
better product from my point of view,
but I myself am currently also a Lumia user (and I detest it) and
because Google has its accounts linked to everything (YouTube, etc.) I
run a much larger risk of having to dump my "Google Accounts" because
something happens in one of the other "services" that makes me want to
get rid of it. This is why personally I hesitate strongly to use Google
for anything permanent or even persistent.
For me, Microsoft is only : OneDrive and my (this) phone. Microsoft is
also more married to the platform (of Windows). So for me personally
Microsoft has a great advantage because the chances that I will dump my
Microsoft account "for no good reason" are just much slimmer (knocks on
dead wood).
Microsoft software is abysmal compared to android from my POV. But the
platform itself has advantages for me (Windows 10, OneDrive). I guess my
stance on OpenOffice should change.
But I still think there are two aspects that speak in its favour:
* the desktop is being abandoned by many suppliers. However it is in
part hype. Tablets are not really that usable and even hybrid devices
have their detriments. They are not sturdy, you can lose components, you
cannot replace batteries, etc. etc. Ideally there'd be cloud services
offered by smaller suppliers that do not have to be as big as the big
software companies but that can "tackle on" to a larger framework where
actual hosting is done by independents of some sort, but the framework
is supported by a community or industry standard.
* Microsoft software is just very poor ;-).
LibreOffice does not really target Windows users at all. I hardly doubt
I can find a person within 10 minutes of searching on the street (I live
in a city centre, and it is friday night) who has ever heard about
LibreOffice if I tried. Well, one person would, but it was a techie, and
another whom I meet now and then is also a programmer.
"Free Software" does not inspire anyone outside of tech, really, apart
from the fact that you don't have to pay money for it.
People are perfectly fine with not being in "control" of their devices
in that sense.
As long as their devices do what needs to be done, they don't give jack
shit about who is doing it or who controls the software, mostly.
So if LibreOffice's only selling point is "FOSS" or because of its
superior build system or because of its lean code, well... that only
applies to programmers, and programmer-lovers, not to actual real
people.
I use LibreOffice today because it looks better, but even though I don't
like it, I really have to use Google Docs or risk losing my work due to
crashes or the inability to undo.
Of course (???) people mention that developing for LibreOffice is much
easier (?) than for AOO.
But LibreOffice really has no future other than becoming like the only
open source Linux solution that exists.
There is not going to be a future where Windows or Mac users will ever
want to know about it. People are not interested in a product that only
has great quality code, but not great quality features or anything of
the kind.
So the future for AOO, if there is any, still lies with Windows users
mostly.
It is still the free alternative, but these days the free alternative
must also support cloud services.
That's all I can say. If Microsoft software doesn't support ODF all that
well, then maybe you just have to deal with that in a way.
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RE: Become the IMAP client for documents [Re: Differentiate or Die]
Posted by "Dennis E. Hamilton" <de...@acm.org>.
Minor touch-up about OneDrive and Microsoft Office Web Apps.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Xen [mailto:list@xenhideout.nl]
> Sent: Friday, September 16, 2016 04:40
> To: dev@openoffice.apache.org
> Subject: Become the IMAP client for documents [Re: Differentiate or Die]
>
[ ... ]
> - Since there is no Microsoft Office client on Linux, and neither do
> they have an online editor, it becomes product to become that client to
> Microsoft OneDrive that can also edit or save in .docx format. Now there
> are a few meagre solutions for using OneDrive on Linux, but it is not
> much.
[orcmid]
True, the Microsoft Office Linux client-penetration case is via Android.
However, OneDrive does accept ODT documents and they can be viewed on-line via Microsoft Office Web Apps (now called Office Online). There is online editing although it might require being a Microsoft Office user. I will have to check that. Also, it might be that a Linux-operating browser isn't compatible with what the Web Apps require.
I have attached two PNG that show an ODT being opened in Word Online from OneDrive. If they come through, you can see what the Microsoft Office Web apps look like. The browser in one case is Internet Explorer 11. In the second case, I used Chrome (and notice the offer of an Office Online Extension for Chrome). In both cases the document is a trivial .odt that I created just to be able to check to check on the improvement of Office Online support for ODF over time.
PS: Since I have a Microsoft Lumia (Windows 10) smartphone, I just used the OneDrive application there to access the same file. In this case, the file requests permission to use an on-line conversion service and then opens the result as read-only and editing is only available if I allow the document to be saved in an Office format.
An unfortunate aspect of this mobile OneDrive client is that it does not show filename extensions and I don't see any way to change that. There is a thumbnail icon, but it is for Word, so a .docx of the same name looks like a second copy of the same file. I have no idea how the OneDrive application manages and the Office mobile applications work together on Android and iOS.
>
> Suppose AOO had its own OneDrive client plugin? That you could use AOO
> to browse and modify, load and save, documents on OneDrive?
>
> Just the same as that Microsoft Office would do, is what I mean. Just
> become cloud-ready. Just allow a person to save on OneDrive.
>
[ ... ]
Become the IMAP client for documents [Re: Differentiate or Die]
Posted by Xen <li...@xenhideout.nl>.
Phillip Rhodes schreef op 08-09-2016 22:18:
> So anyway, just wanted to seed this discussion and hopefully provoke
> some
> serious thinking around this. Let's think hard about what we want to
> be so
> that
> we can easily say "Why develop/use AOO instead of X?" type questions.
I just wanted to take this opportunity to voice my ideas again ;-).
I will keep it short this time.
I am a user who is disgrunted by both the features and stability of
LibreOffice and probably also OpenOffice, since many features are the
same. One important feature for me is a GOOD undo facility and both
products don't have it, because they don't store, or merge, block level
undo's resulting from typing. In mostly any editor I can go infinitely
into the past as I undo stuff but in OO and LO it is limited to a few
sentences at most.
Last time this happened I swore to never use LO again and started using
Google Docs.
The only reason I am not using Microsoft Office (365) now is that there
is no Linux variant of it.
Given these flaws and failings for me (and sometimes LO just crashes and
takes your work with you and it is unrecoverable) and given the fact
that I think OO looks outdated (on Linux), I would have ventured in the
past that these were the most important things for me:
* I do not want to be exclusively dependent on the ODT format editors
anymore
- In Windows I have much better fonts available (or more of them) than
in Linux
- Even Google Docs just has much better fonts than Linux and it even has
the Linux fonts, so there you ahve that.
* I would like AOO (or anything) to be a glue between the platforms.
Cloud is becoming very important or is already so. Being able to
reference documents on Google Drive can be important. Being able to
reference documents on Microsoft OneDrive can be important.
- Google Docs natively saves.. or ehm, downloads, documents in .docx,
but can also process .odt, I believe. So in order to stay relevant you
must focus, for instance, on perfect interoperability between AOO and
the .docx that result from Google Docs.
- Since there is no Microsoft Office client on Linux, and neither do
they have an online editor, it becomes product to become that client to
Microsoft OneDrive that can also edit or save in .docx format. Now there
are a few meagre solutions for using OneDrive on Linux, but it is not
much.
Suppose AOO had its own OneDrive client plugin? That you could use AOO
to browse and modify, load and save, documents on OneDrive?
Just the same as that Microsoft Office would do, is what I mean. Just
become cloud-ready. Just allow a person to save on OneDrive.
* Fix the OpenOffice looks (at least on Linux). That black hard shadow
behind the "page" is not good enough anymore. Make sure it looks nice
enough and start with that thick black border.
Google Docs works awesomely if a bit slow (due to the internet
connection) and you can't do everything you can do in a regular editor
(particularly positioning and such things) (and you can only choose a
few font sizes) but in general (apart from not being able to actually
manually really save stuff) the editing experience is much nice than
either OpenOffice or LibreOffice. And it's just a new product, right.
It's not perfect but looks much better than anything else I've seen and
you don't run the risk of losing your content, that I constantly have
with LibreOffice/OO.
I have probably lost important court battles due to LibreOffice.
So I will say 3 things:
- fix the looks
- interoperate with OneDrive and Google Drive if possible (OneDrive more
important) and ensure perfect compability with these formats
- focus less on your own prominence as a True Alternative and become a
slave, so to say, to the document formats used by the Big Two, (which
are .docx and .odt) and just make sure your program can use these
formats AND interface with the cloud storage that they use.
Then if you've got that settled you can eventually maybe migrate or move
to your own cloud platform or provider or choice of providers so that
you become like an IMAP client to IMAP servers, even being capable to
copy documents in between, etc. Become the IMAP client for documents.
That's what I will say: become the IMAP "mail" client for documents,
that can interface with various cloud platforms as you edit locally but
can also save remotely.
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