You are viewing a plain text version of this content. The canonical link for it is here.
Posted to dev@openoffice.apache.org by Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org> on 2012/07/17 18:03:51 UTC
[Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
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.
Please, review and suggest improvements. In the end I'd like to work
this into a webpage or blog post.
Regards,
-Rob
--------------------------
=Introduction=
Along with an email client and a web browser, an office suite is a
core essential application that almost every computer user requires.
Although there is a dominant commercial product in this category, its
price and limited platform and language support makes it an
unsatisfactory option for many. OpenOffice, for over a decade, has
helped fill this gap. Our goal is to develop, publish and support
OpenOffice as a world-class office suite, free for anyone to use, and
since it is open source, free for anyone to build upon. Using the
generally available discounted price of commercial office products,
the value of OpenOffice downloads over the past decade exceeds USD 10
billion (10,000,000,000),
==Overcoming the "Digital Divide"==
More than 40% of the world population lives on less than US$ 2 per
day, and around 20% live on less than US$ 1 per day. Against these
numbers, commercial shrink-wrapped office software is often seen as a
luxury good. End-user facing open source software, like OpenOffice,
brings high-quality software to those who would otherwise have no
other affordable options. Within the ICT for Development (ICT4D)
community, OpenOffice has long been an important part of achieving
development goals.
==Support for Linguistic and Cultural Diversity==
There are over 6,000 languages in the world, but unless the language
is associated with a G20 economic superpower, commercial vendors tend
to ignore it. The OpenOffice community has a long standing tradition
of supporting a large number of languages, including languages used by
smaller populations, minority languages, endangered languages, etc.
For example, South Africa has 11 official languages. OpenOffice has
been translated to all of them. By supporting languages that would
not otherwise be supported we help reduce "digital exclusion" and
promote development, local education and administration.
==Accessibility==
Persons with disabilities, especially those with visual impairments,
commonly rely on "assistive technology" to interact with computers.
Such technologies work well only when applications are designed and
coded to work well with them. Additionally, users who create
documents must do their part to ensure that the documents they create
work well with assistive technology, for example through the use of
image captions, consistent list levels, etc. OpenOffice provides
strong accessibility support, including broader ecosystem support via
extensions, for working with Braille printers, exporting to DAISY
talking books, etc.
==Open Standards==
Open standards are those standards which are created in an open,
transparent process, where the specifications can be freely accessed
and implemented without royalties. Most core web standards are open
standards. The default document format in OpenOffice, OpenDocument
Format (ODF) is also an open standard. Widespread use of open
standards promotes interoperability and choice in the market. But
this does not come without effort on our part. We commit to faithful
implementation of open standards, and to work with standards
organizations and other vendors to improve these standards and to test
and improve interoperability.
Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>.
On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 2:39 PM, Donald Whytock <dw...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 1:10 PM, Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org> wrote:
>> In any case, the parent post is about mission and goals, not
>> collecting bug reports. I assume you have objections to accessibility
>> as a project goal.
>
> Maybe stressing flexibility and extensibility rather than
> accessibility, in terms of AOO being sufficiently flexible and
> extensible that accessibility options can be attached to it? More
> importantly, flexible and extensible in the way that
> That-which-should-not-be-named isn't?
It is both, really. There is the core accessibility work that was
done to OpenOffice. For example, enabling keyboard navigation, the
work to implement the accessibility improvements in ODF 1.1 and ODF
1.2. That included adding UI for enabling descriptive text on more
kinds of graphics, native table support in Impress, etc. These
improvements don't rely on any extension. A good summary is this
old OOoCon presentation:
http://www.openoffice.org/marketing/ooocon2006/presentations/wednesday_o4.pdf
And then, in addition to core accessibility work, there are the
additional accessibility-related output formats enabled by extensions.
So I think we have a good story here. And it will get only better as
we merge in the additional accessibility work done in Symphony.
-Rob
Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by Donald Whytock <dw...@gmail.com>.
On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 1:10 PM, Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org> wrote:
> In any case, the parent post is about mission and goals, not
> collecting bug reports. I assume you have objections to accessibility
> as a project goal.
Maybe stressing flexibility and extensibility rather than
accessibility, in terms of AOO being sufficiently flexible and
extensible that accessibility options can be attached to it? More
importantly, flexible and extensible in the way that
That-which-should-not-be-named isn't?
Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by Roberto Salomon <ro...@gmail.com>.
2012/7/18 toki <to...@gmail.com>
> On 07/17/2012 05:10 PM, Rob Weir wrote:
> > I assume you have objections to accessibility as a project goal.
>
> My objection is in claiming extensions that don't provide A11Y
> functionality, as enhancing A11Y.
>
> If you are serious about making A11Y a project goal, then no version of
> AOO will be released, unless one can remove:
> * The mouse;
> * The keyboard;
> * The display monitor;
> and create a document using:
> * Write;
> * Calc;
> * Draw;
> * Impress;
> * Base;
>
> Accessibility should be considered a long term project goal. We do have an
Accessibility API available that, quite frankly, I don't have a clue as to
how functional it really is.
I have also seen experiments with OpenOffice and JAWS that enabled
accessibility for some types of disabilities.
Having a universally accessible software compares to shooting for the
stars. We must do it knowing we have to get there a step at a time.
>
> jonathon
>
> * Unknown - detected
> * English
>
> * English
>
> <javascript:void(0);>
>
--
Roberto Salomon
http://rfsalomon.blogspot.com.br/
Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by toki <to...@gmail.com>.
On 07/17/2012 05:10 PM, Rob Weir wrote:
> I assume you have objections to accessibility as a project goal.
My objection is in claiming extensions that don't provide A11Y
functionality, as enhancing A11Y.
If you are serious about making A11Y a project goal, then no version of
AOO will be released, unless one can remove:
* The mouse;
* The keyboard;
* The display monitor;
and create a document using:
* Write;
* Calc;
* Draw;
* Impress;
* Base;
jonathon
* Unknown - detected
* English
* English
<javascript:void(0);>
Fwd: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: c_strobbe-esat@yahoo.co.uk <c_...@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 5:18 AM
Subject: Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
To: Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>, "toki.kantoor@gmail.com"
<to...@gmail.com>
Cc: "christophe.strobbe@esat.kuleuven.be" <ch...@esat.kuleuven.be>
Hi,
(I unsubscribed from the OpenOffice mailing lists some time ago,
because I moved to another employer and another country. Feel free to
forward the message below to the ooo-dev list.)
The extensions odt2daisy, odt2braille and AccessODF were developed
within the framework of the AEGIS project, a big R&D project funded by
the European Commission. In projects like this, the prototypes always
need to be evaluated. Because of limitations in the accessibility of
OpenOffice.org (at least on Windows) and the API for developing
extensions, we could not give the extensions directly to screen reader
users. However, we did give Braille documents created by odt2braille
to blind persons so they could judge the output. odt2daisy is being
used by several organisations who create DAISY books (for example,
BrailleNet in France confirmed this to me just last week); odt2daisy
and odt2braille are also being used together by a Braille and DAISY
production centre in Flanders (we worked with them for several months
to improve the output). Uptake of AccessODF seems to be much slower,
judging by the number of downloads at SourceForge.
So blind users can use the output from odt2daisy and odt2braille. The
problem is that they can't use OpenOffice.org (and LibreOffice) on
Windows because of poor screen reader support for the Java
Accessibility API. I sometimes read about public authorities who plan
large-scale deployments of OpenOffice.org or LibreOffice, but many
public authorities have a legal obligation to provide equal access to
people with disabilities. This obviously includes civil servants with
disabilities, so accessibility of office suites is important.
Accessibility also affects older people, who do not consider
themselves as disabled. Since demographics indicate that the number of
older workers will increase in the future, there will be a much bigger
share of the population that will benefit from accessibility. So I
strongly support the accessibility section in the Public Service
Mission proposed by Rob.
Best regards,
Christophe Strobbe
________________________________
From: Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>
To: ooo-dev@incubator.apache.org
Cc: christophe.strobbe@esat.kuleuven.be
Sent: Tuesday, 17 July 2012, 19:10
Subject: Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 12:33 PM, toki <to...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 07/17/2012 04:03 PM, Rob Weir wrote:
>
>> Additionally, users who create documents must do their part to ensure that the documents they create
>> work well with assistive technology, for example through the use of image captions, consistent list levels, etc. OpenOffice provides
>> strong accessibility support, including broader ecosystem support via extensions, for working with Braille printers, exporting to DAISY talking books, etc.
>
> have you ever giving the Braille or DAISY output from OOo to a blind
> person? If so, were they able to successfully use it?
>
Yes, from what I've seen and heard, these extensions work quite well,
If you have any specific issues to report, I'd recommend you bring
them directly to those projects. I've cc'ed one of the authors.
In any case, the parent post is about mission and goals, not
collecting bug reports. I assume you have objections to accessibility
as a project goal.
-Rob
>
> My experience is that those extensions provide a nice checkbox, but
> blind users can not utilize the output of those extensions.
>
> jonathon
Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>.
On Tue, Jul 17, 2012 at 12:33 PM, toki <to...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 07/17/2012 04:03 PM, Rob Weir wrote:
>
>> Additionally, users who create documents must do their part to ensure that the documents they create
>> work well with assistive technology, for example through the use of image captions, consistent list levels, etc. OpenOffice provides
>> strong accessibility support, including broader ecosystem support via extensions, for working with Braille printers, exporting to DAISY talking books, etc.
>
> have you ever giving the Braille or DAISY output from OOo to a blind
> person? If so, were they able to successfully use it?
>
Yes, from what I've seen and heard, these extensions work quite well,
If you have any specific issues to report, I'd recommend you bring
them directly to those projects. I've cc'ed one of the authors.
In any case, the parent post is about mission and goals, not
collecting bug reports. I assume you have objections to accessibility
as a project goal.
-Rob
>
> My experience is that those extensions provide a nice checkbox, but
> blind users can not utilize the output of those extensions.
>
> jonathon
Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by toki <to...@gmail.com>.
On 07/17/2012 04:03 PM, Rob Weir wrote:
> Additionally, users who create documents must do their part to ensure that the documents they create
> work well with assistive technology, for example through the use of image captions, consistent list levels, etc. OpenOffice provides
> strong accessibility support, including broader ecosystem support via extensions, for working with Braille printers, exporting to DAISY talking books, etc.
have you ever giving the Braille or DAISY output from OOo to a blind
person? If so, were they able to successfully use it?
My experience is that those extensions provide a nice checkbox, but
blind users can not utilize the output of those extensions.
jonathon
Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by 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
Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by 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
Posted by Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>.
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.
>>
>> 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
Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by Ariel Constenla-Haile <ar...@apache.org>.
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.
>
> 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.
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
Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by Jürgen Schmidt <jo...@googlemail.com>.
On 7/18/12 7:12 PM, Kevin Grignon wrote:
> KG01 - See comments inline.
>
> On Wednesday, July 18, 2012, Rob Weir wrote:
>
>> On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 1:47 AM, Jürgen Schmidt
>> <jo...@googlemail.com> 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.
>>>
>>> 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.
>>>
>>>>
>>>> Please, review and suggest improvements. In the end I'd like to work
>>>> this into a webpage or blog post.
>>>>
>>>
>>> see comments inline
>>>
>>>> Regards,
>>>>
>>>> -Rob
>>>>
>>>> --------------------------
>>>> =Introduction=
>>>>
>>>> Along with an email client and a web browser, an office suite is a
>>>> core essential application that almost every computer user requires.
>>>> Although there is a dominant commercial product in this category, its
>>>> price and limited platform and language support makes it an
>>>> unsatisfactory option for many. OpenOffice, for over a decade, has
>>>> helped fill this gap. Our goal is to develop, publish and support
>>>> OpenOffice as a world-class office suite, free for anyone to use, and
>>>> since it is open source, free for anyone to build upon. Using the
>>>> generally available discounted price of commercial office products,
>>>> the value of OpenOffice downloads over the past decade exceeds USD 10
>>>> billion (10,000,000,000),
>>>>
>>>
>>> I like this example calculation which makes the value of OpenOffice
>>> really visible. The number is so impressive that really everybody can
>>> understand it.
>>>
>>>
>>>> ==Overcoming the "Digital Divide"==
>>>>
>>>> More than 40% of the world population lives on less than US$ 2 per
>>>> day, and around 20% live on less than US$ 1 per day. Against these
>>>> numbers, commercial shrink-wrapped office software is often seen as a
>>>> luxury good. End-user facing open source software, like OpenOffice,
>>>> brings high-quality software to those who would otherwise have no
>>>> other affordable options. Within the ICT for Development (ICT4D)
>>>> community, OpenOffice has long been an important part of achieving
>>>> development goals.
>>>>
>>>> ==Support for Linguistic and Cultural Diversity==
>>>>
>>>> There are over 6,000 languages in the world, but unless the language
>>>> is associated with a G20 economic superpower, commercial vendors tend
>>>> to ignore it. The OpenOffice community has a long standing tradition
>>>> of supporting a large number of languages, including languages used by
>>>> smaller populations, minority languages, endangered languages, etc.
>>>> For example, South Africa has 11 official languages. OpenOffice has
>>>> been translated to all of them. By supporting languages that would
>>>> not otherwise be supported we help reduce "digital exclusion" and
>>>> promote development, local education and administration.
>>>>
>>>
>>> It shows me again how important it is to work for and with the l10n
>>> community to support all the languages where we had support before. I
>>> will start a campaign right after our 3.4.1 release drive this forward.
>>>
>>>> ==Accessibility==
>>>>
>>>> Persons with disabilities, especially those with visual impairments,
>>>> commonly rely on "assistive technology" to interact with computers.
>> I've put the draft up on the wiki and made a few tweaks based on
>> comments received so far:
>>
>>
>> https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS/%28Draft%29+The+Public+Service+Mission+of+OpenOffice
>>
>> I'd encouraged anyone interested to help improve this statement.
>
>
> KG01 - Comment: as a newbie, I've never seen this content. It's very
> compelling. We should seek pops to share this part of our story. Perhaps as
> part of the user experience (when downloading), or the volunteer experince
> (link on help wanted pages). In addition, our communications boilerplate
> could include some of the highlights from this connect. Thanks for sharing.
I can think about a further video where we try to visualize the numbers
with some pictures.
Just some first ideas
- picture of a huge mountain of money or gold bars
- fast switching pictures of people from different countries to
represent all the different languages and countries. Maybe pictures of
community members. Did somebody have seen the EM spot where many people
switching their tricot (pulling over the head and every time a new face
comes up...)
- ...
We should try to work with multi media students/schools and give them
input for some challenging work examples ...
Juergen
>
>>
>> -Rob
>>
>>
>>> Juergen
>>>
>>
>
Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by Kevin Grignon <ke...@gmail.com>.
KG01 - See comments inline.
On Wednesday, July 18, 2012, Rob Weir wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 1:47 AM, Jürgen Schmidt
> <jo...@googlemail.com> 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.
> >
> > 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.
> >
> >>
> >> Please, review and suggest improvements. In the end I'd like to work
> >> this into a webpage or blog post.
> >>
> >
> > see comments inline
> >
> >> Regards,
> >>
> >> -Rob
> >>
> >> --------------------------
> >> =Introduction=
> >>
> >> Along with an email client and a web browser, an office suite is a
> >> core essential application that almost every computer user requires.
> >> Although there is a dominant commercial product in this category, its
> >> price and limited platform and language support makes it an
> >> unsatisfactory option for many. OpenOffice, for over a decade, has
> >> helped fill this gap. Our goal is to develop, publish and support
> >> OpenOffice as a world-class office suite, free for anyone to use, and
> >> since it is open source, free for anyone to build upon. Using the
> >> generally available discounted price of commercial office products,
> >> the value of OpenOffice downloads over the past decade exceeds USD 10
> >> billion (10,000,000,000),
> >>
> >
> > I like this example calculation which makes the value of OpenOffice
> > really visible. The number is so impressive that really everybody can
> > understand it.
> >
> >
> >> ==Overcoming the "Digital Divide"==
> >>
> >> More than 40% of the world population lives on less than US$ 2 per
> >> day, and around 20% live on less than US$ 1 per day. Against these
> >> numbers, commercial shrink-wrapped office software is often seen as a
> >> luxury good. End-user facing open source software, like OpenOffice,
> >> brings high-quality software to those who would otherwise have no
> >> other affordable options. Within the ICT for Development (ICT4D)
> >> community, OpenOffice has long been an important part of achieving
> >> development goals.
> >>
> >> ==Support for Linguistic and Cultural Diversity==
> >>
> >> There are over 6,000 languages in the world, but unless the language
> >> is associated with a G20 economic superpower, commercial vendors tend
> >> to ignore it. The OpenOffice community has a long standing tradition
> >> of supporting a large number of languages, including languages used by
> >> smaller populations, minority languages, endangered languages, etc.
> >> For example, South Africa has 11 official languages. OpenOffice has
> >> been translated to all of them. By supporting languages that would
> >> not otherwise be supported we help reduce "digital exclusion" and
> >> promote development, local education and administration.
> >>
> >
> > It shows me again how important it is to work for and with the l10n
> > community to support all the languages where we had support before. I
> > will start a campaign right after our 3.4.1 release drive this forward.
> >
> >> ==Accessibility==
> >>
> >> Persons with disabilities, especially those with visual impairments,
> >> commonly rely on "assistive technology" to interact with computers.
> I've put the draft up on the wiki and made a few tweaks based on
> comments received so far:
>
>
> https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS/%28Draft%29+The+Public+Service+Mission+of+OpenOffice
>
> I'd encouraged anyone interested to help improve this statement.
KG01 - Comment: as a newbie, I've never seen this content. It's very
compelling. We should seek pops to share this part of our story. Perhaps as
part of the user experience (when downloading), or the volunteer experince
(link on help wanted pages). In addition, our communications boilerplate
could include some of the highlights from this connect. Thanks for sharing.
>
> -Rob
>
>
> > Juergen
> >
>
Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>.
On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 1:47 AM, Jürgen Schmidt
<jo...@googlemail.com> 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.
>
> 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.
>
>>
>> Please, review and suggest improvements. In the end I'd like to work
>> this into a webpage or blog post.
>>
>
> see comments inline
>
>> Regards,
>>
>> -Rob
>>
>> --------------------------
>> =Introduction=
>>
>> Along with an email client and a web browser, an office suite is a
>> core essential application that almost every computer user requires.
>> Although there is a dominant commercial product in this category, its
>> price and limited platform and language support makes it an
>> unsatisfactory option for many. OpenOffice, for over a decade, has
>> helped fill this gap. Our goal is to develop, publish and support
>> OpenOffice as a world-class office suite, free for anyone to use, and
>> since it is open source, free for anyone to build upon. Using the
>> generally available discounted price of commercial office products,
>> the value of OpenOffice downloads over the past decade exceeds USD 10
>> billion (10,000,000,000),
>>
>
> I like this example calculation which makes the value of OpenOffice
> really visible. The number is so impressive that really everybody can
> understand it.
>
>
>> ==Overcoming the "Digital Divide"==
>>
>> More than 40% of the world population lives on less than US$ 2 per
>> day, and around 20% live on less than US$ 1 per day. Against these
>> numbers, commercial shrink-wrapped office software is often seen as a
>> luxury good. End-user facing open source software, like OpenOffice,
>> brings high-quality software to those who would otherwise have no
>> other affordable options. Within the ICT for Development (ICT4D)
>> community, OpenOffice has long been an important part of achieving
>> development goals.
>>
>> ==Support for Linguistic and Cultural Diversity==
>>
>> There are over 6,000 languages in the world, but unless the language
>> is associated with a G20 economic superpower, commercial vendors tend
>> to ignore it. The OpenOffice community has a long standing tradition
>> of supporting a large number of languages, including languages used by
>> smaller populations, minority languages, endangered languages, etc.
>> For example, South Africa has 11 official languages. OpenOffice has
>> been translated to all of them. By supporting languages that would
>> not otherwise be supported we help reduce "digital exclusion" and
>> promote development, local education and administration.
>>
>
> It shows me again how important it is to work for and with the l10n
> community to support all the languages where we had support before. I
> will start a campaign right after our 3.4.1 release drive this forward.
>
>> ==Accessibility==
>>
>> Persons with disabilities, especially those with visual impairments,
>> commonly rely on "assistive technology" to interact with computers.
>> Such technologies work well only when applications are designed and
>> coded to work well with them. Additionally, users who create
>> documents must do their part to ensure that the documents they create
>> work well with assistive technology, for example through the use of
>> image captions, consistent list levels, etc. OpenOffice provides
>> strong accessibility support, including broader ecosystem support via
>> extensions, for working with Braille printers, exporting to DAISY
>> talking books, etc.
>>
>> ==Open Standards==
>>
>> Open standards are those standards which are created in an open,
>> transparent process, where the specifications can be freely accessed
>> and implemented without royalties. Most core web standards are open
>> standards. The default document format in OpenOffice, OpenDocument
>> Format (ODF) is also an open standard. Widespread use of open
>> standards promotes interoperability and choice in the market. But
>> this does not come without effort on our part. We commit to faithful
>> implementation of open standards, and to work with standards
>> organizations and other vendors to improve these standards and to test
>> and improve interoperability.
>>
>
> As Donald mentioned already it might be worse to add a short paragraph
> about extensibility and the programability at all that helps to adapt
> OpenOffice to special needs, or integrate AOO in other important products.
>
> In general very nice
>
I've put the draft up on the wiki and made a few tweaks based on
comments received so far:
https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/OOOUSERS/%28Draft%29+The+Public+Service+Mission+of+OpenOffice
I'd encouraged anyone interested to help improve this statement.
-Rob
> Juergen
>
Re: [Draft] The Public Service Mission of OpenOffice
Posted by Jürgen Schmidt <jo...@googlemail.com>.
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.
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.
>
> Please, review and suggest improvements. In the end I'd like to work
> this into a webpage or blog post.
>
see comments inline
> Regards,
>
> -Rob
>
> --------------------------
> =Introduction=
>
> Along with an email client and a web browser, an office suite is a
> core essential application that almost every computer user requires.
> Although there is a dominant commercial product in this category, its
> price and limited platform and language support makes it an
> unsatisfactory option for many. OpenOffice, for over a decade, has
> helped fill this gap. Our goal is to develop, publish and support
> OpenOffice as a world-class office suite, free for anyone to use, and
> since it is open source, free for anyone to build upon. Using the
> generally available discounted price of commercial office products,
> the value of OpenOffice downloads over the past decade exceeds USD 10
> billion (10,000,000,000),
>
I like this example calculation which makes the value of OpenOffice
really visible. The number is so impressive that really everybody can
understand it.
> ==Overcoming the "Digital Divide"==
>
> More than 40% of the world population lives on less than US$ 2 per
> day, and around 20% live on less than US$ 1 per day. Against these
> numbers, commercial shrink-wrapped office software is often seen as a
> luxury good. End-user facing open source software, like OpenOffice,
> brings high-quality software to those who would otherwise have no
> other affordable options. Within the ICT for Development (ICT4D)
> community, OpenOffice has long been an important part of achieving
> development goals.
>
> ==Support for Linguistic and Cultural Diversity==
>
> There are over 6,000 languages in the world, but unless the language
> is associated with a G20 economic superpower, commercial vendors tend
> to ignore it. The OpenOffice community has a long standing tradition
> of supporting a large number of languages, including languages used by
> smaller populations, minority languages, endangered languages, etc.
> For example, South Africa has 11 official languages. OpenOffice has
> been translated to all of them. By supporting languages that would
> not otherwise be supported we help reduce "digital exclusion" and
> promote development, local education and administration.
>
It shows me again how important it is to work for and with the l10n
community to support all the languages where we had support before. I
will start a campaign right after our 3.4.1 release drive this forward.
> ==Accessibility==
>
> Persons with disabilities, especially those with visual impairments,
> commonly rely on "assistive technology" to interact with computers.
> Such technologies work well only when applications are designed and
> coded to work well with them. Additionally, users who create
> documents must do their part to ensure that the documents they create
> work well with assistive technology, for example through the use of
> image captions, consistent list levels, etc. OpenOffice provides
> strong accessibility support, including broader ecosystem support via
> extensions, for working with Braille printers, exporting to DAISY
> talking books, etc.
>
> ==Open Standards==
>
> Open standards are those standards which are created in an open,
> transparent process, where the specifications can be freely accessed
> and implemented without royalties. Most core web standards are open
> standards. The default document format in OpenOffice, OpenDocument
> Format (ODF) is also an open standard. Widespread use of open
> standards promotes interoperability and choice in the market. But
> this does not come without effort on our part. We commit to faithful
> implementation of open standards, and to work with standards
> organizations and other vendors to improve these standards and to test
> and improve interoperability.
>
As Donald mentioned already it might be worse to add a short paragraph
about extensibility and the programability at all that helps to adapt
OpenOffice to special needs, or integrate AOO in other important products.
In general very nice
Juergen