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IBM Joins OpenOffice.org Community

Posted by CmdrTaco on Mon Sep 10, 2007 07:34 AM
from the get-your-conspiracy-theories-warmed-up dept.
Petrushka writes "In a press release today, with accompanying press FAQ, IBM announces a change in its relationship to the OpenOffice.org development community. The upshot is that they're making a long-term commitment to OOo; no organization has paid off any other organization for this; they're devoting about 35 of their developers in China to OOo; and they'll be contributing accessibility code from Lotus Notes to improve current support for assistive technologies. You may recall that an alleged shortage of assistive technologies that work with OOo has been one of the big criticisms leveled against the idea of governments standardizing on the OpenDocument format, which is a file format that OOo and several other office suites support."

Related Stories

[+] IBM Challenges Microsoft with Free Office Suite 378 comments
BBCWatcher writes "Reuters is reporting that IBM plans to announce a free, downloadable office suite today in a direct challenge to Microsoft. The news comes only a week after IBM announced they were joining OpenOffice.org and dedicating 35 developers to the project. IBM is resurrecting an old name for this brand new software: Lotus Symphony. The new Symphony, based on Open Office, is yet another product to support Open Document Format (ODF), the ISO standard for universal document interchange. There are about 135 million Lotus Notes users, and they will also receive Symphony free. IBM support will be available for a fee. There are no details yet about platform support, but IBM is supporting Lotus Notes 8 on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows, so at least those three are likely."
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  • Yay (Score:5)

    by somersault (912633) on Monday September 10, @07:37AM (#20537063)
    (http://66.249.93.104/ | Last Journal: Monday November 20 2006, @09:27AM)
    One more step to not being locked into Microsoft (ie paying through the nose) for an application than can make writing look prettier, and is universally accepted \o/
    • Re:Yay by Chrisq (Score:1) Monday September 10, @08:18AM
      • Re:Yay by Corporate Troll (Score:1) Monday September 10, @08:19AM
      • Re:Yay by SCHecklerX (Score:2) Monday September 10, @08:40AM
    • Re:Yay by turgid (Score:2) Monday September 10, @04:33PM
    • Re:OO.org 1-2-3 by somersault (Score:3) Monday September 10, @08:40AM
    • Re:OO.org 1-2-3 by MightyMartian (Score:2) Monday September 10, @10:28AM
    • Standard of One? by Erris (Score:2) Monday September 10, @12:08PM
    • Re:OO.org 1-2-3 by gratemyl (Score:2) Monday September 10, @01:03PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Assistive technologies (Score:5, Informative)

    by morgan_greywolf (835522) on Monday September 10, @07:39AM (#20537073)
    (http://stylus-toolbox.sf.net/ | Last Journal: Tuesday May 15, @11:50AM)
    OpenOffice.org itself doesn't lack assistive technologies. OOo on Windows lacks assistive technologies. OOo with GNOME or KDE integration gets the accessibility technologies of GNOME or KDE, respectively.

    Still, it's a welcome sight to see IBM participating in OOo development. OOo just keeps improving with every new release, and I find that I use it more than Microsoft Office, although I have both installed at work and at home.

  • faster!!! (Score:2, Funny)

    by b1ufox (987621) on Monday September 10, @07:39AM (#20537079)
    (http://psrautela.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday April 10 2007, @08:21AM)
    Ok for end users this is a good news. For monopolists not so heartening news.

    Anyway what i would also like to see in Openoffice -
    -It is terribly slow. Looks like a huge piece of bloat. It will be great if it can be faster.

  • by gearloos (816828) on Monday September 10, @07:39AM (#20537085)
    It's nice to have a big backer in the oo arena that isn't part of the whole m$oft mess. I also think IBM's timing was very well thought out here.
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Huh? (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 10, @07:45AM (#20537129)

    and they'll be contributing accessibility code from Lotus Notes
    That's about what, 2 lines of code? =p
  • WTF? (Score:5, Informative)

    IBM has its own office package: http://www-306.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/sma rtsuite/ [ibm.com]
    Is this another case of the one division not knowing what the other does, or is IBM giong to drop smartsuite?
    • Re:WTF? by tsa (Score:2) Monday September 10, @07:47AM
    • Re:WTF? by simong (Score:2) Monday September 10, @08:19AM
    • Re:WTF? by mdm-adph (Score:2) Monday September 10, @08:29AM
      • Re:WTF? by Amiga Trombone (Score:3) Monday September 10, @09:45AM
        • Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward (Score:2) Monday September 10, @12:12PM
        • Re:WTF? by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Monday September 10, @12:51PM
        • Re:WTF? by mdm-adph (Score:1) Tuesday September 11, @08:55AM
      • Re:WTF? by tehcyder (Score:1) Tuesday September 11, @09:51AM
    • Re:WTF? by Frumious Wombat (Score:2) Monday September 10, @10:31AM
    • Ever heard of MS Works? by Envy Life (Score:1) Monday September 10, @12:53PM
    • Re:WTF? by davidsyes (Score:2) Monday September 10, @03:42PM
    • Re:WTF? by misterfalcon (Score:1) Monday September 10, @04:15PM
    • Re:WTF? by JAlexoi (Score:1) Monday September 10, @06:15PM
    • Re:WTF? by mhall119 (Score:2) Monday September 10, @10:32AM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Good lord.. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Otter (3800) on Monday September 10, @07:47AM (#20537141)
    (Last Journal: Thursday November 08, @06:00PM)
    Any time you need interface contributions from Lotus Freaking Notes, something is badly wrong.

    I'm curious about the accessibility support for that helpful feature it has, where entering the password characters puts up random numbers of bullets while hieroglyphics blink randomly around the input box, apparently to distract and confuse shoulder surfers. Do they have a similar function for blind users? And how about sighted users and blind shoulder surfers? Shouldn't it make random annoying noises as well, to confuse them?

  • Lotus Notes (Score:2)

    by emj (15659) on Monday September 10, @07:48AM (#20537149)
    (http://www.csc.kth.se/~erjohan)
    We all now Open office is slow so lets hope We get the fast and Wonderfull Lotus notes interface on Open Office.
  • by Colin Smith (2679) on Monday September 10, @07:51AM (#20537167)
    What's that as a level of investment? $50,000pa?
     
  • Oh dear God! (Score:1)

    they'll be contributing accessibility code from Lotus Notes to improve current support for assistive technologies.

    Please keep those people far away from interface design! ;-)

  • Good news, and yet... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by downix (84795) on Monday September 10, @07:53AM (#20537183)
    This reminds me of an issue we have at work. At work, we run OpenOffice now, it gave us flexibility and yet fully functional... except for one guy, the Editor. He installed it, and the next day went to me "Frankly, it sucks. I won't use it." So, we have this one Office 07 guy out there, and he keeps getting angry when he can't read any documents we send him, or we can't read his documents, yet it's our fault because we won't pay for Office '07 when everyone else is happy with Open Office.

    I know this guy, he just went home, installed it, looked, went "this doesn't look like Office 07" and left it at that. Until we can woo this kind of person, however, I fear that OO, and any open standard wp for that matter, will never truely break into mainstream, because he is the Editor, in charge of a whole department.
  • by Shadow_139 (707786) on Monday September 10, @08:04AM (#20537277)
    It was all good until I read : "....they'll be contributing accessibility code from Lotus Notes to improve current support for assistive technologies..." Lotus Notes is EVIL and must be killed, -- I forgive you Outlook & Exchange....,
  • This goes without saying... (Score:2, Funny)

    by russlar (1122455) on Monday September 10, @08:12AM (#20537353)
    I, for one, welcome our new IBM overlords.
  • Oh no (Score:3, Funny)

    by bytesex (112972) on Monday September 10, @08:12AM (#20537359)
    (http://ufy.sourceforge.net/)
    We'll get Lotus Notes into OpenOffice now - run for the Hills !
    • Re:Oh no by Corporate Troll (Score:1) Monday September 10, @08:24AM
      • Re:Oh no by netcrusher88 (Score:2) Monday September 10, @10:49AM
        • Re:Oh no by Corporate Troll (Score:1) Monday September 10, @11:50AM
          • Re:Oh no by netcrusher88 (Score:2) Monday September 10, @12:20PM
            • Re:Oh no by Corporate Troll (Score:1) Monday September 10, @07:10PM
    • Re:Oh no by Anonymous Coward (Score:2) Monday September 10, @08:52AM
      • Re:Oh no by SEE (Score:3) Monday September 10, @01:32PM
      • Re:Oh no by David Gerard (Score:2) Monday September 10, @01:56PM
    • Re:Oh no by Frumious Wombat (Score:2) Monday September 10, @11:14AM
  • We use Lotus (Ami Pro/Freelance/123 etc) plus MS Office 2003 plus MS Office XP. Now we'll get OO. Gee I can hardly wait trying to open up some PM's 175 page converted Powerpoint presentation.
  • It's also worth pointing out here that the upcoming version of IBM's Lotus Notes product includes internal support for ODF documents (.odt, .ods and .odp). Based on what I see in the beta, it looks to me like the ODF support is provided by an embedded and tweaked version of OOo, but I think it's still worth adding Lotus Notes to the list of apps that support ODF.

    Notes 8 is built on the Eclipse RCP, BTW, and runs nicely on Linux (which is my platform of choice) as well as Windows and OS X. I imagine it can run just about anywhere Java does. To be honest, I don't think the new version is hugely better than previous versions, and I've never been a big fan of Notes, but for Linux users whose companies use Notes it's really nice to have a native client rather than mucking about with Notes under WINE, or running a Windows OS on another box or in a VM. As an OOo user, it's also very nice to know that I'll soon be able to send ODF documents to my colleagues secure in the knowledge that they can read them.

    Disclaimer: I work for IBM, but I'm not a spokesman for IBM. IBM is happy about that state of affairs, and so am I.

  • Am I the only person who thinks that contributing any interface code from Lotus Notes is a *bad* idea?
  • by 140Mandak262Jamuna (970587) on Monday September 10, @09:00AM (#20537919)
    (Last Journal: Wednesday October 31, @08:33AM)
    The correct way would be to promote "choice" for customers by offering yet another standard and bribe countries like Azerbaijan, Loolooistan, and Iamsodumbistan to make it an ISO standard. It should offer features like "Page break as in Lotus Notes Style" or "autospace like in IBM370/155 JCL //job card punch format" that no body else can offer. Howzthat for product differentiation? Instead is joining OO.org. How sad, the business acumen is so lacking in the Internation BUSINESS Machines!
  • Work on Project Manager and visio (Score:3, Insightful)

    by WindBourne (631190) on Monday September 10, @09:18AM (#20538163)
    (Last Journal: Friday December 01 2006, @10:51AM)
    If IBM (and sun) really want to make a dent in Office, they should work on MsPM and Visio clones. In particular, if they first do the file format library (open, read, write close files), then it allows other OSS projects to move forward. Then followed up with clones/improvements. By doing these 2, they pretty much remove one of the large blocks to corporate adoption.
  • Lotus Word Pro (Score:1)

    by henrik.falk (912694) on Monday September 10, @09:19AM (#20538177)
    I hope they add a .lwp filter.
  • by morganew (194299) on Monday September 10, @10:08AM (#20539029)
    During the entire fight about OOXML and ODF I heard the ODF folks praise the "innovation" in ODF. Well, I have news for all the hard working XML folk out there: People don't buy a format, they buy an application! And given that OO.o is nothing more than an intentional knockoff of an antiquated product, it's hard to make the case that supporting ODF is not just about improving IBM's market position, instead of creating better workflow or innovative ways of interacting with documents.


    Right now, our productivity apps are essentially feature-set upgrades on the old MacWrite/Microsoft Word for Mac paradigm we all learned back in the 80's. Most of the menus and icons remain conceptually unchanged. Hate it or like it, at least the 'ribbon' in the latest version of Office is slightly different. Unless OO.o goes somewhere new, why should anyone buy it other than to "stick it to the man" at Microsoft? And before someone points out that you don't "buy" OO.o, In the government space someone is going to get paid, either for a license or for a service contract.


    IBM and other corporations who want to fund OO.o with a long term goal of lining their own (corporate) pockets need to think beyond the clone. Until they do so, OO.o will remain nothing more than a sales tool in a marketing brochure. What would serve the world better is an OO.o that rethinks our document world.

  • IBM does alot with Linux (Score:2, Interesting)

    by xgr3gx (1068984) on Monday September 10, @10:20AM (#20539205)
    (http://www.gamehound.net/ | Last Journal: Saturday August 25, @08:53PM)
    This is pretty cool.
    I was working with an engineer from IBM who had a Linux laptop setup by IBM for his work computer. It used OOo, as well as a Linux version of Lotus notes. (I know many of you hate Notes, but like the Mainframe, it'll be around forever b/c my company runs many critical apps off of Lotus notes databases)
    He also had working VPN (I think it was IBM's connectivity software), so he could connect back to his office LAN from my office.
    I was very impressed. He said that many of the engineers were piloting the new Linux desktops/laptops.
  • 35 developers in China (Score:1, Troll)

    by alcmaeon (684971) on Monday September 10, @10:24AM (#20539273)

    Wow, that should cost IBM, what, about $35 a week, right? I'm so glad they are behind open source. I can't wait to see the new "pwintew pwevewences" dialog.

    [que Flash Gordon Theme Music by Queen]


    China - a-ah - saviour of Open Source
    China - a-ah - you've saved everyone of us
    Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
    China - a-ah - it's a miracle
    China - a-ah - land of cheap labor
  • IBM should release Lotus 1-2-3 as open source. It was once the de facto industry standard and there plenty of people who remember it. It is one of the most well-documented application programs ever, and its @ functions are still cloned to this day. It ran on all platforms from DOS to Windows to UNIX. The WKx (WK4, WK3, etc) file format is very well documented and an industry standard. I'm not sure IBM even remembers they own 1-2-3's source, since they got it with their purchase of Lotus to get the groupware stuff that was all the rage in 94 or 95 before the Internet took off. If IBM released 1-2-3 as open source, and maybe used their 35 Chinese developers to update it a little, it would be the new industry standard plus GPLed so no one could ever take it away from us again. I imagine a few months after the open source 1-2-3 was released, people would have trouble remembering there ever was an Excel.
  • by trygstad (815846) on Monday September 10, @12:34PM (#20541503)
    I have been a very, VERY loyal user of Lotus Wordpro ever since it was AmiPro 1.1. OpenOffice.org Writer allows me to work in much the same way as Wordpro (not like some other unnamed cr*p from M*******t) but there is no filter to import my existing Wordpro documents. This was possibly going to be addressed in Google's Summer of Code but I have not yet seen any results. Anyway, if IBM is this committed to OpenOffice--and since they've discontinued SmartSuite development--they ought to put one or two of these coders on writing the SmartSuite import filters for OpenOffice.org. Anybody know a name/email/phone# of a real person at IBM I can discuss this with? Thanks...
    --Ray
  • Price is important (Score:2, Insightful)

    by kenodi (880090) on Monday September 10, @01:30PM (#20542369)
    (http://www.mireseonline.info/)
    Is important that Open Office keeps getting improved and all the help from IBM is welcomed. At some point (if not already there), the dominant MS Office will have to make a revolutionary step in order to justify the price tag.

    Users will look at the quality/price ratio although a bit difficult if you have to divide by zero for Open Office :)
  • Hmm (Score:2)

    by 21mhz (443080) <mikhail.zabaluev+slashdot@gmail.com> on Monday September 10, @04:13PM (#20544935)
    (Last Journal: Monday March 24 2003, @08:30AM)
    they're devoting about 35 of their developers in China to OOo; and they'll be contributing accessibility code from Lotus Notes to improve current support for assistive technologies.

    Am I the only one unsure if this is good news or not?
  • by jmvbxx (1074458) on Monday September 10, @05:08PM (#20545513)
    Overall I really like OO but I have to admit that I have started to use Office 2007 (pirated of course) on Win XP because of the lack of sufficient/user-friendly equation and formula editting in Word/Writer.

    I am working on a graduate degree in math and I really need a good text/doc editting program that will allow me to input formualas/equations/matrices etc with ease!
  • by russlar (1122455) on Monday September 10, @09:39AM (#20538505)

    Who cares how many companies are joining OOo development when the "superb OOXML" is soon an ISO standard?

    Who says OOXML is a superb standard? Our own Miguel, of course: http://groups.google.com/group/tiraniaorg-blog-com [google.com] ments/browse_thread/thread/2a07b8b50038d8c8/2429b3 3859cf05c0?fwc=1

    However, I have not yet heard from Miguel why all the corruption is needed to speed up a "superb standard"?,

    more kool-aid?
    [ Parent ]
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