Google Docs Replaces OpenOffice In Ubuntu Netbook Edition 298
uneuser writes "Digitizor reports that the Ubuntu developers have dropped OpenOffice from the default installation of Ubuntu Netbook Edition (UNE) 10.04 and replaced it with Google Docs. Documents in Ubuntu Netbook Edition will now be opened in Google Docs by default."
why? (Score:5, Interesting)
Openoffice takes about 350MB of space, so it is a significant proportion of an ubuntu install, but c'mon. Despite the name "netbook", these devices in my experience spend a significant amount of time offline. This is bizarre choice - more discussion is here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1399012 [ubuntuforums.org]
no internet? no google account? (Score:1, Interesting)
what a smart move! now when i don't have access to the internet i'm screwed! and if i refuse to accept googles bullshit, and distrust them to fuck, i can't access my documents?
why not install Abiword one of the best light weight word processors out there? it opens OpenDocument format documents fine, and MS Word format etc.
also, according to the article, Tomboy is being dropped! that's a great note taking application, and it's a lot faster to load up than a word processor, and you don't have to worry about where to save the notes (unlike if you gEdit).
for the source of the story: https://blueprints.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-lucid-une-applications
Re:Remember folks, it's a NETbook. (Score:4, Interesting)
It's also strange to switch from Google to Yahoo! (search) and OO.o to Google Docs in the same release.
What is a netbook? (Score:5, Interesting)
I don't even know what a netbook is now. At the start they were defined by their tiny form-factors, low-ish power-consumption.
The revolutionary part was the LOW price. Sony VAIOs of similar size had been around for absolutely ages, but those were just shit, overpriced laptops.
Then microsoft moved in and netbook grew in size and power. I think my early eeepc IS a netbook, and despite the 600px screen height, I run stock Ubuntu rather than a netbook specific edition.
Running open office has never been a problem, so I don't see the point in getting all cloud dependent for nothing.
Normal ubuntu (Score:3, Interesting)
I run ubuntu on my eeepc 701. It works fine. I have considered uninstalling open office and installing more lightweight office tools. I will do that if I run out of space (again).
Re:Remember folks, it's a NETbook. (Score:4, Interesting)
Or are you assuming it has to be something made since 2007? If you want to jump on the three-year upgrade cycle, there's a company in Redmond that would be very interested in doing business with you.
Re:The thing I like most about my Netbook... (Score:3, Interesting)
You must have a kindred spirit on the 903 smartbus. There's a guy who's constantly coding Lisp on his device. Me, I'm stuck in Java IDE land which would be painful on such a small device, particularly sans mouse.
Why does OpenOffice need 350MB, anyway? (Score:5, Interesting)
Why does OpenOffice need 350MB, anyway?
OpenOffice could probably be brought down below 100MB for netbooks without much work.
Re:A little heavy for a netbook (Score:3, Interesting)
If you want a lightweight but good text processor and spreadsheet for Linux, and don't mind having to pay for a closed source application, SoftMaker Office [softmaker.com] is very neat. The text processor there is fast and more powerful that AbiWord, and way more compatible with MSOffice formats (I think it actually beats OO.org there).
Re:A little heavy for a netbook (Score:3, Interesting)
I use OpenOffice at home but it would be a tad heavy for a netbook
"Heavy", for a "netbook"? what on earth are you talking about? I own an MSI Wind which cost all of $280 USD. It has a 40GB hard drive, 2GB RAM (upgraded from 1GB for $12), 802.11, ethernet, vga, and three USB ports. Openoffice loads in less time on this netbook than on my desktop. Why would I opt for something as feature poor as Abiword or Google Docs given all that OO has to offer?
Ubuntu's deal with Google is nothing more than horse trading. They were simply paid more by Google than by Sun/Oracle. Bottom line, end of story. Install Debian if you don't like corporate back room deals. Or install Ubuntu and run 'aptitude install Openoffice'. But don't for a minute believe the maketing hype that this was somehow meant to benefit netbook consumers.
Re:Remember folks, it's a NETbook. (Score:4, Interesting)
The drive is the only part I port over from computer to computer. My primary drive (just the OS, I use a different drive for the swap and data) is an ancient 7.2gb drive that still loads XP in under a minute. Yeah its kind of strange to have a 7gb boot drive in the same computer with a 500gb "apps" drive and a 1tb "data" drive, but once windows from the 7gb drive is loaded into ram it just spins down and isn't used again. Makes reinstalling windows a snap after a virus too (since all the drivers are local on another hard drive). Hard drives also can withstand insane G-Forces considering all the moving parts (and their impressive precision) they have.
Re:A little heavy for a netbook (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Remember folks, it's a NETbook. (Score:3, Interesting)
I don't know what exactly has been going wrong with your Abiword, but I just used the latest version to open a test doc I keep around for seeing if a word processor or other text editor is gonna choke. This thing is 2.5Mb of headers and footers and page numbers and links and images. A really nasty doc cooked up with no less than 3 versions of Office and 1 version of Open Office. How did it do?
While it took it a little over a minute to open that mess up on a 1.8GHz Sempron, when it did the doc looked correct and was easily edited and saved. Maybe you got a bad install, maybe there is some other problem, I don't know. But if it will open this mess of a doc without spewing word salad or crashing I consider it a pretty decent piece of software and certainly better than giving up my privacy and sending all my work straight to Google.
And as for the other poster who wanted to know if Abiword did spreadsheets like Google docs...uhhh...why exactly would you be working on spreadsheets in a word processor? For spreadsheets there is Gnumeric [wikipedia.org] which is also free, light, and according to the wiki has earned itself a niche in statistical analysis and other scientific jobs due to its accuracy. Sounds to me like a better choice than throwing away privacy and trusting everything to the Google cloud, wouldn't you agree? And for those that want to share and edit documents over the web Abiword has AbiCollab [abicollab.net]
Re:Remember folks, it's a NETbook. (Score:3, Interesting)
I actually think its a decent idea, and I will probably go scurry off and buy a ChromeOS netbook (or Tablet!) when they come available. It seems that the netbook market has lost touch with the idea that made it attractive (to me at least), that of very small, light, simple portable computers. Instead they are now somewhat cheap, underpowered, laptops for people not willing to spend a lot on full laptops.
To me the ideal netbook would be the one that has the least bloat, is the smallest (10.1" is too big, and 9" seems to gone the way of the dodo), lightest, and uses the least possible amount of power and storage. Ideally, it would fit in a cargo pocket of my pants, have a battery that lasts 6+ hours, and be light enough to not pull down the previously mentioned pants without a belt on. It would not run some complex OS with tons of features (Windows) by default, saving me the work of having to stick Ubuntu on it, which isn't optimal either (being another hideously complex OS).
My ideal netbook won't have a full, memory and resource heavy, office suite. Google Docs is perfect.
I have a rather powerful PC for the heavy lifting. I have a rather midling old laptop for running around doing weighty tasks on the road (okay, gaming), I'd rather a netbook didn't try to fill these roles. I'd rather it be a cheap, light, energy efficient, simple device that I can take with me to work (or coffee) for light web browsing, and lighter still work.
In short, I want the simplest "information appliance" possible. ChromeOS seems wells suited to this.
Yes, my opinion isn't universal. Yes, other people want other things. But, also, I'm sure I'm not alone in this.