Can Apache OpenOffice Still Compete with LibreOffice? - blanchardhologe

It used to be that OpenOffice.org was the leading open root alternative to proprietary productivity suites like Microsoft Function, and it was included in pretty much all the major Linux distributions.

Then Oracle bought Sun Microsystems, and OpenOffice fly onto hard times.

That, successively, is what spawned the creation of LibreOffice; and I think information technology's fair to say that most users haven't looked back since.

Yes, Oracle complete up donating OpenOffice to the community via the Apache Software Foundation (ASF); and yes, IBM has thrown and twisted its confirm down the effort.

Meanwhile, we've seen LibreOffice skyrocket to new heights with the support of Google and to the highest degree major distributions even as funding pleas and quibbling hold bogged downwards the OpenOffice slope.

'A Daunting Task'

This week, the fancy got even Thomas More complicated when Apache OpenOffice announced a long-expected update.

"With the contribution of OpenOffice.org to the ASF, the groundwork, and especially the podling project, was bestowed a daunting tax: ray-energize a biotic community and transform OpenOffice from a codebase of alien intellectual property heritage, to a vetted and Apache-licensed software suite," said Jim Jagielski, ASF president and an Apache OpenOffice task mentor, in the official proclamation.

"The release of Apache OpenOffice 3.4 shows just how in the project has been: pulling in developers from over 21 corporate affiliations, while avoiding undue influence which is the expiry-ring of true open source communities; edifice a firm and stable codebase, with important melioration and enhancements ended other variants; and, of course, creating a healthy, reverberant and diverse substance abuser and developer community," Jagielski added.

Outside reactions haven't been quite so cheerful, yet.

'Does Anyone Care?'

"Apache OpenOffice 3.4 Arrives. Does Anyone Care?" was one headline greeting the new release, and similar sentiments could embody heard in comment sections across the board.

To be predictable, the virgin Apache OpenOffice 3.4 brings some key untried things to the table, including faster startup, a speedier one-dimensional programming solver, an Apache Tom update, and much more.

Simply does any of it actually topic, now that LibreOffice has been adopted so widely?

I'm not so sure. I think OpenOffice May deliver missed the boat, in fact–LibreOffice has moved on, and the community with it.

What's your take? Does OpenOffice still have a role to play?