OpenOffice.org to Get Firefox Extensions and More 207
I_am_Rambi writes "OpenOffice.org is set to get new features including Firefox-like extensions. From the article: 'Second, and I think that although we have no clear road map for this yet (besides, our version naming scheme is going to change once again ), OpenOffice.org and StarOffice shall include the Mozilla Foundation's Thunderbird and Sunbird (calendaring application) in the future. Besides the inclusion of those two softs inside the office suite, connectors to Sun Calendar Server and Microsoft Exchange will also be developed accordingly.'"
Yeah, but what I want to know (Score:5, Interesting)
Examples: Gallery import between versions, [openoffice.org] or the all-time champion outline view [openoffice.org] -- the longest-lived request with a huge votecount, declared by quite a few professional writers and educators as the show-stopper keeping OpenOffice.org out of their offices and schools. Apparently the team has other priorities.
Why not Evolution (Score:5, Interesting)
However, it's not me -- it's Sun. And for Sun, the deal-breaker is that Evolution is GPL-licensed. The Mozilla license is much more suited to their private-branding model.
Re:Extension I'd like to see (Score:5, Interesting)
But seriously, Is there a plugin similar to the 'APA referencing Macro' for MSOffice?
I'm a little concerned by the plug-in trend for applications. I think it is implementing functionality at the wrong level. How much work does it take to create a plug-in to make references like this that work with Word's macro feature. How much effort to make it work with OpenOffice's plug-in system? How much work to implement it once for every application you might want to use references within?
Mac OS X has introduced system services. One plug-in that works on all text that uses the standard APIs in any program. There exists one for automated formatting of references, by the way. If other OS's would just adopt a similar system, or better yet adopt a standard for all of them, we could remove so much duplication of effort and users would get to choose the best of breed for anything they wanted. I mean one spell checking plugin for Firefox, one built into Word, one built into InDesign, one built into Eudora, and none available for photoshop, IM, IRC, and your favorite text editor is a serious waste and failure to properly use the resources put into these tasks. I'm very unhappy with this trend towards application specific plug-ins when what is really desired is modular plug-ins that can be used anywhere.
APA Style (Score:3, Interesting)
I think you mis-read (Score:3, Interesting)
They mean they want to re-structure OO.org to be modularly based and run on a GUI framework, *like Eclipse and XUL do*.
Re:Still have a mark... (Score:3, Interesting)
I did that -- when I got the mark. I'll give it another shot, but promise not to hit me.
I favor vim myself, but your milage may vary. The point being that when I am writing I concentrate on . .
Back in the day I was an advocate of the development of WYSIWYG editors. I thrilled when I actually first got to use one. It turns out I was wrong. It happens. I was especially wrong about wanting black on white. That really sucks when you're spending long hours at the monitor. I neglected the fact that paper reflects light and a monitor emits light. Live and learn.
WYSIWYGs add nothing to the writing process, often serve as a distraction and are poor at actual desktop publishing functions.
They have their place; and I use them (in fact I use Open Office), but that place is really for simple letters and such, not for either serious writing or serious printing. A middle of the road "toy" tool for middle of the road "toy" jobs.
Which makes it a reasonable tool for the actual, average job.
KFG
Re:Extension I'd like to see (Score:3, Interesting)
Being ignored (Score:3, Interesting)
You don't have to be a programmer to file a bug report. If you want to complain about the usability of OO (or anything open source), then complain to the people who can actually fix the problems.
I have. I have been ignored. And so have the other non-programmer professionals who have had the same requests for improvement.
Re:Still have a mark... (Score:2, Interesting)
You're preachin' to the choir here. A while back my parents wrote a novel, and went to one of those self-publishers. The publisher required that work be submitted in MS Word format. Why, I don't know, but those were the rules.
They also required that you use the margin and indentation controls within Word to control formatting. Sounds like a reasonable rule (to me).
Unfortunately, mom and dad quickly forgot that rule, and thought that as long as it "looked right" on the screen, then it must be OK. They had some paragraphs that used the margin controls, some that used tabs, and some that even used *cringe* a bunch of spaces to control indentation.
Same thing for page breaks. Sometimes they used page breaks, sometimes a bunch of CRLFs!
AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHH!!1!11!11one
Bet you'll never guess who got the happy chore of helping them fix it.
They are talking about writing a sequel. I told them that unless they write it in notepad, I'm not helping.
-melandy