AOO for Android - not worth the download

I downloaded Apache's Open Office for Android from Google Play.

I have a Nook HD+, with a 9 inch display, i.e. 7.5 inches wide display, with 16 gig internal.

After the initial load/splash screen, I waited for over 4 minutes and I still could not get the keyboard or any other controls to work. So I tried to use the "back button" to exit the "app" but it would not work. I had to use the Nook Button to go to my "Home" screen to get out of that frozen AOO screen.

AOO-Android used the full top menu bars that you would see in a normal install of AOO or LO on Windows or Linux. Those menu bars on the top of the screen was so small, even my tablet pen could not touch only the needed option. It touched the options all around it as well. Now, I have a 9 inch tablet. It would even be worse on a 7 inch tablet.

So, here is my opinion about what LOfor Android should be like.

1] Forget trying to have the full width top menu bars visible at the same time. Maybe have it be on some type of left/right scroll.

2] Make the menus large enough to easily see and use on a 7 inch tablet. AOO's was too small for even a 9 inch one.

3] Try and make it open, to the point you can start typing, in less than 2 minutes, if possible. If not, warn the user it may take "x" number of minutes to load up completely.

4] Do not try to make LO-Android do too much. People need a basic office package to do some quick things. It should not be areplacement for a desktop or laptop system.

5] Make sure there is enough room between the top menu bar[s] and the tablet's default keyboard, without making the menus and control icons too small to use properly and easily.

6] Make it able to run on a tablet that has a "smallRAM" and slower CPUs, compared to the top of the line tablets. Not all tablets have dual core CPUs with 2+ gig of RAM and 4+ gig internal storage. My old one does not even come close.

I do not know what people really need to do on a tablet, for their office package needs. What type of features and options are really needed, or wanted. Sure, you will need to be able to display the ODF and OOXML [07-13] documents. But what editing options will you need?

I just bought my first tablet that used Google Play. My last one was a 7 inch that used Amazon and other app stores, but it was a low end one. This new Nook HD+ was 44% off for the week of 9th through the 15th, Father's Day Salepricing was the only way I could afford to get one of these better tablets. I am still learning what this better tablet can do and what apps I might want or need. Right now, I do not want a packagelike AOO for Android.

So, I do not know how far the team is on the LO for Android app, but hopefully they will not make the same mistakes as Apache did with their version.

This is a little confusing to me. You mention LibreOffice and Apache
OpenOffice for Android, but as far as I know there is no Apache
OpenOffice for Android, so I guess you are talking about LibreOffice
all the time, right?

Johnny Rosenberg

Johnny Rosenberg wrote:

This is a little confusing to me. You mention LibreOffice and Apache
OpenOffice for Android, but as far as I know there is no Apache
OpenOffice for Android, so I guess you are talking about LibreOffice
all the time, right?

I can't find either.

LibreOffice's port for Android is still in ALPHA, early alpha so I have been told.

To find the AOO port. . . .
go to Google Play
search for OpenOffice

What type of features and options are really needed, or

People replaced their desktop with a laptop. Now they are replacing
their laptop with a tablet. So whatever you used to do on a desktop, or
laptop, will be done on a tablet.

But what editing options will you need?

The biggest point of failure of EuroOffice, is that it makes no
provision for styles. To me, that is a failure on a par with the mean
time of 15 seconds from starting MSO, to seeing the Blue Screen of Death.

This is a little confusing to me. You mention LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice for Android, but as far as I know there is no Apache OpenOffice for Android,

The description matches AndrOffice, which is a port of Apache OpenOffice
to Android.

jonathon

(Apache: I am not subscribed to your mailing list; one discussion on LibreOffice
mailing list turned out to point possible violation of your trademark and I
think you should know)

To find the AOO port. . . .
go to Google Play
search for OpenOffice

---------------------------------------

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andropenoffice&feature=se
arch_result#

Description
AndrOpen Office is Apache OpenOffice port for Android.
You can view, edit, export office documents using full features of
Apache OpenOffice.
(NOTE: You can only edit in English in current version.)

AndrOpen Office has 4 components:

- Writer (a word processor)
- Calc (spreadsheet)
- Impress (presentation graphics)
- Draw (drawing)

------------------------------------------------------

This is scam. They don't have a right to make such claims and are in no way
associated with Apache.

I have been following Apache OpenOffice ecosystem quite closely for some time
and I assure you, that they would make it clear if they had Android port. The
only official thing you can find about this is this blog post from beginning from
year:
<https://blogs.apache.org/OOo/entry/your_top_questions_answered>

It actually states something contrary. Let's quote:
#v+
9b. "Can I load OpenOffice onto my Google Android tablet?"

(Combining two related questions)

Apache OpenOffice is available from the project for Windows, MacOS and Linux.
Community members additionally have ported OpenOffice to BSD, Solaris and OS/2,
and make these ports available on their own websites. There is no port of
OpenOffice for tablets. However, there are some 3rd party solutions that allow
remote access to an OpenOffice session, for example rollApp.
#v-

Their e-mail is "andropenoffice@gmail.com". It should ring a bell: why they
didn't set up e-mail address in apache.org domain?

And one more thing: developer is "andropenoffice. com" (I put a space here, as I
strongly discourage to go into their website unless you are running virtual
machine and can catch any bad things that might be there). That website was
created in February this year and contains little content besides
advertisements. It is credited by "GMO Internet", which I never heard about.

Whereas Apache OpenOffice source code is distributed under permissive license,
Apache OpenOffice (and OpenOffice.org, for that matter) is registered trademark.
It is protected by international law and can't be used to name other products.

I am CC-ing Apache OpenOffice dev list. Hopefully it don't require subscription
and someone there will take care of this issue.

AndrOpenOffice (AOO) is not an Apache OpenOffice project. If it were it would be on the Apache OpenOffice SVN, the bugzilla, there'd be release votes, etc. There is no indication that AndrOpenOffice is even open source, although there is apparently significant (non-GPL) open source content. You'll also notice that it does not appear to use any of the Apache OpenOffice trademarks or logos, at least not on the Google Play site.

Nothing wrong with it being a port. It just isn't being conducted by the Apache OpenOffice project.

There are disclaimers about "full features of ... " deeper in the material.

I guess we don't get to use AOO as a handy abbreviation for Apache OpenOffice any longer [;<).

- Dennis

(Apache: I am not subscribed to your mailing list; one discussion on LibreOffice
mailing list turned out to point possible violation of your trademark and I
think you should know)

Hello Mirosław,

Thanks for letting us know about this. You are correct in saying
that this is not an official release from Apache. In fact this is the
first time I've heard of this app.

We'll check with the publishers of the app and try to clear this up.
Hopefully it just a simple misunderstanding.

Regards,

Rob

Hi Johnny,

This is a little confusing to me. You mention LibreOffice and Apache
OpenOffice for Android, but as far as I know there is no Apache
OpenOffice for Android, so I guess you are talking about LibreOffice
all the time, right?

No:
  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andropenoffice

But, I'd guess this version is not approved by Apache itself.

Astron.

Hello,

>
> I downloaded Apache's Open Office for Android from Google Play.
>
> I have a Nook HD+, with a 9 inch display, i.e. 7.5 inches wide
> display, with 16 gig internal.
>
> After the initial load/splash screen, I waited for over 4 minutes
> and I still could not get the keyboard or any other controls to
> work. So I tried to use the "back button" to exit the "app" but it
> would not work. I had to use the Nook Button to go to my "Home"
> screen to get out of that frozen AOO screen.
>
> AOO-Android used the full top menu bars that you would see in a
> normal install of AOO or LO on Windows or Linux. Those menu bars on
> the top of the screen was so small, even my tablet pen could not
> touch only the needed option. It touched the options all around it
> as well. Now, I have a 9 inch tablet. It would even be worse on a
> 7 inch tablet.
>
> So, here is my opinion about what LOfor Android should be like.
>
> 1] Forget trying to have the full width top menu bars visible at
> the same time. Maybe have it be on some type of left/right scroll.
>
> 2] Make the menus large enough to easily see and use on a 7 inch
> tablet. AOO's was too small for even a 9 inch one.
>
> 3] Try and make it open, to the point you can start typing, in less
> than 2 minutes, if possible. If not, warn the user it may take "x"
> number of minutes to load up completely.
>
> 4] Do not try to make LO-Android do too much. People need a basic
> office package to do some quick things. It should not be
> areplacement for a desktop or laptop system.
>
> 5] Make sure there is enough room between the top menu bar[s] and
> the tablet's default keyboard, without making the menus and control
> icons too small to use properly and easily.
>
> 6] Make it able to run on a tablet that has a "smallRAM" and slower
> CPUs, compared to the top of the line tablets. Not all tablets
> have dual core CPUs with 2+ gig of RAM and 4+ gig internal
> storage. My old one does not even come close.
>
> I do not know what people really need to do on a tablet, for their
> office package needs. What type of features and options are really
> needed, or wanted. Sure, you will need to be able to display the
> ODF and OOXML [07-13] documents. But what editing options will you
> need?
>
> I just bought my first tablet that used Google Play. My last one
> was a 7 inch that used Amazon and other app stores, but it was a
> low end one. This new Nook HD+ was 44% off for the week of 9th
> through the 15th, Father's Day Salepricing was the only way I could
> afford to get one of these better tablets. I am still learning
> what this better tablet can do and what apps I might want or need.
> Right now, I do not want a packagelike AOO for Android.
>
> So, I do not know how far the team is on the LO for Android app, but
> hopefully they will not make the same mistakes as Apache did with
> their version.

This is a little confusing to me. You mention LibreOffice and Apache
OpenOffice for Android, but as far as I know there is no Apache
OpenOffice for Android, so I guess you are talking about LibreOffice
all the time, right?

Well it's neither one of them :slight_smile: There's an app that claims to "port"
software to Android, and in this case they use Apache OpenOffice. But
it's nothing offiial from Apache as I understand it.

As for LibreOffice on Android Tim made some good points, so here are
some pointers as to where the Android port is heading to. As you can
see it is quite different from what Tim described:

http://www.muktware.com/5553/install-libreoffice-android
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/LibreOffice_on_Android

Hope this clarifies the question.

best,
Charles.

Maybe that port of Apache's AOO package should state very clearly that it is not an official port from Apache, but a third party port.

Also using the "standard" abbreviation of "AOO" can be an issue. Maybe "AnOO" would work.

Still, the issues I had with the package has stopped me from using it. As I stated originally, after 5 minutes, or so, I still was not able to do any typing, or anything else on the tablet. How long does a person need to wait after the "loading splash screen" to get to use the app?

I have a NOOK HD+
1.5 GHz OMAP4470 dual core processor
16 GB internal storage [1/5 used]
32 GB microSD card.
[I do not know what the actual RAM number is.]

So this tablet is not a low end one, according to the device specs. Taking 5 minutes, or more, to load is a real big issue for me.

About capabilities: I don't fully agree I'd like to do everything on a
tablet like I would on a laptop, but as the capabilities and
possibilities from the hardware keeps improving, I'd indeed go for the
full version.

But perhaps there should be a possibility to use it in r/o, light or
full mode? I'd choose light, where I can make some annotations to an
existing text, but where I don't have a need to create a pivottable.

Just my €0.02 :wink:

Met vriendelijke groeten, Salutations distinguées, Kind Regards,

DRIES FEYS
CORPORATE SERVICES • Specialist Software Developer
T +32 56 43 42 45 • F +32 56 43 44 46 • dries.feys@tvh.com

TVH GROUP NV
Brabantstraat 15 • BE-8790 WAREGEM
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Hi there,

After the initial load/splash screen, I waited for over 4 minutes and I
still could not get the keyboard or any other controls to work.

  Our prototype (which we're working quietly on) is better in many
regards already:

http://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/master/Android-ARM@24-Bytemark-Hosting/current/

  The ExperimentalDesktop one - *but* - we're not at all interested in
user input / bug reports (yet) - only patches - we know there are plenty
of issues :wink:

  On the other hand - we are interested in patches, and people helping
out with development there.

  ATB,

    Michael.

Is there a timeline on when it will be available for beta-testing for
_bugs_ that are reported without patches that fix them?

jonathon

Hi :slight_smile:
My boss still uses the term "Office" meaning MSO and i just give him a baffled look and pause and then say "do you mean the Microsoft one?".  When i say "Office" i mean LO so i have started saying MSO".  So, i think i am going to keep on using "AOO" but also mention Apache later in the same paragraph and just spell it out when i mean the other one. 
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile: