Compatibility

users
#1

Do not forget that MS Op Systems and Office apps gave us universal communication. Apart
from the occasional blue screen, my XP runs without hassle. With Linux I get the feeling that
like dedicated lovers of Series 2 Landrovers, you have to be seriously technical and keep
your spanners with you at all times.

I long for the day I can use LibO, knowing any document I create can be read by business
colleagues world-wide on MS systems.

Right now that's not the case, for example each time I send an Impress file to an MS PP user
and it blows up it further demonstrates the gulf that currently exists between open and closed
systems.

Much as though I detest the latest edition of powerpoint and it's anal GUI, I have no choice
but to use it.... I can't afford the time to write in Impress and then spend a day trying to make
it work in PP.

If you really want to hurt Uncle Bob then LibO must get it's act to together asap and ensure
all LibO office apps are compatible to the extent that it allows trouble free document
exchange between the open and closed systems.

That way the MS user brigade will get confidence and hopefully may switch over... but until
that day then Uncle Bob will rule the roost.

Maybe someone can answer this?.... when will a LibO developer(s) focus on compatibility
between MS and LibO.... and realise the way to sink MS is to prove reliability and
compatibility in LibO.

Meantime will someone please resolve why Impress (slides) with embedded sound files
loses them when trying to convert to ppt? In addition why LibO Impress can sometimes lose
the audiofile links (to MP3 files) all on it's own! without any help from PP,

Meantime i try and use LibO as much as is practical but am forced to use MS office
whenever it's for distribution.

Sad.

Timi

#2

Hi

Right now that's not the case, for example each time I send an Impress file to an MS PP user
and it blows up it further demonstrates the gulf that currently exists between open and closed
systems.

MS PP can install Lib0... Lib0 users can't install MS PP without a valid license

Much as though I detest the latest edition of powerpoint and it's anal GUI, I have no choice
but to use it.... I can't afford the time to write in Impress and then spend a day trying to make
it work in PP.

use Lib0 directly (if possible, see previous point)

If you really want to hurt Uncle Bob then LibO must get it's act to together asap and ensure
all LibO office apps are compatible to the extent that it allows trouble free document
exchange between the open and closed systems.

Closed application can change file format or application interfaces at every release... it's better that MS users begin to use free software also on Windows system. Yes, it's possible :wink:

That way the MS user brigade will get confidence and hopefully may switch over... but until
that day then Uncle Bob will rule the roost.

Migration is possible only if planned and desired... this is not only a technical problem

Maybe someone can answer this?.... when will a LibO developer(s) focus on compatibility
between MS and LibO.... and realise the way to sink MS is to prove reliability and
compatibility in LibO.

This is only one goal... not the mission of Lib0.

Cheers
Stefano

#3

Hi :slight_smile:

I agree. You originally asked for help in this list over a week ago and no-one
was able to give any good answers. I gave a couple of pointers (i hope i
remembered) and you put a lot of work into trying to get the slides working. It
is frustrating that we can't crack the ppt format yet.

My usual work-around is to give the LibreOffice download link to people i send
stuff too but it's not always a viable option. It works for Adobe's .pdfs but
doesn't work for us often enough.

Apols and regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#4

Hi,

Sorry if I'm repeating things already said, but the thread seems broken,
so I may have missed some responses...

PDF export is usually the best fall-back solution if you don't have any
jazzy effects etc. Simply works on 99% machines and is pretty fast.

Asking people to download and install Libreoffice is indeed not feasible
especially in work environments where even if they may be willing to
install, they may not have the rights to, should call a sysadmin etc.

Maybe it would make sense to have a lighter, portable Impress Viewer,
similar to PDF viewers to possibly bundle or link to when sending
presentations?

One interesting thing I've seen and experimented with lately is a tool
enabling to create presentations from Inkscape [1] called JessyInk [2].
While making a presentation in a vector graphics program may sound a bit
crazy and certainly geeky, the most interesting thing is that slideshows
created this way are saved to SVG format and in turn can be presented in
a 'modern' browser (like Firefox 4 and chrom[ium][e]) including cool
effects, zoom-in zoom-out etc. So... maybe it would make sense to have a
SVG exp[/imp]orter in Impress?

Just some thoughts.

Lorenzo.

[1] http://inkscape.org/
[2] http://code.google.com/p/jessyink/

Tom Davies wrote:

#5

Hi,
     Lib0 3.4 beta1 does not remember last used folder neither the default directory when export files to pdf. Lib0 try to save even in gallery folder (C:\Documents and settings\stefano\Dati Applicazioni\LibreOffice\3\user\gallery).
Is a bug?

Stefano

#6

Tom.

While I agree with Timi's case to some extent, let's move toward ending
bluescreens. While some pdf's may pose a problem, it's not always
the case. MSO /is/ the problem. I'm not prejudiced. My stance is
simply based on experience!

That's why I have used an iMAC for so long. Blue screens don't exist.
That's why I use NeoOffice, OpenOffice, and LibreOfffice, as well, for fun.

MSOffice is an undeserved burden!

I'm sorry - or perhaps not so sorry about my opinion. iMac is a better
OS solution for people buying new computers. They can easily install
Win if they think they have to which, for some reason, is inexplicable to me.

iMAC has an automatic, separate partition to do so, or for any OS other
than MS for that matter. Use iMAC's Unix version or Ubuntu.
It doesn't matter. MAC and Unix are better!

Glenn

#7

This has me totally confused. I also have an iMac.

Are you referring to using Boot Camp when you say "automatic, separate partition"?

Ken

#8

Hi,

Yes. I suppose it must be BootCamp. I have used an iMAC for so long, I guess I forget.
I apologize for the confusion. I'll look into it further before troubling you anymore.

Glenn

"What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation."
T. S. Eliot, "Four Quartets"

#9

It was no trouble for me, in fact, it was a good thing.

I never used Boot Camp myself, as I wanted my Windows to run side by side with OS X, so I always used Parallels Desktop.

But I've been wanting to give some distro of Linux a good try, and your post got me to wondering... Maybe I can use the Boot Camp ability and install Linux instead of Windows. I have dedicated Windows boxes.

Ken

#10

Reverse experience here. I stopped doing maintenance on my computers after I
dumped Windows. Best move I ever made, it freed up a ton of time for more
productive things.

As to Microsoft giving us universal communications - horse manure. It was
MicroPro that did that, with WordStar, back when the most advanced Microsoft
editor was EDLIN.COM

Wayne

#11

Um, yes, the thread is messed up. Never used Parallels or Boot Camp myself,
but I have had good success with Virtual Box from Oracle/Sun. It's a bit
tricky the first go around, but once you get used to it, it's really neat,
and you can run as many different operating systems as you have disk space
for. At one time when I was really feeling insane I had 20 different Virtual
Machines set up.

Ended up deleting most of them - let's face it. No one has the time to run
20 different virtual machines :slight_smile: But you can do it. And Virtual Box comes in
Linux, OS X, Windows, and BSD versions, so you can use the same program on
different boxes.

Just like LO/OO.

Wayne

#12

The downside of any virtual machine, i.e. Parallels, Virtual Box, and VM Fusionware, is it uses part of the computer's RAM inside of OS X, leaving you with less RAM for OS X to use. Essentially, you are multitasking your computer to death.

With Boot Camp, it's an either/or situation. Run Boot Camp with a different OS, no OS X available, or run OS X. You've basically switched to a different computer, just using the same hardware. Just another way of doing a multiboot situation, which I also have thought about doing on my iMac.

Ken

#13

Ken,

Agreed. But for testing, it's perfect.

Wayne

#14

No argument there. I ran XP Pro via Parallels side by side for about a year and a half until I had some of the Mac figured out.

#15

Yep!

In the last 8 years since switching to iMAC, I have only had about 4
fixes to apply (including release upgrades).

"Occasional" blue screens are unacceptable if you have work to do.
I do not use LibreOffice to the same extent some users on this forum do.
So I cannot speak on that. LibreOffice does what I need it to do.

Glenn

#16

Hi,

If memory serves me correctly, iMAC's Unix kernel IS Linux.
MAC OS X is absolutely built on top of a Unix kernel from NextStep.
Mr. Jobs seems to have seen to that in OS X. That's the main
reason OS X is so stable.

Nothing to install if using BootCamp! I just haven't played
with it in a while. A long while...

Glenn
"What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation."
T. S. Eliot, "Four Quartets"

#17

Hi :slight_smile:

Mac is developed from a Bsd. Both Bsd and Linux are re-writes of Unix and use
many of the same programs and same systems. There are differences in their
philosophies and kernel but that is just me being pedantic.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#18

Hi Tom,

Thanks again for your previous assistance.... looks like LibO and OOo Impress have a
generic bug in that both versions lose links to audio files (MP3) and in particular are unable to
save a correctly structured .ppt conversion.

Whether anyone likes MS is not the point... that fact is that a huge proportion of world
commerce uses it and regardless of whether I like LibO if I want to keep doing business I
have to bow down to mass communication. That's why I said (in my view) that it's essential
for LibO to catch a wake-up and understand that if it was compatible then it would stand a
major chance of becoming the de facto office standard.

If you want to frighten off the mass market and give MS more fuel carry on being
incompatible.

You simply cannot expect a commercial concern who have already spent a fortune on MS
licences to download and use LibO just because I want to send them an non-standard slide
show. They won't change therefore if I want the business I have to.... end of story.

sincerely

timi

#19

This is generally my thought/point about MS and the lack of willingness of big business to abandon Windows XP for Vista and/or Windows 7.

If you want a business to change to a different OS and/or software package, you are going to have to provide something business sees as a smart, cost effective change.

Being free just doesn't cut it, since that doesn't take into the account the number of paid manhours it would take to make the swap, a swap which would include training, and being able to access years of company records.

Ken

#20

All,

I agree with many to a large extent.

You can't expect business to be smart enough or even care
enough to act in the best interest of their customers. The
right thing is never thoroughly examined, much less even
considered, and the paying user is thereby cheated.

Glenn

inOn 4/19/11 7:08 AM, Ken Springer wrote: