Sponsoring improvements and bug fixes

users
#1

Hi guys,

I'm having a few minor problems with compatibility when importing MS
documents into LibreOffice. I know all the issues surrounding
proprietary formats etc, but nonetheless would like to get this to work
as best as possible, as I am largely stuck with using the aforementioned
formats.

As such, I'm interested in professional support to provide bug-fixes
when I come across the above issues. I've read the professional support
page on the website and realise that there is a whole bunch of people
who can provide those services. However, to help me approach the right
person, I thought I'd ask here as to who might be good for this sort of
work. If possible, I'd rather work with an individual than a company.

The fixes will mainly be needed in Writer and Impress. I won't go into
the details here, but most of the issues are already bug reports, so I'm
simply interested in getting them expedited.

I'm also interested in sponsoring development of the much-needed
improvements for cropping images (#34555).

Thanks,

Andy

#2

Hi,

As I know some guys from Collabora:

https://libreoffice-from-collabora.com/l3-support/
Quoting the price:

"Bug-fix insurance / entitlements, with no-claims discounts if not used.
Single bug fixes, on-demand: US$ 8,000 each.
Multiple bug fixes, pre-purchased in support packages."
I do not know how much it is worth for you :slight_smile:

You can also ask here: http://www.lanedo.com/libreoffice-support/

NOTE: I am not paid for pointing out these, but I met them @ the LibO Conference :slight_smile:
I do not know, why you dislike a company to help you here, they have the experts and the power, and many certified decs work at these two companies....

Liebe Grüße, / Yours,
Florian Reisinger

#3

Tom, Florian,

Thanks for the replies.

An advantage of dealing with a single individual is that you build-up
a relationship with them.

Yeah, that was part of it. I've built up relationships with a few
developers in other areas, and it's always nice to discuss things on a
personal level.

  However if they are working on something else or distracted or get
stuck on one issue then it becomes difficult. Plus they are more
likely to be more dependant on fixing the problem for you.

An advantage of using a company is they can overcome a greater range
of potential problems, especially if they are a diverse group with
different back-grounds.

Of course.

If it's a small enough company then you might even retain some/all of
the advantages of having an individual.

Certainly open to that.

The people at Collabora are likely to be an excellent choice. They
mostly used to be part of a large company that wanted much the same
support you are looking for but they wanted it "in-house". So they
had a whole team working on LO full-time for years. The structure of
TDF allows many organisations to do this and to have their teams or
individual devs working inside TDF itself. So the Collabora people
have been one of the crucial parts of TDF and have worked on LO for
years.

Okay, that sounds great. However...

        Quoting the price:

        "Bug-fix insurance / entitlements, with no-claims discounts if
        not used.
        Single bug fixes, on-demand: US$ 8,000 each.

This is the real issue. I don't doubt it's good value, but I probably
should have explained my situation: at the moment I'm a single
individual trying to move small companies onto Libreoffice. Money for
the fixes will come straight from my own pocket, so my budget per fix is
more like several hundred dollars than several thousand. If there is no
hope of *anybody* working for this, then please let me know.

So, my other thinking of finding an individual, is that I'm more likely
to be able afford their hourly rate :wink:

Thanks,

Andy

#4

​Unless having a very specific corner-case,​ it is very possible that
you're not alone having this issue. It might be interesting to have some
place to regroup funding for fixing such bugs. Kinda like crowdfunding, but
with bug reports instead of projects.

However, I can very well see this being misused with either tons of bogus
bug report, or getting targeted as "LO is not free anymore" or something.
Maybe in your case you could mention in the bug report that you're looking
for people that need this fixed, and can contribute toward this goal. $8k
is a huge amount, but if multiple individuals/small companies are facing
this issue and really wish to see a fix, it might be feasible.

#5

Hello,

This is the real issue. I don't doubt it's good value, but I probably
should have explained my situation: at the moment I'm a single
individual trying to move small companies onto Libreoffice. Money for
the fixes will come straight from my own pocket, so my budget per fix

is

more like several hundred dollars than several thousand. If there is

no

hope of *anybody* working for this, then please let me know.

​Unless having a very specific corner-case,​ it is very possible that
you're not alone having this issue. It might be interesting to have
some
place to regroup funding for fixing such bugs. Kinda like crowdfunding,
but
with bug reports instead of projects.

However, I can very well see this being misused with either tons of
bogus
bug report, or getting targeted as "LO is not free anymore" or
something.
Maybe in your case you could mention in the bug report that you're
looking
for people that need this fixed, and can contribute toward this goal.
$8k
is a huge amount, but if multiple individuals/small companies are
facing
this issue and really wish to see a fix, it might be feasible.

Perhaps setting a service contract with 2 levels providers might work? It is a rathr standard way to operate. Customer(s) buy a support or service contract and there is one provider offering migration while one offers technical support.

Do not forget that the Document Foundation encourages certification for migration providers, something we are setting up.

Best,

Charles.

#6

Hi :slight_smile:
An advantage of dealing with a single individual is that you build-up a
relationship with them. However if they are working on something else or
distracted or get stuck on one issue then it becomes difficult. Plus they
are more likely to be more dependant on fixing the problem for you.

An advantage of using a company is they can overcome a greater range of
potential problems, especially if they are a diverse group with different
back-grounds.

If it's a small enough company then you might even retain some/all of the
advantages of having an individual.

The people at Collabora are likely to be an excellent choice. They mostly
used to be part of a large company that wanted much the same support you
are looking for but they wanted it "in-house". So they had a whole team
working on LO full-time for years. The structure of TDF allows many
organisations to do this and to have their teams or individual devs working
inside TDF itself. So the Collabora people have been one of the crucial
parts of TDF and have worked on LO for years.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#7

Thanks Tom, a good idea, and certainly the kind of direction I'd like to
go. However, at the moment, it's a company with only 4 employees, so
that's not a lot of development work that can be done with the savings
(at least in the short term).

The problem is that I'm having trouble migrating even one of the users
across when some things don't work as expected (we've all heard it: "the
document opens okay in MS office"). Whilst I understand all the issues
and am happy to fund within my own budget, it's very difficult to
persuade the end-user given the circumstances.

Wish me luck!

Andy

#8

​Unless having a very specific corner-case,​ it is very possible that
you're not alone having this issue. It might be interesting to have some
place to regroup funding for fixing such bugs. Kinda like crowdfunding, but
with bug reports instead of projects.

A great idea (thanks Tom as well). In fact, I'm surprised it doesn't
already exist.

There must be a ton of people who want an improved cropping tool.

However, I can very well see this being misused with either tons of bogus
bug report, or getting targeted as "LO is not free anymore" or something.

Maybe if it's kept outside of the main LO ecosystem? There are plenty of
crowd-funding websites that could be used. Is this the right place to
discuss the idea?

Maybe in your case you could mention in the bug report that you're looking
for people that need this fixed, and can contribute toward this goal.

Good point, although I'd be worried it would be too little too slowly,
only as people come across the bug report.

Andy

#9

Hi Andy,

Just a quick note of support.
Several years ago I helped a friend in a small business with just 6 computers migrate to LO and while it was a bit of a challenge at first the users very quickly realised the advantages and yes some MSO documents will give you trouble especially .docx but it is worth the perseverance. (If you have problems with .docx, convert them to .doc and then to ODF.)
Now that company employs over 30 people and they save everything in ODF formats and only convert documents to MSO formats when a customer or supplier specifically requests it.
Push ahead with the confidence that you are doing the right thing.

Cheers,
Bruce Carlson

#10

Hi Andrew,

A great idea (thanks Tom as well). In fact, I'm surprised it doesn't
already exist.

Here :

https://freedomsponsors.org/core/issue/?s=libreoffice&project_id=&project_name=

and here :

https://www.bountysource.com/trackers/52023-libreoffice

There were allegedly also bounty posts on gun.io, but Firefox tells me
that the site is insecure, so I've not bothered looking.

Regards,

Alex

#11

Hi,

​Unless having a very specific corner-case,​ it is very possible that
you're not alone having this issue. It might be interesting to have

some

place to regroup funding for fixing such bugs. Kinda like

crowdfunding, but

with bug reports instead of projects.

A great idea (thanks Tom as well). In fact, I'm surprised it doesn't
already exist.

There must be a ton of people who want an improved cropping tool.

However, I can very well see this being misused with either tons of

bogus

bug report, or getting targeted as "LO is not free anymore" or

something.

Hmm not really. Bugzilla is monitored for duplocates and odd behaviours.

Maybe if it's kept outside of the main LO ecosystem? There are plenty
of
crowd-funding websites that could be used. Is this the right place to
discuss the idea?

Yes and a possible starting point would be the OpenFunding project. But you zre focusing on the tool, not how to get to the developers. I cannot make primises but if you were to collect enough money the Document Foundation -who manages the LibreOffice project- would likely help.

Best,

Charles.

#12

Thanks. There is a bit of "chicken and egg" here though - to help source
the funding it would be useful to have a rough cost. I was thinking of
approaching the aforementioned companies to see what they thought the
cost might be?

At the moment my priority is the enhanced cropping tool (#34555).

Andy

#13

Hi :slight_smile:
LO does "play well with others" and it's completely normal to use it
alongside a variety of specialist tools. It is NOT meant to be used as a
1-size-fits-all ton of bloatware.

If Draw is the sticking point then perhaps introduce them to Gimp. Gimp
doesn't do scalar vector graphics. If that's what they need then Inkscape
is better but it's tricky to learn because it's so powerful and does things
very differently.

Gimp is comparable to Photoshop. People who have used Photoshop a lot
sometimes have trouble because it does things slightly differently. There
are tons of other free image editors and many of them are also OpenSource.

For heavy duty spreadsheets Gnumeric is sometimes better than Calc or Excel
and is very light on resources. It uses the same formats as Calc.

So think of LO as part of a whole eco-system rather than a stand-alone.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile: