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Hi guys
I was wondering what would perhaps be the best release of LO to
recommend to a small charitable organisation.
I had a problem with the latest release as it was quite buggy and the
church & athletics club I installed it for was not to happy when they
found the bugs interrupted their workflow,
So what is the most stable release?
It would be interesting to learn what version was used, which bugs were observed and if they were all reported an when.
Hi.
We use the 3.5 line in our small business and observe few bugs. We don't use impress or base.
Steve
You can learn about LO release plan on
<http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleasePlan>
As rule of a thumb: the bigger LAST number in version number, the better. If
you aim for stability, then 3.5.7 (released yesterday) seems to be good
enough.
Hi 
+1
The 3.5.7 is on it's 7th "Service Pack" so it's about as ultra stable
as it could get. The 3.6.3 is very stable but not as much as the
3.5.7. The 3.6.3's advantage is that it might have slightly better
compatibility with non-native formats such as the MS ones (plus some other new features).
It's a balancing act. Luckily you can't really go wrong now that the
3.6.3 is out. It's only on it's 3rd "Service pack" but that does make it quite stable. The main thing to note is that if they somehow manage to find any
problem with whichever you choose then you just give them the other one
as an easy fix.
Errr, listen to them grumble and then look thoughtful and lean back.
Then suddenly look inspired and lean forwards, perhaps tap your chin,
and say something like "Ahah, i DO have something we could try for that". Something like that. I'm not great with people .
Regards from
Tom
3.6.3 has not been released yet. It's only rc1 that is available. LO website
clearly state that this version is not meant for production use.
I am a small organisation using 3.6.2 and I find it pretty well bug free in
the bits we use!
I am using 3.5.7. I would say to any group to use that version instead of 3.6.2. I am the tech support for a not-for-profit organization and I have installed the 3.5.x line on the laptop of our secretary. I also have installed LO on many other laptops and desktops for users that rely on their software to not have any issues for them doing their work.
I have been using LO since its first release and I keep the idea of "suitable version for" in mind when I give a copy to a person, organization, or business. Right now, 3.5.7 is the only version I will give out. I made the changes in my distribution DVD to reflect the changes from 3.5.6 to 3.5.7. In a few days that DVD will have its ISO file [so your can burn your own copy] available for download on the LO CD/DVD pages. It is the LibreOffice North American Community DVD Project's DVD.
"LO-3.5.7_English-NA-DVD_all-platforms_multi-lang_plus-extras_v1_oct-18-2012.iso"
- - - - - - - -
There is some "movement" to call 3.5.7 the "latest Conservative Branch version".
Also we could call 3.6.2 through 3.6.4 the "Cutting Edge Branch version".
When 3.6.4 or 3.6.5 comes out, then that branch/line would become the conservative version and the new 3.7.x branch will be the cutting edge one.
I would not use any version for a business or organization till it has an ending of .4 or .5.
- - - - - - - -
ALSO
there are many, many, dictionaries and extensions you can download to improve your experience. LO has an English spell checking dictionary, but there is one that has over 773,000 words in itwith over 140,000 reference Thesaurus included.
There are British and Canadian versions as well with over 600,000 words and built-in Thesaurus.
This is a one-page listing of all the dictionaries that I foundfor LO.
http://libreoffice-na.us/English-3.5-installs/dictionary.html
This is the official extension center for LO, where you can find many different extensions and dictionaries.
http://extensions.libreoffice.org/extension-center
This is the Template Center
http://templates.libreoffice.org/template-center
This is a list of some templates that may not be listed on the official LO pages, since some are no longer supported or available from other online sources.
http://libreoffice-na.us/English-3.5-installs/templates.html
Now that there was an announcement that there are over 60 million users in 100 languages, plus the French Prime Minister mentioned LO in a "speech", LO may get even more users world-wide.
For a new user, I would recommend using the conservative version of 3.5.7. Later that group or organization could look into using the 3.6.x line.
Read the release notes - bug list link. Until some of those bugs are dealt with and fixes - i.e. spell checking issues - I would to go to the 3.6.2 version for a first time user.
That is my opinion, and you have yours.
I tend to be more conservative in my views and which version I hand out, or offer, to local users - individuals, small organizations, businesses, libraries, community computer centers, and others.
Hi
+1
Was it something that would have been easily fixed by renaming the User Profile?
Regards from
Tom
I haven't yet given them the 3.5.7 release as I have still been away!
the bugs where mainly freezing & wordcount and thelike
The freezing and word count issues - was that on 3.5.6, 3.5.7, or some other version.
I have noticed that 3.5.7 freezes sometimes on loading/opening with Ubuntu 64-bit 12.04 and MATE desktop. I never saw this with 3.5.6 and Ubuntu 10.04 and GNOME desktop. Since I upgraded to 12.04 on Oct. 8th and 3.5.7 when it came out on the 18th, I did not have "much" time with 12.04 and 3.5.6 to tell if there was any issues.
The freezing happened several times. Once with clicking on the panel launcher and twice with the right-clicking and "open with" option. The only way to get the LO splash/opening to "unfreeze" is to reboot. Actually when Ubuntu reboots, LO opens up properly. I have the system set to open any packages with "windows" open when I log off or shut-down/re-boot.
So I do get the freezing splash screen once and a while for 3.5.7.
Is this an issue with other users of 3.5.7?
Best all you LibO experts and Devs!
What Webmaster now says is a good example on all the basic level issues that must be completely eliminated from LibO.
Some posts ago I asked what version of LibO at this moment is to be considered as the most reliable and most stable.
And got the answer that LibO3.5.7 is the one for newcomers perhaps followed by LibO3.6.2.
(But nothing said about Base, that is my main concern and asked for)
For all of you that know LibO's build-up, its features and work-arounds and alternative solutions these issues may seem simple.
But for users like me they are serious - I do not even know where to start looking for a solution if I meet such a problem.
It is really a matter of using LibO or not -- and I do not want to have different programs/suites for different types of need.
My main interest is to get the job done and because of limits in time or costs I cannot accept delays caused by the tool I use.
Obviously I have to continue - even if I don't want to - to buy MSO.
A lack of resources is not a valid excuse as long as you can continue developing new bugs and issues - plus them 1000-2000 already waiting for fixing.
I know very well that it is never fun to afterwards repair mistakes - so better not to make them.
Waiting for the results of your wise decisions - especially regarding Windows with some 90% of the users.
Pertti Rönnberg
Hi
I've not had any freezing on Win Xp, Win7 or Ubuntu but that was all with 3.5.4. The 3.5.7 should be about the same but just a bit more stable. It's only bug-fixes and such added on so nothing new added and so no new surprises.
If something straight-forwards doesn't work the 1st thing i do is poke around and see if i can find another way. If not i try a bunch of stuff at roughly the same time; ask colleagues how they would do it, open up a guide or 2, consider if some other program might be better for the task or if the task needs doing at all. If still stuck then i would; rename user-profile, dig around the lists, post a new question to the list, even start reading the documentation i had opened.
Just because people are on this list doesn't mean they are experts. I guess some people do learn a lot by listening but that still seldom makes us into experts. There are some experts on thsi list but most questions are really easy to solve or at least point people in the right direction. I don't think i'm an expert but i've listened a lot.
Regards from
Tom
Personal opinion: LibO version 3.5.7 for Base.
What do you know about how Base works? What is your background in the topic of relational databases? Each database program has its own method of creating and working with its databases. What are you going to use as a resource for learning to use Base?
Knowing which version is the most reliable and stable is very important. Perhaps knowing where to find the resources to use makes the program much more useful.
--Dan
Best all you LibO experts and Devs!
What Webmaster now says is a good example on all the basic level issues that must be completely eliminated from LibO.
I did not state that. Where did you get "must be completely eliminated from LibO"???
Some posts ago I asked what version of LibO at this moment is to be considered as the most reliable and most stable.
And got the answer that LibO3.5.7 is the one for newcomers perhaps followed by LibO3.6.2.
(But nothing said about Base, that is my main concern and asked for)
There are "Base users" out there, but I am not one of them so I could not answer your question about "Base".
For all of you that know LibO's build-up, its features and work-arounds and alternative solutions these issues may seem simple.
But for users like me they are serious - I do not even know where to start looking for a solution if I meet such a problem.
It is really a matter of using LibO or not -- and I do not want to have different programs/suites for different types of need.
My main interest is to get the job done and because of limits in time or costs I cannot accept delays caused by the tool I use.
Obviously I have to continue - even if I don't want to - to buy MSO.
I am a serious user, and I get my answers from here. Just because people do not use Base does not mean they are not serious users of LibreOffice.
We really need a list for only Base question, but until then you must wait for the Base users to read your posting and give you an answer.
A lack of resources is not a valid excuse as long as you can continue developing new bugs and issues - plus them 1000-2000 already waiting for fixing.
Where did you get the figure of 1000-2000 bugs waiting on being fixed? I did not see that listed anywhere on the "bug reporting pages".
The freezing may have to do with MATE desktop environment on a Ubuntu 12.04 system that has Unity, KDE, and MATE installed.
If the freezing is due to that, or dealing with some specific system setup that the developers are not using, then they would not know if it is my system or some issue that only happens for a few users.
There are so many combinations of OSs and desktop environments for Linux and the developers would need 20, 50, or even 100 systems [not virtual] to test LO against. That is not doable for most people who do not have the money to buy, let alone have space, to set up all the different combinations of system setups.
For LO, there are no experts. We all have knowledge on what works for us and what does not. I know how to create a dictionary extension, and a few other things. I am not an expert in that field, but I know how to do certain things, since I have done them.
I have used Ubuntu Linux as my "default" OS on my desktop since Feb 2010, BUT I do not know much in the way of doing thing in the Terminal Command Line system. I just do not use it much. So I need help from others, or from online help systems to find the best way to do things with the Terminal system. Actually I rarely use it more than installing LO or installing other things that are not part of the Ubuntu Software Center, like MATE desktop environment.