Linux and Open Source

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols & Paula Rooney

Apache OpenOffice 3.4 makes official debut; LibreOffice makes its case

By Paula Rooney | May 8, 2012, 9:46am PDT

Summary: Let the games begin. Tuesday, the Apache Software Foundation announced the first official release of Apache OpenOffice, version 3.4, since Oracle donated it to the ASF in mid 2011.

As expected, the first version of OpenOffice under new management — the Apache Software Foundation — has been released.

Apache OpenOffice 3.4 Writer

Apache OpenOffice 3.4, which had been in incubation since Oracle donated the code to the ASF mid last year, offers improved performance and a number of new features and enhancements and is available on Windows, MacIntosh and Linux and in 15 languages as of today.

The list of new bells and whistles — such as improved ODF support, including new ODF 1.2 encryption option, new spreadsheet functions, an enhanced pivot table support in Calc and enhanced graphics — is welcome news.

Gallery: Apache OpenOffice 3.4 makes official debut (screenshots)

But for the Apache Software Foundation — and for long term supporters of the open source Office suite — this next stage of development , free from vendor control — offers its best chance to date to attract more users and backers. IBM, which discontinued its own Symphony suite some time ago, is reportedly planning a new product based on the Apache OpenOffice.

As noted by the ASF today, Sun acquired the former StarOffice suite (developed by StarDivision in Germany) in 1999. Oracle renamed it Oracle OpenOffice after acquiring Sun but discontinued its development in mid 2010. Oracle announced its donation to the ASF in mid 2011.

It has been in incubation since then and is being officially released by the ASF under the Apache 2.0 license today free of charge.

Not all would agree with Apache’s point of view. The Document Foundation, which developed its own LibreOffice fork of OpenOffice after Oracle signaled its intention to cease development of the office suite, holds that its own organization is independent of vendor control and is the leading open source developer of OpenOffice today.

It has received the support of SUSE , Ubuntu and Intel. The Document Foundation is incorporated in Germany.

One LibreOffice spokesman, a longtime OpenOffiice developer and top SUSE engineer, disputed that the Apache license is the best open source license.

“We find this announcement particularly interesting as, a year after Oracle shuttered OpenOffice.org, the Incubator (also cited as Apache) now have their release out. As we said when this move was announced, this has a positive angle, allowing LibreOffice to adopt a more future-proof copy-left licensing model. It also goes without saying that SUSE continues to provide a fully supported SUSE LibreOffice product on Windows and Linux built from the same code base. I have a more detailed comparison on my blog, but let me focus on the great things that are happening in LibreOffice Land.

“We’ve got our monthly release of 3.5.3 out, steadily increasing quality, and our 3.6 release is one month away from feature freeze and looking great - so we continue to execute on our time-based release schedule. Also, yesterday we announced an exciting certification program to increase the confidence of purchasers of support and services around LibreOffice,” said Michael Meeks, Distinguished Engineer at SUSE.

Let the games begin.

Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily e-mail newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.

More from “Linux and Open Source”

The muddled mess of the Oracle vs. Google trial

Copyrights, APIs, and Oracle vs Google

Topics

Oracle Corp., Apache Software Foundation, Open Source, OpenOffice, OpenDocument Format (ODF), Office Suites, Software, Small Business, Emerging Technologies, Paula Rooney

Paula Rooney is a Boston-based writer who has followed the tech industry for almost two decades.

Full Bio
Disclosure
Contact

Vendor HotSpot

The 360° Conversation around Cloud Computing

TECH VISUALIZER brings the social conversation to life... powered by Brocade

Learn More »

Comments

Add Your Opinion

Join the conversation!

Follow via:: RSS; Email Alert

Top Rated

Paula, can you do all of ZDNet's readership a favor?

toddbottom3 Updated - 6 hrs ago

Please write every single Linux and Open Source blog article from now on.

We all thank you in advance.

View in thread

Just In

MS Office2010 is less productive than Open Office

impcad 49 minutes ago

. . . for me, especially Excel. All spreadsheets open in one instance of Excel and you have to constantly switch windows to analyze content, unless you take the extra step of launch a separate instance. Cut from one cell and paste into another, you get all of the source formatting. and can cause Excel to lock up, auto-complete is flaky, etc.

I used OpenOffice 3.x before needing to switch back to MS Office in order to work on client documents through SharePoint. It was very surprising to me how much effort I have to expend to overcome the default setting and auto-formatting wizardry built into MS Office. I am a bit particular regarding how I want my documents to look and am endlessly frustrated with where MS has buried user customization settings (if they exist at all).

I am neutral OS-wise; whatever works for you is the right choice. But I am clearly less productive in Office 2010 than I was in OpenOffice or Office 2003 before that.

View in thread

Please Select
Please Select

11 Votes

+ -

Top Rated

Paula, can you do all of ZDNet's readership a favor?

toddbottom3 Updated - 6 hrs ago Top Rated

Please write every single Linux and Open Source blog article from now on.

We all thank you in advance.

Reply
Flag

5 Votes

+ -

Thank you, Todd.

30otnix 4 hrs ago

Reply
Flag

5 Votes

+ -

Thank you, Todd

Loverock Davidson- 4 hrs ago

+100

Reply
Flag

-2 Votes

+ -

nonsense

pupkin_z 4 hrs ago

@toddbottom3 your post is meaningless unless you tell us WHY you want Paula to write them. Is this how you got your "Top Rated" score?

Reply
Flag

4 Votes

+ -

Either your new, stupid, or just want to stir up something, the reason

TheBottomLineIsAllThatMatters 3 hrs ago

he has the top spot is - everyone knows why, it doesn't require an explanation.

2 Votes

+ -

Because when she writes

William Farrel Updated - 2 hrs ago

it is usually a good, informative article about the FOSS software itself. When the other FOSS blogger writes, you don't hear much about said software being reviewed, but so much more about how Microsoft sucks out the backside, and why they are so dead next week.

0 Votes

+ -

you just keep saying nonsense

pupkin_z 54 minutes ago

@TheBottomLineIsAllThatMatters Do you mind if I puke? I have no other response to comments like yours.

3 Votes

+ -

Thank you, Todd

vivianvein 3 hrs ago

10000+

Reply
Flag

3 Votes

+ -

Thank you! And AMEN!

TheBottomLineIsAllThatMatters 3 hrs ago

...

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

Well said

William Farrel 2 hrs ago

toddbottom
+1

Reply
Flag

3 Votes

+ -

I'm not sure why I should care????

cornpie 6 hrs ago

Open Office, Libra Office, what's the difference? It seems to be just which license is used to which I ask, is there some reason I should care? If I don't have to pay for it either way, what difference does it make?

Reply
Flag

1 Vote

+ -

For you it probably wouldn't matter.

brendan@... 5 hrs ago

But the point of licenses is that they will constrain how companies like IBM or the Linux distro makers can use them in conjunction with their other products. This will lead some companies to favor the fork with one license. Which could potentially have a much more significant impact on the speed of development, since it will determine which version the supporting companies will want to contribute code to.

Reply
Flag

1 Vote

+ -

But...

30otnix 4 hrs ago

Couldn't the LibraOffice folks just take the code from Apache, add their "stuff" and GPL it? The Apache 2.0 license allows this doesn't it?

0 Votes

+ -

Apache OpenOffice 3.4 makes official debut

daikon 5 hrs ago

Kudos to Apache Software Foundation.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

So which is now better Open Office or Libre Office?

bradavon 5 hrs ago

So which is now better Open Office or Libre Office? I don't use either myself but friends do.

And when will either get a user interface update? The ribbon would be fine but frankly anything (i.e - no need to reply saying the ribbon is trash), to change the tired menus and toolbars look.

Reply
Flag

-1 Votes

+ -

LibreOffice and Menus and Toolbars

Grayson Peddie 5 hrs ago

I'm also tired of menus and toolbars as I'd like to use tabs with neatly-organized tools instead. I'd also want to be able to select styles to preview in a document before I do a single click without a drop down menu (font family and size are fine for drop-down menus, but it'd be nice to show a list of fonts in a sidebar).

And why not show a list of diagrams that I can create in a document under an insertion tab?

So until LibreOffice have all the features and UIs comparable to Office 2007/2010, I'll continue to use 2010 which I currently have in my system as I found Office 2010 to be more productive for me compared to Office 2003/LibreOffice.

But leave the menus and toolbars as the default and have us the option to use a ribbon-like interface. Having a choice of what I want to use is a good thing, but right now, with LibreOffice users shouting "NO F*&#ING RIBBON, PLEASE," if I want to use LibreOffice, I don't have a choice of the UI I want to use. That is, I'll be stuck with menus and toolbars forever. It will only make it easier for me to choose Microsoft Office 2007/2010.

In that case, I use what works for me.

Reply
Flag

1 Vote

+ -

Maybe it works for you, but

12stringer1975 2 hrs ago

There are literally millions of users out there who disagree with you. They prefer toolbars and buttons over the ribbon interface. AND they either can't afford or don't want to be forced to pay Microsoft's extortionistic fees for software that is going to be obsolete in less than 12 months [when Microsoft 8 goes into final release] and which only has a support cycle of about 5 years beyond that. With either distro built off the original OpenOffice code, users have a choice which allows them to keep their hard-earned money in their pockets instead of increasing Bill Gates' bank accounts.

1 Vote

+ -

Please god no

bblackmoor@... 2 hrs ago

I sincerely hope that the LibreOffice team will stick to a user interface that actually works (menus and toolbars), and not jump on whatever fashion bandwagon happens to be rolling through town at the moment. Some of us use software to WORK for a living.

Reply
Flag

-2 Votes

+ -

Windows XP?

Cylon Centurion 4 hrs ago

Still?

Reply
Flag

-1 Votes

+ -

I'm sure when OpenOffice reaches feature parity with MS Office 2007...

daftkey Updated - 4 hrs ago

..it will be featured on a screen shot of Windows 7...

..of course, by then Windows 12 will be out...

Reply
Flag

-1 Votes

+ -

That's my only beef. When I use it (and a lot of FOSS) it "feels" like

TheBottomLineIsAllThatMatters 3 hrs ago

I'm back in XP or worse Windows 98

Reply
Flag

1 Vote

+ -

funny

wally_333 2 hrs ago

Funny, when my wife uses LibreOffice I feel several hundred dollars remain in my wallet.

Meets our needs.

2 Votes

+ -

Bad form

jimjag Updated - 3 hrs ago

Not even a hint of a congratulations from the TDF regarding this release? Think of how this helps LO and the entire OpenOffice eco-system, even if the project died right after this (which, of course, it won't). Why do people insist on painting this as a competition, when it should be about cooperation.

What bad form.

Reply
Flag

-1 Votes

+ -

bad use of time too

otaddy 1 hr ago

MS Office is a solid product that is well known. All of these "open" alternatives offer a lower price (free) but substantially less usability.

It would be better if they could all work together to create ONE open alternative that is actually comparable to MS office. Until then, it's a lot of wasted effort.

Reply
Flag

-1 Votes

+ -

MS Office2010 is less productive than Open Office

impcad 49 minutes ago

3 Votes

+ -

Reply to 30otnix

jimjag 2 hrs ago

30otnix asks: "Couldn't the LibraOffice folks just take the code from Apache, add their "stuff" and GPL it? The Apache 2.0 license allows this doesn't it?"

The answer is Yes, of course, and that is why the ASF was so willing to take on the task of "rebooting" OpenOffice. With an ALv2 version of OpenOffice available, it allows ALL variants to use Apache OpenOffice as the "core" and lets them focus on their own secret sauce ("stuff") to differentiate their offering from others. Think of the potential for LO and the TDF if they didn't have to worry about all that common, grunt-work, by simply consuming large chunks of AOOo. Think how far LO could go if they could focus on useful features for their own end-users.

Apache OpenOffice is great for the entire OpenOffice eco-system, which is much larger than "just" LibreOffice but includes, literally, dozens of OpenOffice implementations.

Reply
Flag

0 Votes

+ -

License compatability

ComputerX 2 hrs ago

It was my understanding that due to licensing restrictions, LibreOffice will be free to use the Apache code from OpenOffice, but OpenOffice will not beable to use the GPL code from LibreOffice.

I'm a supporter of both projects, but if I'm correct, LibreOffice will benefit from it's own development and that of OpenOffice. Assuming any meagre competance from The Document Foundation, it should be clear which of the two products will truely excel (no pun intended).