back to article Intel joins The Document Foundation, pushes LibreOffice

Intel has begun distributing the open source LibreOffice suite via its online AppUp Store, and has joined the board of The Document Foundation (TDF) – a decision that will have many of the Redmond old-guard fuming. "I have been using LibreOffice from day one for presentations at conferences and for data analysis," said Dawn …

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  1. alexh2o
    Mushroom

    Just to annoy MS?

    Given Microsoft has just brought ARM into the Windows fold and killed AppUp with the Windows Store, whats the betting this is a mini F U MS!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Just to annoy MS?

      That is probably it. Two can play this game from Intel. They will probably end up wrecking each other.

      1. Sweaty Hambeast

        Re: Re: Just to annoy MS?

        "they will probably end up wrecking each other."

        We should be so lucky.

  2. Dare to Think
    IT Angle

    Who would have thought that.

    Have I jumped into a parallel universe? Microsoft advertising Windows on ARM and Intel advertising alternatives to MS products? What will be next - Intel producing ARM processors? MS Office for Debian? VMWare offering KVM? IBM building SPARC servers? Oracle giving away their RDBMS under the LGPL license?

    Is that Nazareth in the background playing "Dream on..."?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Who would have thought that.

      "Intel producing ARM processors?"

      Too late - Intel actually used to do so (StrongARM). They have stopped *for now*, but if Win8 on ARM takes off, Intel may very well decide to go with the flow, re-license ARM, implement it with their Tri-Gate tech, and start to seriously hammer on everybody else's power consumption - remember, they've been able to make the X86 (that dog of an "architecture") run on low power, image what they could do with an ARM.

      1. Paul 135
        Boffin

        Intel still make ARM processors

        That is not true. Intel STILL DO make ARM processors. Intel acquired Infineon's mobile SoC business and makes baseband chips with ARM application processors.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Who would have thought that.

      Google for "Intel foundry services" (no quotes!), what is the #1 result?

      Rumor says that Intel is using their spare capacity for fabbing other (non-x86) designs.

  3. Bill Neal
    Linux

    Redmond and...

    I'm sure Oracle is just thrilled to hear it too, even though their relationship with Intel is obviously quite different. It must burn them to see so much support against their ideas.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Redmond and...

      Oracle doesn't care about OpenOffice. They are pro anything that is anti-MS.

  4. b166er

    Dare to think: Office for Tux maybe closer than you think.

  5. JDX Gold badge

    If only it (LibreOffice) didn't have such a terrible name

    1. Anonymous IV

      If only it (LibreOffice) didn't have such a terrible name

      You mean more terribler than the silly and childish names given to the releases of Linux? Mangy Meerkat? Felonious Ferret? <etc>

      1. A Known Coward
        FAIL

        Re: If only it (LibreOffice) didn't have such a terrible name

        Releases of Ubuntu, which is one of several distributions* based on the Linux kernel, it's not Linux which releases under those names.

        * Others include Suse, Fedora/Red Hat, Debian, CentOS, Mandriva, Mint, et al

        1. Martin
          Happy

          Re: Re: If only it (LibreOffice) didn't have such a terrible name

          And Suse, Fedora/Red Hat, Debian, Mandriva and Mint are such sensible names...

          1. Paul 135

            Re: Re: Re: If only it (LibreOffice) didn't have such a terrible name

            ... not to mention Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Dolphin, KOffice, Kwrite, Konqueror, Amarok, Nautilus, Banshee etc. etc. etc.

          2. Chemist

            Re: Re: Re: If only it (LibreOffice) didn't have such a terrible name

            Suse was originally an acronym for "Software und System-Entwicklung" - would you rather have that ?

        2. Tony Luck
          Boffin

          Re: Re: If only it (LibreOffice) didn't have such a terrible name

          Yup. Linux kernel names are way more sensible. Looking at the current version:

          $ grep NAME Makefile

          NAME = Saber-toothed Squirrel

          Hmm. That's odd. Let's look at some older ones ...

          $ git checkout v3.1 -- Makefile ; grep NAME Makefile

          NAME = "Divemaster Edition"

          see - that's not silly (bizarely not connected to operating systems, but not silly)

          $ git checkout v3.0 -- Makefile ; grep NAME Makefile

          NAME = Sneaky Weasel

          Oops - silly again

          $ git checkout v2.6.39 -- Makefile ; grep NAME Makefile

          NAME = Flesh-Eating Bats with Fangs

          Hmmm - Ok - perhaps Linux kernel versions *are* silly.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @b166er

    Who needs office for Tux? LaTeX + R does all that any office package does and does it in a vastly superior way.

    1. Jan 0 Silver badge

      @Tony Gregory

      Errm, shurely you need Gnumeric, tpp and IRC too?

      1. Quxy
        Happy

        Gnumeric?

        Surely you mean sc or (gasp) Oleo!

        1. eulampios
          Happy

          @ everyone

          You guys must be talking about emacs+Latex+ whatever. Actually, even the emacs's own reverse polish calc is quite awesome.

          1. Wile E. Veteran
            Angel

            Re: @ everyone

            I'm Acting Secretary for the volunteer organization I belong to. The previous officers all distributed Word documents but started using PDF once .docx hit. I use emacs+XeLaTeX to directly generate PDF's of all the monthly documents and have received tons of praise for how nice the reports are now. With some nifty "modes" emacs has made me far more productive than I ever was using Word or any other "word processor" and everyone has something which can display PDF's no matter how old or unusual their computer, even my FreeBSD systems.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Maybe it will finally happen

    With IBM pumping out no cost, ODF Lotus Symphony (OpenOffice), Oracle pushing OpenOffice (sort of) and SUSE/RH with their Libre deal, maybe the ODF and no cost productivity software will finally take off. It is crazy that people still pay $400 for productivity software.

    1. JDX Gold badge

      Re: Maybe it will finally happen

      Why is it crazy? $400 is less than a professional gets paid in one day... and in reality you pay far less per license.

      1. Sweaty Hambeast

        Re: Re: Maybe it will finally happen

        "$400 is less than a professional gets paid in one day"

        In this depressed European market? Where and what sort of professional?

      2. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. C-N
      Linux

      Re: Maybe it will finally happen

      It's crazy that people still pay (anything) to have a new office document file format installed; that will then annoy the hell out of everyone they work with by causing them to need an upgrade. While we're at it, I may as well mention how much us Linuxtards loath people who fling their .docx turds around completely oblivious to how inconsiderate it is.

      Here's a tip:

      If you want me to edit it, send it in a non-proprietary format.

      If you don't want me to edit it, send it as pdf, ps, or other non-proprietary format.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "people still pay $400 for productivity software."

    It's not even "productivity" software, is it? I can't help think that actually if people didn't have PPT and Word but had a few doctypes and a Visual Notepad equivalent instead, and focused on content rather than presentation, we'd ALL get more work done.

    Does anybody anywhere ever pay list price for Office, or does list price exist only in the minds of MS marketing executives and their channel equivalents, and so that corporate purchasing departments can be lied to about how much money they've "saved" by signing an extra extra special multi-year discount deal with their local certified Microsoft dependent corporate reseller?

    1. Khaptain Silver badge

      Re: "people still pay $400 for productivity software."

      I have to agree here, for confidentiality reasons I cannot publish how much our company pay for office licences but I can say that is no where near 400$. MS Office itself is not a major cost per employee.

      MS Office is not free but is not that expensive either when you consider how much use it actually gets in the workplace.

      The free office versions suffer from the same problem as Linux., it's free but nobody wants it except the geeks.

      Why, because Microsoft have always aimed their products at business rather than home users and they are very good at what they do in terms marketing strategy, EASL licencing deals, business support, one point of contact for the business, covering most of the business software needs etc...

      Most of the geeks look at software from a users point of view, you have to see it from a business point of view and the pendulum starts to swing differntly.

      I am not a MS advocate but what other company is capable of providing the same requirements in a similar package.

    2. Monti
      Thumb Up

      Re: "people still pay $400 for productivity software."

      I agree 100% with your comment regarding the discounted prices.

      If my company had to pay $400 per copy of MS Office and lacking free / cheaper alternatives we would have been working with pen and paper instead.

    3. Chemist

      Re: "people still pay $400 for productivity software."

      Whether you really need or just think you need MS Office it can only be a good thing that there is choice. Choice in OS, software is good. NOBODY would put up with just one car manufacturer, supermarket, etc.

      I used MS Office for years at work but find that LibreOffice is just fine for personal use. It may be a little slower or be missing some features at the moment but as I run 6 PCs I certainly find that zero cost is a big incentive. In any case I'm all Linux so Office isn't an option even if I felt the need.

      I do know that LibreOffice copes far better with reading old or odd formats of data and that I will not have massive upgrade costs and upheaval when the next version comes out - unlike MS Office.

  9. g e
    Facepalm

    Not just about MS

    What about sticking it to Oracle a bit cos of the whole itanium thing?

    I may be confused, however... OOO is Apache, can't remember the Oracle connection, hence facepalm, pre-emptively

  10. The BigYin

    Interesting

    Intel is pushing LibreOffice

    Oz is mumbling about Open Standards

    The EU grumble periodically about Open Standards

    Hungary (and the Dutch?) have got for ODF.

    Is the panic beginning to set in at Redmond?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Interesting

      Office is licensed to millions via Corporate contracts. Companies blindly license Office - a so called "no brainer". Office will dominate for the next 10 years at least and hence Microsoft will be making a profit until then (a new OS will prompt people to get their wallets out as well but Office is the cash cow).

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "a new OS will prompt people to get their wallets out "

        That used to be the case.

        The XP->Vista transition broke that rule. Lots of corporates are still quite happy with XP.

        "Office is licensed to millions via Corporate contracts"#

        Yeah, and how many of them are paying for the right to use The Ribbon while still using Office 98? OK I exaggerate, but only slightly.

        It may not be this way forever. MS's profits are so intertwined with the MS ecosystem of certified Microsoft dependent business partners that if a few of the 'partners' start going "off message" because punters no longer like the message and see better value elsewhere, the whole house of cards could topple surprisingly quickly.

        1. Ian Yates
          Joke

          Re: "a new OS will prompt people to get their wallets out "

          Yes, you do exaggerate. It's Office 2003/XP not 98.

          Actually, that's not even a joke...

  11. Lars Silver badge
    Pint

    On the other hand

    How could Intel join a close source Microsoft Office.

    And Intel has been a fairly good citizen regarding open source for a long time.

    If you join something it will hardly be something closed you join.

  12. Phil Koenig
    Unhappy

    I wanted to like LibreOffice...

    Tried to use it in a small office situation, but it was so riddled with bugs of every kind, and the killing blow was its interoperability with MS Office 2010 docx/xlsx format was terrible. (Documents edited in LIBO ended up with severe errors or wouldn't even open at all sometimes in MSO2010)

    No matter how much I may like the product, if I can't send documents to other people who are inevitably married to MS products and expect them to be able to open/edit them, it's a showstopper.

    I still have it on one of my boxes but I'm lucky I only use it there for the simplest tasks, and typically don't require collaborating with the inevitable MS-using masses.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Can I download this version without installing AppUp?

    The version of LO from libreoffice.org registers itself as:

    LibreOffice 3.5 (en-US,af,ar,as,ast,be,bg,bn,bo,br,brx,bs,ca,ca-XV,cs,cy,da,de,dgo,dz,el,en-GB,en-ZA,eo,es,et,eu,fa,fi,fr,ga,gd,gl,gu,he,hi,hr,hu,id,is,it,ja,ka,kk,km,kn,ko,kok,ks,ku,lb,lo,lt,lv,mai,mk,ml,mn,mni,mr,my,nb,ne,nl,nn,nr,nso,oc,om,or,pa-IN,pl,pt,pt-BR,ro,ru,rw,sa-IN,sat,sd,sh,si,sk,sl,sq,sr,ss,st,sv,sw-TZ,ta,te,tg,th,tn,tr,ts,tt,ug,uk,uz,ve,vi,xh,zh-CN,zh-TW,zu) (OOO350(Build:13))

    I thought I might try this Major language version from Intel, but it looks like I have to install AppUp first?

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