OpenOffice has adopted the Ubuntu-friendly GStreamer media framework to reach a broader swath of Linux and Unix users. The project created a new media back end from scratch using GStreamer, a move that de-emphasizes use of the Sun Microsystems Java Media Framework (JMF) — Sun was the largest contributor to OpenOffice before …

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Friday 2nd July 2010 22:29 GMT Change can be good

Welcome the move by OpenOffice

OpenOffice is one of the programs that I use the most on Ubuntu. I'm so glad these developments will make it better.

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Friday 2nd July 2010 22:31 GMT Anonymous Coward

Oh good. Jolly, jolly good.

<yawn>

It is 2010 and an office wannabee buzzes.

'scuse the yawn.

</yawn?

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Friday 2nd July 2010 22:32 GMT Chris Tyler

Linux-friendly

Not sure why this is called "Ubuntu-friendly" when the switch to gstreamer makes this friendlier to almost any Linux distro (?).

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1. Saturday 3rd July 2010 18:08 GMT Havin_it
  
  Not every distro
  
  For KDE distros it's just yet another bloody multimedia framework to have to clutter the system with. I never use media in OOo so I hope to hell it's not made a forced dependency.
  
  How about Phonon support, so a choice of frameworks can be used? (Something good that came out of KDE4)
  
  Would have gone for the unhappy penguin icon if there was one, this'll have to do.
  
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  1. Monday 5th July 2010 08:33 GMT James Henstridge
    
    Phonon
    
    Aren't you using GStreamer as the backend for Phonon though?
    
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2. Saturday 3rd July 2010 18:10 GMT Not That Andrew
  
  Yeah ...
  
  Even Slackware includes gstreamer these days, it's hardly bleeding edge anymore.
  
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Saturday 3rd July 2010 17:52 GMT Steve McIntyre

"ubuntu-friendly" ??

gstreamer is a distro-neutral Free Software media stack. Why are you specifically linking it to Ubuntu here?

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Saturday 3rd July 2010 17:58 GMT I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects 1

Wouldn't it be better making it chip friendly?

That would give Microsoft users a reason to use it.

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Saturday 3rd July 2010 17:59 GMT Steve Davies 3

Re Chris Tyler

This is because most hacks these days think that Linux ===== Ubuntu. End of.

Yeah, the audience here on el-Reg knows difference but hey, it is a cheap headline.

Mines the one with a copy of Fedora 13 ppc in the pocket.

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Saturday 3rd July 2010 17:59 GMT Tom 7

Easier ways to use 19thC technology

and a new sqllite so now you can distribute all your important company information in little DB's as well as poxy documents!

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Saturday 3rd July 2010 17:59 GMT Robert E A Harvey

'ang on?

An "office suite" uses a "media streamer"?

Is it me, or has the whirled gorn madd? Who, apart from a few pink-trousered show-offs in sales, need to stream media to do an office job? and won't they all be using an iPouf anyway?

Paris, 'cos I believe there is some streamable media involving her. PS: shouldn't her icon now feature hancuffs

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1. Sunday 4th July 2010 10:19 GMT DrXym
  
  Might have uses
  
  If you're doing a powerpoint presentation you can easily embed media clips which could be use for demos, interludes etc. Enabling the same in Impress would be a benefit.
  
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2. Tuesday 6th July 2010 09:24 GMT Skymonrie
  
  don't forget
  
  You get the whole pipe line, not just the fuzzy home-cam video at the end. Paris knows what i mean ;)
  
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Saturday 3rd July 2010 23:42 GMT Anonymous Coward

media in office documents

uh, what?

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Saturday 3rd July 2010 23:45 GMT Anonymous Coward

Go-oo did this ages ago

Uhm, Ubuntu uses Go-OO (See http://go-oo.org/) which added GStreamer support to OpenOffice.org ages ago. It also adds many other features that Oracle/Sun refuse/refused to add upstream. Most distributions use Go-oo instead of the Oracle official builds.

So, in fact, this change is of no use to most Linux users.

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Sunday 4th July 2010 10:19 GMT Al fazed

Yawn !

Why didn't they fix the printing bug first ?

I'd rather be able to print documents properly from Open Office.

Anyway, GStreamer doesn't work on my OpenSuse 11 install, oh and if it is installed, YAWN YAST cannot find it, and when found in the available packages, it cannot be installed either.

God job I am able to use Microsoft and Apple software when I want to listen to music, or print documents.

ALF

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1. Sunday 4th July 2010 22:49 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Re : Yawn !
  
  Having read some of your previous posts it seems clear that you shouldn't be let near a brick let alone a computer system. It seems strange that you have problems that no-one else seems to.
  
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2. Sunday 4th July 2010 22:49 GMT Old Marcus
  
  Re: Printing
  
  What printing problems are you having? I never had any, except having to manually tell it to print in reverse so my essay comes out in the right order...
  
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  1. Saturday 10th July 2010 16:17 GMT Robert E A Harvey
    
    Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title
    
    It's always tricky printing streaming media.
    
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Sunday 4th July 2010 22:46 GMT Anonymous Coward

Phonon would of been a excellent choice.

""""

How about Phonon support, so a choice of frameworks can be used? (Something good that came out of KDE4)

""""

Yes that makes lots of sense. Writing software to the lowest common denominator. Supporting multiple broken multimedia frameworks and then forcing users to randomly choose one of them in a vain effort to pick one that is broken in a way that does not affect them is so full of win.

The average person:

* knows what a 'multimedia framework' is.

* Cares deeply about the different options, licenses, and advantages, offered by Xine, Gstreamer, Mplayer, VLC, and Gstreamer (and whatever else Phonon supports)

* understands the different technical merits of each framework and is able to make informed decisions on which one they should configure their desktop to use by default.

This sort of thinking is why Linux desktop is so successful and KDE4 in particular. Because CHOICE MATTERS. Especially when the choice is really irritating, technical, boring, and all the choices suck in different ways. That is just 100% quality design. Absolutely FANTASTIC. Apple could learn a lot of KDE4.

I mean OpenOffice.org may still be ugly and it's spreadsheet software may have only a fraction of the capabilities that Excell can offer, but users will have the ability to choose between Xine or VLC as the multimedia backend. Think of all the icons and little slides and dialogs you could make for it! It would blow Microsoft Office out of the water.

(in case you did not realize, this is sarcasm)

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1. Monday 5th July 2010 11:49 GMT Havin_it
  
  @Mr Angry Coward
  
  I'm not sure why this inflames you so. It's true multimedia in Linux is a horrendous hodgepodge, and I never suggested otherwise, but the OOo developers are going to have to deal with it on some level if they want multimedia support in the suite at all (though that in itself is questionable goal, as you indicate).
  
  Devs have to work out how to make their apps reliably produce sounds and/or video. And your "average person" -- who I'd argue is already *not* an average person if they're using Linux -- won't get far in Linux without having some part of the multimedia stack let them down, and if they don't quit in disgust at that point, then they will soon get an introduction to the horrors that lurk beneath. I can't speak for more than a handful of other people, but a trial-and-error approach to finding a player and backend that plays a given bit of content (over a given bit of hardware) tends to prevail.
  
  So yes, being able to choose between Xine and VLC (does Phonon have a backend for that now? Sweet, must investigate) is bloody handy in my opinion, because one of them might actually work; if the choice were made for me, it'd probably be the one that didn't.
  
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