Not libre, not gatis
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| rijelkentaurus Dec 31, 2006 1:28 PM EDT |
>[Not only is SoftMaker Office not gratis, it ain't even libre. I don't mind paying the $70 - but not if it isn't libre. - dcparris] I don't find if it ain't libre or gratis, not on something like this, just so long as the data it creates is in a free format. That ain't happenin', if I remember correctly. |
| dcparris Dec 31, 2006 3:25 PM EDT |
Um, yes it is:
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?stor... I don't care about gratis; I do care about libre. |
| rijelkentaurus Dec 31, 2006 6:46 PM EDT |
>Um, yes it is: Thanks. I stand corrected. >I don't care about gratis; I do care about libre. If the data can be saved in a format that is not tied to the program, and is in fact in a free format, I couldn't give less of a crap about the source code...just don't tie me down to your program and lock me in. I'll be able to openly recommend the next Word Perfect, because it will have ODF support. For the record, having used SoftMaker, I think it pales in comparison to the Free suites. It's really only a word proc and a spreadsheet, and for the same price you can buy StarOffice, and for nothing you can have OpenOffice, KOffice, Abiword, Gnumeric, etc. I don't find it to be as powerful as KWord or Write, and it "feels" more like Abiword than anything else. I have the trial installed, and there is no section in the "Save As" that reflects the ability to save as OpenDoc, although it can import it. I guess that's a work in progress, and I'll not recommend buying it until it is so. For the price and for what you get for the price, I don't think I'd recommend it anyway. However, it is nice to see that companies are starting to see ODF as a necessity. I bet the Redmond Beast hates that, and that makes for a Happy New Year. On a further interesting note...I save my docs as ODF, and I segregate them according to the program used to create them, so I have folders for OOo, KOffice and Abiword. Opening OOo and KOffice files is not a problem and it does it well, but it crashes when I open an Abiword document. Since it handles the others fine, I think it says more about Abiword than SoftMaker. Hmm. |
| devnet Jan 02, 2007 6:21 AM EDT |
I agree on this one... For my small business, I often have to work with users who NEED Microsoft Office...they trade documents with governments, city officials, and other companies who use Microsoft exclusively. If I forced them to use OOo, I'd be limiting their business...unfortunately. I push OOo as much as I can (and many of my clients use it) but for some...it's needed. It's nice that you can find suites out there that won't lock you down into MS format. With the amount of internal control mechanisms built into Vista, documents are the next source for push of DRM. It's nice that this won't be an issue for some proprietary office suites. |
| dcparris Jan 02, 2007 9:55 AM EDT |
I applaud Softmaker's ODF support. That is as far as it goes for me. |
| Teron Jan 02, 2007 10:04 AM EDT |
And that's all that's needed. It means you can choose to use a libre office suite, but someone who has no qualms about using a closed program can use it without forcing people to reverse-engineer his suite's formats, and without that suite being able to lock him in. Open standards are great, no? |
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