[CW] OT But free

[Fred Adsit]

I recently switched to LibreOffice and it  (1) is  free, (2) looks and works 
just like OpenOffice, and (3) is handling all my files the same as 
OpenOffice did.

I agree with Gene.

Fred NY2V

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gene Buckle" <geneb at deltasoft.com>
To: "CW Reflector" <cw at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Friday, December 24, 2010 5:36 PM
Subject: Re: [CW] OT But free


> On Fri, 24 Dec 2010, D.J.J. Ring, Jr. wrote:
>
>> Gene,
>>
>> As I said before that download will soon stop being free.  Oracle owns 
>> the
>> intellectual property contained in OpenOffice.
>>
> I've seen nothing that leads me to think that Oracle is going to close up 
> OpenOffice.  Keep in mind that due to the licensing, I can grab the 
> installer and put it online for anyone to download and there isn't a damn 
> thing Oracle can do to stop me.  It's perfectly legal according to the 
> license.  Of course, they could take a snapshot of OpenOffice, change the 
> license and put the installer behind a paywall.  It would be monumentally 
> stupid, but it's certainly possible.
>
> With respect to what Oracle "owns" in OpenOffice... well they own the 
> trademark to "OpenOffice" and _some_ Copyrights to the code, but no "IP". 
> Keep in mind, because the OpenOffice source code is licensed under the 
> LGPL, _anyone_ can rename it and do whatever they like with it as long as 
> they provide the source code for the "new" version to anyone that asks.  I 
> could download the sources & docs, change every instance of OpenOffice to 
> GeneOffice and create a new installer that I charge $500 for.  As long as 
> I've got a link to the source code that's _outside_ that paywall, I'm 
> fully compliant with the license.
>
>> However there is a fork called LibreOffice which I found out is going to 
>> be
>> open source and free to use.
>>
> LibreOffice isn't "going to be", it already IS open source.  LibreOffice 
> is essentially OpenOffice with some feature patches applied.  It carries 
> the same license as OO does.
>
>> Their web site says their version is not stable and recommended for use 
>> on
>> production machines.
>>
> It says "This version of LibreOffice is a "release candidate". This means 
> that it is largely finalized, but there are still some issues that we are 
> currently addressing. Please remember that a "release candidate" is not 
> intended for use in situations in which an unexpected problem would cause 
> you serious inconvenience (it is not yet "production-ready"). For 
> "mission-critical production use", please wait for the final version."
>
> It does in no way imply that it's "unstable" and I'm very curious to 
> understand why you would think that it is.
>
> g.
>
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