Novell Developer Concerned About OpenOffice.org
Novell developer Michael Meeks has warned of an increasing imbalance in the OpenOffice.org Project. His concerns: too few developers, inadequate code maintenance and the gradual withdrawal of companies like Sun.
In his blog, Meeks comes to some bitter conclusions regarding OpenOffice.org. Measured on downloads alone, the success of the project is obvious. But this is not the case when one looks at development and improvements, says Meeks. The code is bloated and poorly maintained, and he criticizes the difficulties developers have getting their snippets of code up-stream, which has many so frustrated they simply leave their codes in patches attached to bugs in the issue tracker.
To illustrate his misgivings, Meeks has produced graphics created using scripts from the project's version control system. These clearly show how far Sun has withdrawn from the project, with no other company jumping in to fill the gaps. In 2004, OpenOffice.org hit a highpoint with 70 developers. It's been all downhill since.
According to Meeks graphic, the number of developers at Open Office is sinking.
For Meeks, all is not well at OpenOffice.org. In his opinion, distancing the project from Sun (including the license conditions) would be one step on the road to recovery. Abolishment of the "political system" within the project, would be another. Meeks wants "developers in the driving seat", and he appeals for developer contributions. Meeks ensures us he is voicing his own opinion and not that of Novell or others.
Comments
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Linux Kernel 6.16 Released with Minor Fixes
The latest Linux kernel doesn't really include any big-ticket features, just a lot of lines of code.
-
EU Sovereign Tech Fund Gains Traction
OpenForum Europe recently released a report regarding a sovereign tech fund with backing from several significant entities.
-
FreeBSD Promises a Full Desktop Installer
FreeBSD has lacked an option to include a full desktop environment during installation.
-
Linux Hits an Important Milestone
If you pay attention to the news in the Linux-sphere, you've probably heard that the open source operating system recently crashed through a ceiling no one thought possible.
-
Plasma Bigscreen Returns
A developer discovered that the Plasma Bigscreen feature had been sitting untouched, so he decided to do something about it.
-
CachyOS Now Lets Users Choose Their Shell
Imagine getting the opportunity to select which shell you want during the installation of your favorite Linux distribution. That's now a thing.
-
Wayland 1.24 Released with Fixes and New Features
Wayland continues to move forward, while X11 slowly vanishes into the shadows, and the latest release includes plenty of improvements.
-
Bugs Found in sudo
Two critical flaws allow users to gain access to root privileges.
-
Fedora Continues 32-Bit Support
In a move that should come as a relief to some portions of the Linux community, Fedora will continue supporting 32-bit architecture.
-
Linux Kernel 6.17 Drops bcachefs
After a clash over some late fixes and disagreements between bcachefs's lead developer and Linus Torvalds, bachefs is out.
Corrected
link doesn't work