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List:       koffice-devel
Subject:    Re: KOffice potential, a call for developers
From:       Raphael Langerhorst <raphael-langerhorst () gmx ! at>
Date:       2005-01-08 18:33:56
Message-ID: 200501081933.56847.raphael-langerhorst () gmx ! at
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On Saturday 08 January 2005 18:25, Raphael Langerhorst wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Thanks a lot for your comments, I am just about to submit the
> article on dot.kde.org, so it came _just in time_, comments later,
> copy to the koffice list.
>
> Regards,
> Raphael

Because I quite reworked the article, I post it here once more; I have 
largely incorporated the suggestions from Philippe. I give you all 
about another hour to comment on it (especially: what do you think 
about the LAST sentence? Should it be removed?):

KOffice development
human-resource-management dept.


KOffice is built on KDE. This advantage brings enormous potential in 
terms of integration, performance and even scalability which are 
vital for business deployments. The KOffice team is looking for 
contributors to significantly increase and utilize the potential of 
KOffice even further.



The functionality KOffice has already reached in its short life is 
significant. And still, KOffice has good performance and is fully 
usable on low-end hardware, which makes it suited for organizations 
and individuals. This could even save costs when upgrading the office 
software and old hardware can be reused.

Because KOffice is built directly on KDE, it can offer the best office 
experience on a KDE desktop. Many excellent technologies already 
present in the KDE Framework are available for KOffice at almost no 
cost. These features range from automation via DCOP and document 
location abstraction (remote file editing) via KIO to a fully object 
oriented design through Qt and KDE libraries. Additionally KOffice 
extends the application embedding capability (KParts) of KDE to allow 
highly integrated documents. Such a close integration also results in 
fast application load time, while still having all these features 
available.

Even full OASIS Open Document Format support is being worked on which 
is the same file format as OpenOffice.org 2 will use. This will make 
data exchange with OpenOffice.org seamless while being a fully 
integrated KDE office suite. Building on an approved and open 
document standard is a key feature today.

Much work has already been done and central office components like 
KWord, KPresenter, Kivio and KSpread are quite stable with only a few 
glitches here and there.

And KOffice has many more applications to offer that will be included 
in next major releases: Krita (Pixmap Graphics), Kexi (Database 
Frontend) and KPlato (Project Management). All these applications are 
in development and have a huge potential. Additionally some smaller 
utilities such as KFormula and KOffice Workspace are available.

As you can see, KOffice is close to offer a very complete office 
environment, completely integrated into your KDE environment and 
completely free.

The development of so many additional office components has of course 
raised the number of developers needed. We are looking for additional 
contributors to be able to offer all KOffice components in a fully 
stable and functional state.

If you are interested in helping to make this happen, feel free to 
have a look at the webpage and contact the developers mailing list. 
Both, developers and documentation writers, are very welcome. There 
are also easy-to-get-started jobs available. And in case you have 
special interests of any kind feel free to contact us.

>
> On Saturday 08 January 2005 18:14,Philippe Rigault  wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > Sending you the message directly.
> > I first posted this reply to koffice-devel@kde.org, but since the
> > list is moderated, I don't know what its fate will be.
> >
> > BTW, I want to contribute (personnaly and with my institution)
> > more to Koffice, and there are a few things I can bring, but this
> > is the subject of another discussion.
> >
> > Cheers,
> >
> > Philippe Rigault
> >
> > ----------  Forwarded Message  ----------
> >
> > Subject: Re: KOffice potential, a call for developers
> > Date: January 8, 2005 10:12 am
> > From: Philippe Rigault <prigault@oricom.ca>
> > To: koffice-devel@kde.org
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Please find my comments below.
> > I am interested in making your post more attractive for
> > organizations/businesses/senior-individuals that could contribute
> > to koffice (I am not so interested at random junior volunteers).
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Philippe Rigault
> >
> > > KOffice is one of the youngest office suites available.
> >
> > I would suppress this (irrelevant, and not accurate).
> >
> > > And it is
> > > built on KDE. This advantage brings enormous potential in terms
> > > of integration, performance and even scalability which are
> > > vital for business deployments.
> >
> > Excellent, this is the key point.
> >
> > > You can help to utilize these capabilities and
> > > bring the full potential of KOffice to life.
> >
> > I would rather say:
> > The Koffice team is looking at contributors for significantly
> > increasing the potential of Koffice.
> >
> > > The functionality KOffice has already reached in its short life
> > > is incredible if we consider the small number of developers
> > > that made this happen.
> >
> > Avoid using adjectives like 'amazing', 'incredible',
> > 'tremendous'. Use objectivity instead.
> >
> > Having a small number of developers is a _bad_ feature that does
> > not inspire confidence to an organization (btw, it is no excuse
> > for the state of a program. Remember: to the --uneducated--
> > world, Linux has all been written by one guy...).
> >
> > > And still, KOffice has a great performance despite all
> > > the functionality already implemented. This makes it even
> > > usable on quite old hardware.
> >
> > I would prefer something like:
> >
> > KOffice has great performance and is fully usable on low-end
> > hardware, which makes it suited for organizations and
> > individuals. (you can elaborate on return-on-investment and
> > recycling hardware if you like).
> >
> > Note: 'great performance' means different things to different
> > people. People using large spreadsheets (>10,000 rows) might not
> > be so thrilled about kspread's current limitations and
> > performance (and OOo for that matter).
> >
> > > Because KOffice is built directly on KDE, it can offer the best
> > > office experience on a KDE desktop.
> >
> > This is a very important point (the most important IMHO), which
> >  differentiates koffice from all other suites (including OOo with
> > KDE-look). Please give it more importance.
> >
> > I can think of a few clear distinctions:
> > - the communication framework between applications (DCOP)
> > - the complete abstraction of document location (accessing a file
> > by path, URL, fish://)
> > - startup time and interactivity
> > - Full Qt framework
> >
> > Examples targeted at showing this are missing.
> > My experience is that showing real-life examples is key. Each
> > time I show a 5-minute demo of what I can do on my KDE desktop,
> > people go WOW, because some concepts basic for us (DCOP and
> > fish:// are examples) are new to them.
> >
> > > Even full OASIS document format support
> > > is targeted for the next release (1.4) which is the same file
> > > format as OpenOffice.org 2 will have. This will make data
> > > exchange with OpenOffice.org seamless!
> >
> > If you bring OOo in the picture, please provide arguments for
> > differentiating Koffice form it. If one wants OASIS document
> > formas, why would he/she run Koffice instead of OOo ?
> >
> > > Much work has already been done, but KOffice simply needs more
> > > developers to fully utilize and implement the potential it has.
> > > Many
> > > central office components like KWord, KPresenter, Kivio and
> > > KSpread are already quite stable but still have a few glitches
> > > here and there.
> > > Karbon14 (vector graphics) and Kugar (report generator) are in
> > > a less good shape because of lack of developers. Also smaller
> > > components like KFormula, KChart or KDGantt could use some
> > > attention.
> >
> > The key to attracting contributors to a project is to show them
> > - that the project is interesting and has visibility (they don't
> > want to miss the boat)
> > - that the increase in contributors is done for a reason, i.e
> > ther is a plan for using the added resources (they will take the
> > boat to go somewhere).
> >
> > I don't see much on the second point there. I think that
> > establishing a clear, ambitious list of priorities is a must.
> >
> > > And KOffice has many more applications to offer that will
> > > hopefully be included in next major releases: Krita (Pixmap
> > > Graphics), Kexi (Database Frontend) and KPlato (Project
> > > Management).
> >
> > Remove 'hopefully' (after all, developers/packagers have the full
> > control on what is happening).
> >
> > > All these
> > > applications are in development, have a huge potential ... and
> > > could use more human resources.
> >
> > Counterproductive statement if it does not show that resources
> > are targeted at a precise outcome.
> >
> > > As you can see, KOffice is close to offer a very complete
> > > office environment, probably the most feature complete office
> > > suite available,
> >
> > Er, I am not sure I would go as far as that.
> > Koffice lags _far_ behind other suites in MS-compatibility.
> >
> > -------------------------------------------------------

-- 
Raphael Langerhorst, JID: raphael@jabber.pilgerer.de
G System, The Evolving Universe - http://www.g-system.at
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