FYI The rest of my side of my email conversation with i...@documentfoundation.org:
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ On Friday, April 30, 2021 3:10 PM, Max <mleo...@protonmail.ch> wrote: > Once again, I appreciate your openness with publicly sharing access to this > mailing list, but I have to stop sending you such ranting emails to get a > life and avoid getting on your nerves. Just two last rant points to add to my > previous emails: > > 1. Please consider reaching out to AbiWord's developer community as a whole > with an invitation to join your LibreWriter developers: > https://www.abisource.com/developers/ (Incidentally, AbiWord is no longer > supported on Windows.) > 2. You'd better think twice before committing to supporting the next major > iterations of Windows like Windows 10X > (https://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10x) and instead focus on supporting > SUSE and Red Hat in providing an enterprise-grade office productivity suite > for Linux that they can successfully market as part of their OS to their > enterprise customers like the IBM and various larger multinational > corporations in various industrial sectors. And if LibreOffice becomes > successfully adopted by SUSE's and Red Hat's enterprise customers at the > level of the corporate/internal software list for use by all employees, then > SUSE and Red Hat will have even more serious, vested interests in supporting > further LibreOffice development. > > Please note that all the opinions I have expressed in all of my emails > are strictly my own. > > Thank you for your attention and Goodbye > Max > > ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ > On Monday, April 26, 2021 11:41 AM, Max mleo...@protonmail.ch wrote: > > > > PS > > In a nutshell - if you limit LibreOffice to Linux, here is what you will be > > able to do: > > > > 1. Set up an e-shop (using an open-source e-shop solution) on your website > > to sell computer hardware that has various Linux distros with LibreOffice > > included in them - ranging from Raspberry Pi models to laptops with a > > preinstalled Linux operating system. So your individual customers can also > > buy favorably-priced LibreOffice ready hardware to go out of the box. Such > > e-shop can fund your operations, while you can ensure that your finances > > are handled with maximum transparency for your community. > > > > 2. Actively promote to your potential users on your website all Linux > > distros that contain LibreOffice in them, with emphasis on community > > (non-corporate) distros like Debian and Linux Mint, so that your potential > > users will consider getting a community Linux distro as a means of easily > > getting LibreOffice. > > > > 3. Focus on cooperating with commercial enterprise-market Linux - SUSE and > > Red Hat - to get their business customers adopt LibreOffice at enterprise > > level as part of SUSE's and Red Hat's business, and also let SUSE and Red > > Hat and their business customers make financial donations to your > > operations, but please at manifesto level resist all of their attempts to > > get on your board. > > Thank you for your time reading this and considering these ideas > > Max > > ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ Original Message ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ > > On Sunday, April 25, 2021 10:02 PM, Max mleo...@protonmail.ch wrote: > > > > > > > Hi Michael > > > Thank you for taking the time to read and respond to my email. > > > I value your time and dedication to this community and the project. > > > I. > > > I am aware of a number of incredible, cross-platform, free open-source > > > applications. But I cannot put LibreOffice in that list, because (as I > > > believe) almost (if not all) community-sourced open-source applications > > > are intended for individual end users. There are also some other free > > > open-source applications that have some corporation build an > > > enterprise-grade application on top of for business customers. And > > > LibreOffice does not fit either of the two just mentioned categories. > > > This is the most important self-definition exercise that the Document > > > Foundation has to perform - is LibreOffice a suite for individual users > > > or is it an enterprise-grade productivity suite for business customers > > > (with the bulletproof expectation that all individual users will use it > > > both to perform their work for business customers and to use it at home > > > or for private business and whatever personal individual use they wish). > > > LibreOffice CANNOT be a productivity suite without corporate users. > > > Individual users using MS Office do so, because they have a job at some > > > corporation or organization. If corporate users are not your number one > > > priority, then it's fine, but then starting every Monday morning and > > > ending every Friday evening ALL the individuals out there in the world > > > will have to go on using MS Office. You cannot liberate individual users > > > unless you get the corporate customers that employ those individual > > > users. Microsoft got this point and MS Office is everywhere now. > > > II. > > > Tradeoffs in how the community is contributing hours are inevitable (just > > > some tradeoffs will be less visible than others), because the community > > > is NEVER infinite in size. Obviously, you should not run a community > > > project like a corporation, but to compete with corporations like > > > Microsoft that are ruthless about prioritizing how they spend manhours, > > > you invariably face having to compete with them in application > > > development's efficiency, planning, and strategy for your community > > > (which isn't really getting paid). > > > III. > > > I am writing this although I am an outsider, and since I don't want to > > > cause any PR risks I'd like to ask your board of directors to answer the > > > following questions to yourselves (no need to send this information to > > > me): > > > > > > 1. Are corporate users (aka business customers, aka enterprises, aka > > > corporations) the number one priority for LibreOffice (in order to give > > > TOTAL freedom to ALL individual users of LibreOffice)? > > > > > > 2. What are you going to do about the perpetuated Catch-22 situation > > > that I outlined in my previous email - the loop of MS Windows > > > perpetuating MS Office perpetuating MS Windows perpetuating MS Office? > > > > > > 3. What is the percentage of LibreOffice community's developer hours > > > spent on Windows and macOS in relation to the total hours spent on > > > development overall? > > > > > > 4. What is the percentage of LibreOffice community's QA engineer hours > > > spent on Windows and macOS in relation to the total hours spent on > > > QA/validation? > > > IV. > > > Please be cautious about the percentage of Windows downloads of > > > LibreOffice, since that really should be interpreted as a symptom of the > > > current state of affairs, which should be altered. > > > Also please be cautious about the percentage of bugs raised in > > > Windows, since all the people who try LibreOffice on Windows and then > > > quickly give it up and uninstall due to the bugs and crashes will never > > > report one single bug to your community, so with exaggeration that's a > > > gigantic black hole of missing data. > > > V. > > > Finally, I believe that the Document Foundation could minimize its > > > losses of contributors due to dropping Windows and macOS - with clear > > > presentation of the benefits of adopting a Linux-only strategy and > > > inclusive discussions. Some Windows users will get the point (if it is > > > clearly explained for their consideration) while others will have to > > > ponder the evils of OpenOffice and forking. > > > PS I'll be happy to join the LibreOffice community when I have time > > > for it. > > > Kind Regards > > > Max
