Quite possibly the most interesting honour bestowed upon OpenOffice.org was capitalized by the launch party held in the government offices of the Île-de-France, in Paris. At least 600 registered for the event, and at least half that showed up, no doubt for the speeches, including mine, and the Region's deputy's, M. Lepinski, and Charles Schulz'; and also for the terrific buffet and wine.
The Region is moving strongly toward FOSS and OOo in particular, and has a brilliant program to distribute upward 400K USB keys with OOo installed. That's just a start. There are 11M people in the Region, effectively the MTA of Paris, and, why not....? free software, and especially free productivity software, is a superlative investment, in the present and also the future. Free software, like OOo, empowers--to use the old term--people to engage in modern economic and cultural discourse.
The Francophone project is hugely involved in this migration. Under Sophie Gautier's lead, it succeeded in placing OpenOffice.org, in French, in the hands of hundreds of thousands and in inspiring hundreds of contributors. Under the current lead, Jean-Baptiste Fauré and Tony Galmiche, the work not only continues but has seemingly accelerated.
I've appended below the text of my speech in French and in English. My thanks to Charles for translating the speech from the English. I had tried writing it in French, and though it came out okay, it sounded, risible. Not so Charles'.
First, the English, then the French.
13 October 2008
Paris, Île-de-France
-Louis Suarez-Potts
My thanks to the President of the Region Île-de-France, Silicon Sentier, Charles Schulz, and the people of Paris who have worked together to make this event so splendid and such a wonderful celebration of community and social responsibility. I am proud to be here among you.
This is an historic occasion. We celebrate this evening not just the eighth birthday of OpenOffice.org, not just the 50 years since the founding of the Fifth Republic and its promise of a more rational government, but we also celebrate the great success of a vast community outside of government, outside of business, but essential to both.
We celebrate the people who make OpenOffice.org what it is, as a fact, but also what it means as a promise. For it is a means of communication, a theatre of collaboration. It promises a future in which the anxieties of monopoly, of proprietary license, of language, and ultimately of dependency and isolation are banished. This fact and promise of autonomy and freedom are what OpenOffice.org means for 100 million, if not more. And this is why it has become the theatre in which the intellectual and commercial freedom for so many is being enacted by those who are not mere spectators but the drama's authors and performers, too.
Tonight, and every day and night there is work done on OpenOffice.org, we, the Community, renew the social contract. And we make it new and modern. Elsewhere, in the last few decades we have seen it fade in importance. Social responsibility and an understanding of the consequences of actions taken today for others now and in the future has nearly disappeared in the haze of blind self interest. We must change that, and are changing it. The consciousness of others, the awareness of our effects, on people, just as on nature, today and tomorrow, nearby or far away, is not an ideological luxury but a necessity.
For we have seen that in the absence of a modern social contract we act as if fire does not burn nor wood char, and are then surprised to find not the mansion of our dreams but ashes.
I refer of course to the spectacle of capitalism's conflagration we have witnessed this last month—that we continue to witness--and to the lesson that we can take from it: That liberty without fraternity produces fierce catastrophe. And into this catastrophe we have been thrust as actors without a script.
Equal, fraternal, collaboration gives us that script. Building something together, of mutual benefit and interest answers the questions raised by the Crisis: What do we do now, in the spectacle of capitalism's aftermath? We work together locally, with global consciousness, aware that we exist in a community that is not limited by mountains or oceans but only by the reach of our ambition.
Free software marks the line of division between the ancien régime and this, our modern world. In that past, conventions hostile to free collaboration prevailed. In this modern age we greet tonight, we must collaborate on solving the urgent problems of intellectual property, food, energy, climate change: on all that makes up our world, our society. Together, as we see here tonight, our living is the joy of shared success.
On behalf of OpenOffice.org, I thank you.
-------
13 October 2008
Paris, Île-de-France
-Louis Suarez-Potts
Je voudrais remercier le Président de la Région Ile de France, Silicon Sentier, Charles Schulz et tous les Franciliens qui ont travaillé ensemble pour célébrer de la façon la plus magnifique la Communauté et les valeurs sociales universelles. Je suis fier d'être parmi vous ce soir.
Nous assistons ce soir à un moment historique. Ce que nous célébrons ce soir, ce n'est pas juste le huitième anniversaire d'OpenOffice.org, ce n'est pas seulement les 50 ans d'existence de la 5ème République et sa promesse d'un gouvernement plus rationnel, mais ce que nous fêtons ce soir, c'est le succès planétaire d'une vaste communauté existante en dehors de gouvernements, d'entreprises, mais qui est pourtant essentielle aux deux.
Ce soir, nous rendons hommage à tous ces gens qui ont fait d'OpenOffice.org ce qu'il est, comme un projet établi, et ce qu'OpenOffice.org signifie en tant qu'ambition. Car OpenOffice.org n'est pas juste un moyen de communication, ou un théâtre de collaboration; non, OpenOffice.org promet aussi un future dans lequel les angoisses et la pression de grands monopoles privés, de licenses et de code propriétaires et pour finir, les menaces de dépendance et d'isolation seront bannies. Notre promesse et notre engagement pour la Liberté et l'Indépendance est déjà une réalité pour plus de 100 millions de personnes à travers le monde.Et c'est pourquoi nous sommes devenus le point central, la scène sur lesquelles les libertés intellectuelles aussi bien que commerciales peuvent s'exprimer et ont été garanties par ceux qui ne sont pas de simples spectateurs, mais les acteurs et auteurs de cette pièce.
Ce soir, comme tous les autres journées et soirs, le travail continue sur OpenOffice.org et nous, la Communauté, renouvellons à chaque fois le contrat social. Nous le renouvellons et le modernisons. Ailleurs, ce contrat a vu son importance décliner lors de ces dernières décénnies. La responsibilité sociale et une compréhension de ce que les actions d'aujourd'hui impliquent pour demain ont pratiquement disparu dans les nuées aveugles des intérêts personels. Nous devons changer cela, et sommes en train de le changer. La conscience des autres, celle de nos actions et de leurs effets sur les gens et sur la nature, aujourd'hui et demain, à courte ou à longue échéance, n'est plus un luxe idéologique mais une nécessité.
Car nous avons vu l'évidence, qu'en l'absence d'un contrat social nous agissons comme si toutes choses étant égales par elle-mêmes, et nous nous surprenons à ne trouver que des cendres à la place de la villa de nos rêves.
Je fais bien sûr référence au triste spectacle de la déflagration du capitalisme à laquelle nous avons assisté ce mois-ci, et à laquelle nous continuons à assister- et à la leçon que nous pouvons en tirer. Cette leçon est que la liberté sans la fraternité ne conduit qu'à la catastrophe. Et c'est dans cette catastrophe que nous avons été jetés comme des acteurs sans leur script.
Le logiciel libre marque la frontière entre l'ancien régime, et celui-ci, notre monde moderne. Dans le passé, les pactes hostiles à la collaboration libre ont prévalu. Dans ce nouvel âge que nous saluons ce soir, nous devons travailler ensemble à résoudre l'urgence posée par les problèmes de la propriété intellectuelle, par le manque de nourriture, d'énergie, et des changements climatiques: en bref, sur tout ce qui fait notre monde et notre société. Ensemble, comme nous le sommes ce soir, nous nous incarnons dans la joie du succès partagé.
Au nom d'OpenOffice.org, Je vous remercie.
2008-10-13
OpenOffice.org 3.0
OpenOffice.org 3.0 is far more than just the latest version of OOo. It's also the beginning of a new age for productivity suites. Why? Because OOo 3l0 takes a huge step toward the real future of desktop productivity. It uses extensions and it expresses its data in an open standard; these we know, though we are only now beginning to appreciate their importance. And it also works beautifully with the latest suites, including MS Office 2007.
The result is more than an alternative that's free and that frees. It is a new way of doing things, one that builds on the commons held now by tens of millions living everywhere on this globe. It is a way that trusts the wealth of the commons and imagines a world where the impoverishing effects of vendor lockin are a thing of the past.
Vendor lockin means being stuck with the vendor who sold you your application because all your files are in the format used by that application. It means you can only communicate fully with others who share your vendor. It means that monopoly is the most logical outcome.
OOo bypasses that problem by using an open standard, the OpenDocument format. Both proprietary and free applications can use it, and they do. Even MS Office supports it, via a plug in. The net result is a world where the free exchange of information is not just possible but very likely, as it is no longer impeded by proprietary concerns.
OOo 3.0 adds to that freedom by using extensions much the same way that Firefox does: it gives all users the freedom to add new features, functionality. At present, we have a couple of hundred, and they have proved popular. We've also done minimal advertising. I anticipate that in the coming months, as 3.0 gains yet more popularity (all servers are down at the moment), there will be more and more interesting extensions out there.
I can see extensions that radically depart from what we consider "office" tools---and why not? OOo is an integrated set of tools based on fairly conservative conceptions of office software. But there is no compelling reason to stick with the conservative past, and every reason to be creative.
So, let's be creative together.
The result is more than an alternative that's free and that frees. It is a new way of doing things, one that builds on the commons held now by tens of millions living everywhere on this globe. It is a way that trusts the wealth of the commons and imagines a world where the impoverishing effects of vendor lockin are a thing of the past.
Vendor lockin means being stuck with the vendor who sold you your application because all your files are in the format used by that application. It means you can only communicate fully with others who share your vendor. It means that monopoly is the most logical outcome.
OOo bypasses that problem by using an open standard, the OpenDocument format. Both proprietary and free applications can use it, and they do. Even MS Office supports it, via a plug in. The net result is a world where the free exchange of information is not just possible but very likely, as it is no longer impeded by proprietary concerns.
OOo 3.0 adds to that freedom by using extensions much the same way that Firefox does: it gives all users the freedom to add new features, functionality. At present, we have a couple of hundred, and they have proved popular. We've also done minimal advertising. I anticipate that in the coming months, as 3.0 gains yet more popularity (all servers are down at the moment), there will be more and more interesting extensions out there.
I can see extensions that radically depart from what we consider "office" tools---and why not? OOo is an integrated set of tools based on fairly conservative conceptions of office software. But there is no compelling reason to stick with the conservative past, and every reason to be creative.
So, let's be creative together.
2008-04-25
Brazil
Brazil--the Sinatra song speaks of holiday hope, escape, beauty, love, and their loss--
Brazil, where hearts were entertaining June
We stood beneath an amber moon
And softly murmured "Someday soon"
We kissed and clung together
Then, tomorrow was another day
The morning found me miles away
With still a million things to say
Now, when twilight dims the sky above
Recalling thrills of our love
There's one thing I'm certain of
Return I will to old Brazil
Then, tomorrow was another day
The morning found me miles away
With still a million things to say
Now, when twilight dims the sky above
Recalling thrills of our love
There's one thing that I'm certain of
Return I will to old Brazil
That old Brazil
Man, it's old in Brazil
Brazil, Brazil
And it was brilliantly used by Terry Gillian in his bleak 1985 satire, Brazil. The country remains a focus of hope and expectation, a sunny future, shadowed by its dark realities. But the current federal administration, Lula's, is changing things, and though the disparities of wealth and privilege remain stark and brutal (Brazil is, like the US, one of the more dramatically disparate countries in terms of wealth and privilege), things are very much improving. The government takes seriously the condition of its people and the importance of social responsibility.
I discovered this anew in my most recent trip to Brasilia, for meetings with the education ministry, and Porto Alegre, for fisl 9.0. Briefly, the meetings were immensely productive, and fisl was extraordinary. It is one thing to hear the strong rhetoric for Floss and another to see it in action (read about the KDE installations). The ministry, along with other federal and provincial governments, is dedicated to Floss and wants to move fast on it. OpenOffice.org is crucial there, as it is the best productivity suite on the planet, and that it is also free software--well that simply seals the deal. But the OpenOffice.org we are talking about is BrOffice.org, the Brazilian Portuguese version that is distributed by the BrOffice team. They had to rename it for trademark reasons, but it's the same thing that nearly a hundred million others use daily. And these facts raise some compelling points:
• Many Brazilians, including those in the Floss movement, as well as those in major corporations and government offices, are unaware of the identity of the two
• Support and training are sporadically available. Now, if someone or some public or private enterprise wants support for OOo, they can find it in several languages by going to our Support page; Sun (my employer) also provides for-fee professional support for OOo, along the same lines as for StarOffice.
• But the default understanding of the public and private enterprises in Brazil does not include support, training, services, and these are sorely wanted. Thus, we have the states of Paraná, the huge, quasi-federal office Serpro, the social security agency and many, many more which I learned about in the three-hour session dedicated to OOo and in personal discussions. (Indeed, I had so many of these that I regretfully could attend very few sessions.)
The ultimate point: we need to develop the support business in Brazil. Of course, Brazil is not alone; we need to do this elsewhere, too. But the need is urgent there and the market is open, and as I mentioned in my presentation late Saturday, Brazil really is the leader here and has the ability to join with India and South Africa and possibly China in proving the role and value of Floss in creating not only markets independent of colonial shadow but socially responsible.
But what about support? By support, I mean first and second level support, the sort that reassures regular endusers; and I also mean training. NO polity, no enterprise embraces Floss without minimizing liability. That means they want support and services and training contracts. It means building the ecosystem for OOo and doing so now.
BTW, if you have not looked at this, now is the time: http://www.hackerteen.com .
Brazil, where hearts were entertaining June
We stood beneath an amber moon
And softly murmured "Someday soon"
We kissed and clung together
Then, tomorrow was another day
The morning found me miles away
With still a million things to say
Now, when twilight dims the sky above
Recalling thrills of our love
There's one thing I'm certain of
Return I will to old Brazil
Then, tomorrow was another day
The morning found me miles away
With still a million things to say
Now, when twilight dims the sky above
Recalling thrills of our love
There's one thing that I'm certain of
Return I will to old Brazil
That old Brazil
Man, it's old in Brazil
Brazil, Brazil
And it was brilliantly used by Terry Gillian in his bleak 1985 satire, Brazil. The country remains a focus of hope and expectation, a sunny future, shadowed by its dark realities. But the current federal administration, Lula's, is changing things, and though the disparities of wealth and privilege remain stark and brutal (Brazil is, like the US, one of the more dramatically disparate countries in terms of wealth and privilege), things are very much improving. The government takes seriously the condition of its people and the importance of social responsibility.
I discovered this anew in my most recent trip to Brasilia, for meetings with the education ministry, and Porto Alegre, for fisl 9.0. Briefly, the meetings were immensely productive, and fisl was extraordinary. It is one thing to hear the strong rhetoric for Floss and another to see it in action (read about the KDE installations). The ministry, along with other federal and provincial governments, is dedicated to Floss and wants to move fast on it. OpenOffice.org is crucial there, as it is the best productivity suite on the planet, and that it is also free software--well that simply seals the deal. But the OpenOffice.org we are talking about is BrOffice.org, the Brazilian Portuguese version that is distributed by the BrOffice team. They had to rename it for trademark reasons, but it's the same thing that nearly a hundred million others use daily. And these facts raise some compelling points:
• Many Brazilians, including those in the Floss movement, as well as those in major corporations and government offices, are unaware of the identity of the two
• Support and training are sporadically available. Now, if someone or some public or private enterprise wants support for OOo, they can find it in several languages by going to our Support page; Sun (my employer) also provides for-fee professional support for OOo, along the same lines as for StarOffice.
• But the default understanding of the public and private enterprises in Brazil does not include support, training, services, and these are sorely wanted. Thus, we have the states of Paraná, the huge, quasi-federal office Serpro, the social security agency and many, many more which I learned about in the three-hour session dedicated to OOo and in personal discussions. (Indeed, I had so many of these that I regretfully could attend very few sessions.)
The ultimate point: we need to develop the support business in Brazil. Of course, Brazil is not alone; we need to do this elsewhere, too. But the need is urgent there and the market is open, and as I mentioned in my presentation late Saturday, Brazil really is the leader here and has the ability to join with India and South Africa and possibly China in proving the role and value of Floss in creating not only markets independent of colonial shadow but socially responsible.
But what about support? By support, I mean first and second level support, the sort that reassures regular endusers; and I also mean training. NO polity, no enterprise embraces Floss without minimizing liability. That means they want support and services and training contracts. It means building the ecosystem for OOo and doing so now.
BTW, if you have not looked at this, now is the time: http://www.hackerteen.com .
2008-04-16
fisl9.0
It's hard not to be enthusiastic about fisl, or to expand the acronym, the 9th Fórum International Software Livre, held each year in Porto Alegre, Brazil. In part, my enthusiasm stems from the energy and commitment to free software shown by the government; and in part, from the warmth and friendship demonstrated by the Brazilians.
OOo will, as always, have a booth at fisl, and we will--a first--be holding workshops, demonstrating how to build extensions, and answering question about code, format, project, community. If the past is any measure of the future, I'm fairly sure the event will be memorable and fun.
But there are challenges. The BrOffice community is big and growing but integration between it and the international community needs to be stronger. I would love to know, for instance, some basic data, such as how many people download the application, or some basic information about who is using it. Of course, I am aware of the big players, such as major government offices. And am also acutely aware of the difficulty of obtaining solid information about the users of free software. But, the more and the better information that we possess, the more effective we can be in shaping the product, addressing needs, and so on. And the more the BrOffice community works with the international one, the easier it ultimately is to grow the developer community.
Brazil is by no means alone here: all the major regions suffer the same problems, to greater or lesser degrees, and they come down to a lack of sophisticated developers. Nor is OpenOffice.org at all unique; all major Foss projects are in the same boat. We are also taking similar actions to redress these lacks, but results do not come the next day or even the next month. Education, mentoring, outreach, community coordination, all take time to bear fruit, all are forms of capital investment, and all are worth it--from the perspective of the government, and from that of the project.
And in this regard, as I've witnessed in the last few days, Brazil is a real leader. Its government has powerfully realized the necessity not just of using Foss but of producing it. And it is to OOo's credit and honour that we are so deeply involved in the move to productive freedom.
OOo will, as always, have a booth at fisl, and we will--a first--be holding workshops, demonstrating how to build extensions, and answering question about code, format, project, community. If the past is any measure of the future, I'm fairly sure the event will be memorable and fun.
But there are challenges. The BrOffice community is big and growing but integration between it and the international community needs to be stronger. I would love to know, for instance, some basic data, such as how many people download the application, or some basic information about who is using it. Of course, I am aware of the big players, such as major government offices. And am also acutely aware of the difficulty of obtaining solid information about the users of free software. But, the more and the better information that we possess, the more effective we can be in shaping the product, addressing needs, and so on. And the more the BrOffice community works with the international one, the easier it ultimately is to grow the developer community.
Brazil is by no means alone here: all the major regions suffer the same problems, to greater or lesser degrees, and they come down to a lack of sophisticated developers. Nor is OpenOffice.org at all unique; all major Foss projects are in the same boat. We are also taking similar actions to redress these lacks, but results do not come the next day or even the next month. Education, mentoring, outreach, community coordination, all take time to bear fruit, all are forms of capital investment, and all are worth it--from the perspective of the government, and from that of the project.
And in this regard, as I've witnessed in the last few days, Brazil is a real leader. Its government has powerfully realized the necessity not just of using Foss but of producing it. And it is to OOo's credit and honour that we are so deeply involved in the move to productive freedom.
2008-04-09
LGM 2008
The Libre Graphics Meeting is to be held this year in Wroclaw, Poland, from 8-11 May. I cannot make it, but I did attend last year's and it was a great event. OOo doesn't really focus on graphics, but it can: there is no reason to limit the application to the supposedly dull office bucket. Graphical applications, moreover, can include works such as Scribus, as well Inkscape, Gimp, Krita, Blender, and with our own Draw gaining prominence and importance, it makes sense to form tighter liaisons with these and other free graphical projects. After all, we all want to give all users, everywhere, the power and freedom (and aren't they linked?) to create.
Help support LGM 2008. Make a donation.
Help support LGM 2008. Make a donation.
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