[Libreoffice-bugs] [Bug 134486] UI: Branding: LibreOffice Personal edition

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.documentfoundation.org]

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=134486

Jan-Marek Glogowski <glogow at fbihome.de> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
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                 CC|                            |glogow at fbihome.de

--- Comment #33 from Jan-Marek Glogowski <glogow at fbihome.de> ---
It feels strange, that the official information about this change / patch was
shared "after the fact" (as in "after the LO source was patched"). For me it
came up on IRC first, as I hadn't updated my build yet. I'm aware that the
patch can be easily reverted; but that is not my point. My point is, a minority
made this decision, not the community / TDF members, and now it should be
discussed by the community. This is not about the proposed change, just the
seemingly "secret" implementation. And we're already in the RC release phase
for 7.0[1].

What I have often heard in the current and in previous discussions of LO
commercial models, is that companies are somehow (morally?) required to pay for
LO (support).
I think, this argument is simply invalid / none: LO is free software, so
everyone can use it, not just a "person", like it's IMHO implied by the rename.
I guess the people are already aware of the support implications, and otherwise
don't care. Probably this information should be made more prominent?

What eventually will happen due to this change is a lot of users wondering,
what is going on. I don't know if they take time for the investigation or
simply switch. I don't know, if this change will be good or bad marketing in
the end; either for the commercial LO editions or the (now) "personal" TDF one,
but I tend to the latter. There are also enough other (mostly non-free?) office
suites available, but AFAIK mostly free for "personal" use.

Maybe it would simply be better to offer downloads to the TDF version, clearly
stating the 6 / 9 months support cycle and linking to the "Professional
Support" page, stating that commercial versions with longer support cycles and
paid support are available (just stating this fact as it) and TDF endorsed,
then these naming shenanigans? AFAIK this is currently the primary selling
factor.

There is already enough discussion about the implications of the phrase "The
Personal edition is supported by volunteers and intended for individual use."
in the previous comments.

And the change / this bug already made it into the general German IT press[2],
with comments in the range of "this looks like a limitation in the range of
functionality".

[1] https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleasePlan/7.0#7.0.0_release
[2]
https://www.golem.de/news/document-foundation-libreoffice-soll-private-und-kommerzielle-nutzung-trennen-2007-149520.html

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