[libreoffice-design] Moving to LibreOffice 8?

[Eyal Rozenberg]

I respectfully disagree with Italo.

First, about the "frame of reference". In my opinion, decisions such as 
major version number bumping are not, first and foremost, marketing 
decisions. That is a _consideration_, since the version number is 
declarative than technical. But - such an action should be "truthful" 
before being "marketable".

It is more important, in my opinion, that users and potential users 
receive trustworthy signaling from the project - not just w.r.t. version 
numbers, but generally - than for the media to get a gimmick for coverage.

A second point is that bumping a version number without a major 
innovation moves you a few more steps into the category of, say, Firefox 
and such, where versions just increase automatically with no meaning 
whatsoever. Italo, you said we are perceived as a "real innovator"; 
well, when a real innovator starts having hollow version number bumping, 
that perception fades.

Finally, everyone who likes the marketing potential of version 8 - 
great, but - keep that benefit for when we have a significant step 
forward to celebrate. Don't squander it.


Eyal

PS:  availability on a new platform is not a reason to bump a version 
number. It's the "same" software, but built for another target, so same 
version as before. IMHO anyway.



On 27/03/2023 20:11, Italo Vignoli wrote:
> Moving to LibreOffice 8 (instead of 7.6) makes sense for marketing 
> purposes, as media is looking at LibreOffice as the real innovator in 
> the open source office suite market, and the feeling of journalists is 
> that we are forever stuck at 7.x.
> 
> We all know that the next version will not include any significant 
> innovation which can justify the change of version, apart from the new 
> build system for Windows and the availability of LibreOffice for Arm 
> processors on Windows (which has not been announced).
> 
> Playing with the number 8, which can be rotated 90° to become the 
> "infinite" symbol, we can frame the next version as LibreOffice for an 
> infinite number of users, as we cover all hardware platforms and all 
> operating systems for personal productivity.
> 
> This is my opinion. If the community wants to stick with 7.6, I won't 
> insist. I have received enough insults both public and private for the 
> marketing plan, and I am still receiving them from a few people, that I 
> am not willing to enter into that process again (even if the decision on 
> the "community" tag has not been mine, but it looks like people have a 
> very short memory).
> 
> Looking forward to your thoughts.