The Apache Software Foundation offers a suite of office productivity software named Apache Open Office. Based on the download page, you would never guess the last major release of the software was made available in 2014. With that bit of release history in mind, would it be fair to consider Apache Open Office as an un-maintained project? In this blog post, I share a quick recap of the history behind Apache Open Office, and my opinion on why The Apache Software Foundation’s actions may be masking the answer to this question.
  • lysdexic@programming.devEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    I get it that the project isn’t getting work done on features, but it bothers me how the author tried to criticize basic code quality improvements such as fixing typos. I don’t know if the author is an active contributor to the project, but I think he shouldn’t really be criticizing the ones that actually contribute, wether their contributions are big or small.

  • DogMuffins@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    The article doesn’t really frame the problem apache is causing… I think it’s really just that someone might install OpenOffice thinking that it’s LibreOffice.

    It’s definitely a dick move by Apache but… the reality is that they’re entitled to cling to the OpenOffice trademark if they wish, and it’s really LibreOffice’s branding problem.

    Also the article doesn’t mention the 14 bug fix releases since 4.1, which seems kinda disingenuous.

  • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    I don’t see why the last major release being in 2014 is relevant. It’s just document editing software. If it still works for that then I don’t see the problem. This isn’t some sort of video game client where all of the game servers are shut down and you can’t play it.

    Edit: Also, this article really buries the lede. The latest update is a security update from February of 2023. Just because it wasn’t a “major” update doesn’t mean it’s been untouched.

    • zipfelwurster@feddit.de
      0·
      1 year ago

      I find this a weird take.

      What about security patches? What about updates to document standards? What about technological advancements such as IPv6, 10bit colors, high res displays? What about bugfixes?

      Software is complex and office suites are complex by software standards.

      • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        The last major update is from 2014 but the latest update is from February of 2023 and indeed it contains security fixes.

        • zipfelwurster@feddit.de
          01·
          1 year ago

          You picked a single sentence in my reply and ignored the rest.

          I’d suggest you go use OpenOffice then. Using an essentially 10yr old version of an inherently collaborative software will be a nightmare.