Me thinks the author is missing something here...

Story: Could Oracle fracture open source community?Total Replies: 9
Author Content
JaseP

Sep 07, 2010
10:55 AM EDT
The author is coming up indicating that he thinks that Oracle might pull Java from OpenOffice.org,...

The problem with that is that anything that they had put into their license to this point has (most probably) been GPL'd... They can't "re-virginize" OpenOffice.org. Plus, since OpenOffice.org is GPL,... If Oracle/Sun stops hosting development, the community is free to fork it. In fact, there had been a call to fork it into an entirely free version, until Sun committed to releasing (most of) Java under theGPL,...

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenOffice.org#Use_of_Java

While forking would be a blow to future development momentum, it wouldn't change what is available now. OpenOffice.org, as it is, will be available for as long as the source code is located somewhere else, in addition to Oracle/Sun's servers... Besides, the version most people use already IS a fork,... Go-oo.

bigg

Sep 07, 2010
11:16 AM EDT
I remember seeing the use of the term "zealots" to describe those who didn't want OOo to require Java. Sometimes "pragmatism" is not quite as straightforward a concept as some believe. And sometimes software freedom is about more than a philosophy unrelated to practical computing.
gus3

Sep 07, 2010
11:32 AM EDT
What was the story we saw here recently about accounting for "exit costs"?
JaseP

Sep 07, 2010
12:45 PM EDT
My point is that the whole discussion is moot... 99% of Java is GPL'd, and the 1% that Oracle is suing Google over isn't a problem in OOo. IcedTea should take care of that portion, anyway...
bigg

Sep 07, 2010
12:51 PM EDT
> My point is that the whole discussion is moot

Yes it is, but at least in part due to the zealots.
beirwin

Sep 07, 2010
12:52 PM EDT
gus3 wrote: "What was the story we saw here recently about accounting for "exit costs"?

Just checked -- it's the article written by LXer's Hans Kwint:

Exit costs of lock-in: Anticipate or it's too late! http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/139731/index.html

Well worth another read.
tuxchick

Sep 07, 2010
12:52 PM EDT
+1 bigg
JaseP

Sep 08, 2010
10:20 AM EDT
> Yes it is, but at least in part due to the zealots.

For sure,... But the, "OMG, we're going to lose OOo now!!!" hysteria doesn't breed more zealots. It scares potential open source adopters away. Saving people money and freeing their minds breeds more zealots. The truth is that OOo faces no threats to its survival. The sky is not falling. Yes, zealots contributed towards ensuring this. But to make more zealots (I count myself as one), you don't run around using "Chicken Little" arguments.
Steven_Rosenber

Sep 08, 2010
3:35 PM EDT
I'm already using Abiword and Gnumeric instead of OO ... but what do I use for PowerPoint-style presentations? (Aside from OO Impress, that is ...)
bigg

Sep 08, 2010
3:48 PM EDT
Beamer.

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