+1
Sophie
+1
-1
I vote in favor
+1
–Osvaldo
Voto a favor!
+1
I vote in a favour.
+1
¡Voto a favor!
Votare a favore!
Voter pour!
Für!
+1
I vote +1.
-1
I vote in favour.
Best,
Jean-Francois Nifenecker
+1
Kind regards,
Regina Henschel
The great news of course is that there is one: Collabora Online - it is available for free download by anyone interested. The slightly sad news is that some people don’t know that yet.
Sadly this is just incorrect. There are a couple of FAQ entries “who created LibreOffice Online” and “Who contributed to the mobile work” that present the facts (as of ~five years ago, when the entire development community around LOOL moved away to COOL, there is now a rather larger team working on COOL). We tried hard there to credit both volunteers and those who actually funded things (alongside Collabora’s now multi million Euro investment)…
Your mail also ignores the rather clear reasons for the move away from TDF. Your short history ignores the many months during which no-one showed up to maintain TDF’s Online. Even the atticization vote (where the ecosystem members abstained) gave extra time for serious people to show up, tackle the security concerns, and keep it alive, but no-one did. Subsequently de-atticization was requested, and independent ESC members assessed that (as now) the activity didn’t meet even the basic threshold necessary to re-open the project. If there is a viable project now - why not just re-open LOOL following the agreed procedure ?
One of the major reasons for the COOL move was around branding and visibility. It seems your post starts with an unwillingness to direct people to Collabora’s work - and continues with the deeply inaccurate claim that TDF has substantially funded Online. That doesn’t seem like a promising start of a discussion that meets the ecosystem’s need for visibility to drive lead flow, sales a return on investment, and hence more investment into the software in a virtuous spiral leading to much more and better Free Software.
In conclusion: there is already a thriving Collabora Online community, which is a true FOSS project like Fedora, openSUSE, Nextcloud, ownCloud, openCloud, BigBlueButton etc. etc. - with an open bug tracker, forum, matrix channel, weekly public developer call, ~weekly public training calls, mentoring, and constant development.
Collabora Online is a friendly place, where contribution and do-ers are respected and appreciated for what they contribute by a large peer group of skilled developers. I encourage anyone interested in driving the state of the art forward around collaborative office - to join us on our mission to make open source rock.
Dear Michael,
Thank you for sharing your perspectives and historical context. I will be brief in my answer, as I am not a fan of exhaustive debates that distract us from executing our mission; I prefer to focus our energy on what is essential for the future of our foundation.
I would like to summarize my point of view based on the following pillars:
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The reality at FOSDEM: During my time at the FOSDEM booth, I spoke personally with many people who were asking for an online version of LibreOffice. There is a legitimate expectation from the community that TDF, as the guardian of the project, provides a clear and accessible path for its users.
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Recognition and support: In all of these interactions, I was the first to state, “If you need professional support for LibreOffice, whether for desktop or online, Collabora is the company in the ecosystem with the technical expertise to do so.” This demonstrates that my position is not an attack on the commercial ecosystem, but a recognition that we have different and complementary roles.
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Investment and nature of FOSS: We are immensely grateful for the investment Collabora has made in the code. However, anyone who runs a business understands the inherent risks and strategic decisions involved; in Open Source Software, code must be shared. The fact that other projects already use this code base only reinforces that the software is free and that innovation cannot be contained.
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Technological evolution and mission: For LibreOffice to remain relevant, it must keep pace with technological evolution. We cannot allow the foundation to remain stagnant while the world moves toward online collaboration; LibreOffice must be where technology evolves.
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Commitment to the global community: Our commitment is to our donors, our volunteers who dedicate their time, and our millions of users. Providing the infrastructure for a repository at TDF ensures an independent institutional home for the project. This allows the community to create and share innovations under the identity that serves as a global reference for our work.
We must overcome narratives of conflict. Free software is about freedom: those who want to collaborate, collaborate, and those who want to use it, use it. We must not be restricted in our ability to fulfill our mission. Reopening the repository is simply honoring our mission and respecting everyone who donates, collaborates, and believes in LibreOffice.
All the best,
Eliane Domingos
Dear Trustees,
-1
My dissenting opinion: this vote based also on false accusation, namely: There was also external funding for projects using the LibreOffice Online name … (NLnet; LibreOffice/Collabora Online typography ). More information: Questions on NLnet fundings with the LibreOffice name - #23 by nemeth (and other comment of that thread).
I’m in favor of this vote/decision!
Regards,
Andreas
The Board of Directors at the time of voting consists of 7 seat holders (not including deputies). In order to be quorate, the vote needs to have 1/2 or more of the Board of Directors members, which gives 4.
A total of 7 Board of Directors members have participated in the vote.
The vote is quorate.
A quorum could be reached with a simple majority of 4 votes.
Result of vote:
5 approvals: Eliane, Paolo, Sophie, Mike, Osvaldo
0 abstain
2 disapprovals: Simon, Laszlo
Decision: The proposal has been accepted.
Dissenting opinion from Laszlo: My dissenting opinion: this vote based also on false accusation, namely: There was also external funding for projects using the LibreOffice Online name … (NLnet; LibreOffice/Collabora Online typography ). More information: Questions on NLnet fundings with the LibreOffice name - #23 by nemeth 1 (and other comment of that thread).
I congratulate and applaud the board for taking this so important decision. It corrects a massively problematic situation from the past, addresses the needs, wishes and requirements from the community, and helps TDF to fulfil its mission: make LibreOffice available on as many platforms and for as many people as possible.
I look forward to the discussion how to provide an Online version of LibreOffice that benefits end-users, governments, the commercial ecosystem, our community and contributors, building trust and confidence in TDF as an independent organization.
Only together we can achieve magic things, and this is a very important first step. Thanks to everyone who made this possible!
Traducción del post original basada, mayormente, en Deepl
Estimada comunidad:
FOSDEM ha sido otro evento en el que la gente ha preguntado por la disponibilidad de una versión en línea de LibreOffice o, para aquellos que conocían su existencia, por el estado y los planes futuros de LibreOffice Online. Esto sigue la línea de preguntas similares en muchos otros eventos, según informan las comunidades locales.
Como muchos en nuestra comunidad saben, LibreOffice Online comenzó gracias a la importante financiación proporcionada por The Document Foundation. Las contribuciones de código fueron realizadas en gran parte por empresas del ecosistema, mientras que los voluntarios de la comunidad contribuyeron con la documentación, la localización y el sistema de ayuda. LibreOffice Online era muy conocido a nivel mundial gracias a la marca LibreOffice, lo que le permitió prosperar, y gracias a las contribuciones de la comunidad y las empresas del ecosistema hasta que fue bifurcado por un miembro del ecosistema comercial en octubre de 2020.
Las juntas directivas anteriores, con miembros que actuaban en conflicto de intereses en todas las etapas de los procesos, votaron a favor de «congelar» el repositorio y, finalmente, lo archivaron y lo vincularon a sus propios repositorios de terceros.
En 2022 se publicó una carta abierta (Carta abierta para revivir LOOL, añade tu +1 si estás de acuerdo). También hubo financiación externa para proyectos que utilizaban el nombre LibreOffice Online NLnet; Collabora Online/LibreOffice Accessibility y NLnet; LibreOffice/Collabora Online typography.
Reconocemos la importancia que tiene para la comunidad una versión en línea de LibreOffice y la necesidad de corregir una situación que ha sido insatisfactoria durante demasiado tiempo.
Muchos de los detalles en términos de procesos y tecnologías que podrían utilizarse en el futuro deben aclararse en un debate abierto con la comunidad, incluidos los socios del ecosistema, a quienes invitamos explícitamente al debate, por lo que este es ahora un punto de partida.
Para iniciar el proceso de liberación de LibreOffice Online y comenzar el camino que conducirá a tener una versión en línea por la comunidad y para la comunidad, proponemos la siguiente votación:
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Revocar las decisiones de congelar el repositorio de LibreOffice Online
https://community.documentfoundation.org/t/vote-libreoffice-online-freeze-related-topics/8907
https://community.documentfoundation.org/t/vote-libreoffice-online-repository-and-translations/8893
https://community.documentfoundation.org/t/vote-libreoffice-online-information-in-the-release-notes/8911 -
Revocar la decisión de poner LibreOffice Online en el «ático»
[[DECISION] Delayed atticization for LibreOffice Online](Online en el «ático» [DECISION] Delayed atticization for LibreOffice Online) -
Reabrir el repositorio de LibreOffice Online en TDF para recibir contribuciones
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Proporcionar advertencias sobre el estado del repositorio hasta que el equipo de TDF considere que es seguro y utilizable, al tiempo que se anima a la comunidad a contribuir con código, tecnologías y otras aportaciones que puedan utilizarse para avanzar
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Trabajar activamente con la comunidad para identificar cómo fomentar LibreOffice Online, incluida la base tecnológica