Registration is open

The registration for the annual OOoCon is now open http://conference.services.openoffice.org/index.php/ooocon/2009/schedConf/registration.

OOoCon 2008 - where should we hold it ?

Last year we gathered in Barcelona, Spain. Where should the conference be held this year ? Six proposals is up for a vote:

• Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Beijing, China
• Bratislava, Slovakia
• Budapest, Hungary
• Dundalk, Ireland
• Orvieto, Italy

Read more about the conference and the election here: http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2008/cfl/

I think China sounds very nice, but i'm afraid that I wouldn't be able to find sponsors for the travel. My vote will probably fall at one of the European locations. Sorry China, I would love to visit you in Beijing.

Summary from OOoCon2007 in Barcelona (III)

Quality
The quality of any software product can always be discussed. OpenOffice.org has from time to time met criticism. One thing is for sure: "It will never be bug free".
The quality program that we in the Danish community is a part of is one way of controlling the quality of each version. On the conference was demonstrated another approach to the problem. And even developers among the spectators had to acknowledge the results.
University of Szeged in Hungary has, with financial support from EU, developed a tool that can analyze the source code. With this tool it will be possible foresee where a bug will appear later on. I saw the tool demonstrated and it's very impressive, how it is possible, on a very detailed level, to analyze the code for possible future bugs. It is furthermore possible to analyze the progress from version to version and see if quality is getting better or worse. The University is planning to pass the information to the development project, but this must be done with care, because the test results can be used to create vulnerable code like virus. http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/friday_162.pdf

IBM Symphony
Friday morning I was specificly invited to join a presentation of IBM Lotus Symphony arranged by IBM. Michael Karasick presented the product and talked about the background for the decision behind the product. The product is a stand-alone version of the productivity tools that comes with lotus Notes 8 and I actually didn't see anything new. Except of cause, that IBM now is talking about it as "It's OpenOffice.org version 1.1.4 inside".
By the way, I got permission to correct a little misunderstanding in the Danish press: The reason for choosing version 1.1.4 is not that later versions are less stable. The reason is that until a fw weeks ago, IBM had no right to use the code in version 2.x because of the licenses.
After the presentation I had the opportunity to have a little talk with Rob Weir from IBM about other topics. http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/friday_abstracts.html#ibm

Marketing
A few presentations was about marketing. This presentation of one person, who decided to do a full page advert in New York Metro shows that, it's possible to get adverts with limited funds and that one persons work can do the difference. http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/wednesday_54.pdf.

Some of the presentations was about the problem: "How can we attract more individual contributors". I don't think we found a solution, but a small sub committee that will take care of a strategy on this issue. The waves goes the same way as the "Google Summer of Code" initiative in conjunction with earlier positive experiences from the Sun teaching RedOffice in China. What the result will be, we don't know, but I think I got my self involved in the committee.

Summary from OOoCon2007 in Barcelona (II)

OpenOffice.org in the future
Louis Suárez-Potts opened the conference with a speak about the future development tasks. In overall terms:

1. Support of web2.0 technologies as Wiki, blogs, collaboration tools etc. http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/thursday_80.pdf
2. Closer integration with products from Mozilla, the so called PIM tools like contacts and calendar http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/thursday_70.pdf
3. Interoperability with other office suites http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/thursday_94.pdf
4. Tools for developing extensions as well as continue to enhance extension possibilities http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/thursday_48.pdf and
   http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/thursday_149.pdf
5. PDF support by making it possible to open and edit pdf files and create hybrid documents (both ODF and PDF at the same time) http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/completing_pdf_support_in_ooo1
6. Support pivot tables from Excel and a new solver function http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/friday_114.pdf
7. Notes- and comments http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Notes2
8. New porting: MacOS http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/wednesday_769.pdf and
   http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/wednesday_158.pdf

These and many other features can be expected in version 3, planned to be released spring or summer 2008. But of cause: plans can always be changed.

Chinese influence
Some time ago, Sun Microsystems made an agreement with Beijing Redflag Chinese 2000 Software Co. http://www.ch2000.com.cn/english/index.htm. This company is contributing with development of OpenOffice.org and is at the same time developing a special Chinese version that respects the special Cinese culture. As it was explained to us at the conference: "Microsoft will always try to learn us to use computers the way its done in the west. Only by developing our own office suite, we can have a suite that satisfies us and respects our culture and identity".
Just a few days before the conference opened, IBM published the news, that they will contribute to OpenOffice.org development in the future. This contribution will be from China too, because all office development, e.g. Lotus Symphony is done in China. http://www.openoffice.org/press/ibm_press_release.html

Summary from OOoCon2007 in Barcelona (I)

The conference in general
I participated in the conference on behalf of the Danish OpenOffice.org community http://da.openffice.org and my journey was sponsored by
Sun
Symfoni Software Denmark
DOSS

I was invited to the conference to speak about the political process in Denmark regarding the Parliament resolution B103 and the implementation of the resolution.

The conference was held at the Barcelona University right in the middle of Barcelona. It couldn't be more central and the University gave us a perfect frame for both formal and unformal meetings. The conference was arranged by the Catalonian language project and SoftCatala http://www.softcatala.org .

The conference program was very tight and it was impossible to find the time for everything. Four tracks of presentations all day long. The most important thing for me was actually to meet all the people that I only knew from emails and blogposts. To meet these people face to face was very important and I got an impression of how huge and complex the organization behind an open source project like OpenOffice.org is.

Overview of available information
All presentations are available under each day: http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme.html

I will emphasize the Keynote speak of Louis Suárez-Potts, the community manager for OpenOffice.org: http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/wednesday_186.pdf

Here is film recording of some of the sessions: http://ooocon.kiberpipa.org/ with photos.

Here is a subset of the pictures taken:: http://flickr.com/photos/tags/ooocon2007/show/

Here is my own presentation from the conference: http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/wednesday_79.pdf

I also participated in a debate on the subject ODF Impact on Industry and Governments: http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/friday_179.pdf arranged by Donald Harbison (Program Director, ODF Initiative / IBM ).

sophie wrote:

Hi all,
Thank you very much for this conference, thanks to all the organization team, you have make it a really great event.
The university was... impressive ! but very comfortable and a lot of places to talk to each other, central in the city and easy to find (for those who had followed that it was the one in the center ;-)
Jesus, even if you don't think so, I've seen every body appreciating the catering and especially the chocolates :).
One more time, it was very nice to meet you all, and as always, to short.

Thanks again
Kind regards
Sophie

And I can ony agree with Sophie. Thanks to everyone who participated in this great arrangement.

Home sweet home (but Barcelona is also ok...)

I Just got back from OOoConf2007 in Barcelona.

Here is an overview of information from the conference:

All presentations are available under each day: http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme.html

I will emphesize the Keynote speak of Louis Suárez-Potts, the community manager for OpenOffice.org: http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/wednesday_186.pdf

Here is filmrecording of some of the sessions: http://ooocon.kiberpipa.org/ with photos.

Here is a subset of the pictures taken:: http://flickr.com/photos/tags/ooocon2007/show/

Here is my own presentation from the conference: http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/wednesday_79.pdf

I also participated in a debate on the subject ODF Impact on Industry and Governments: http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/friday_179.pdf arranged by Donald Harbison (Program Director, ODF Initiative / IBM ).

IBM Symphony - is it out of date ?

John McCreesh writes about IBM Symphony on his blog today here in Barcelona. He discovered that IBM Lotus Symphony, which is a very new product, is actually a modified version af OpenOffice.org 1.1.4. See http://www.mealldubh.org/index.php/2007/09/20/legal-but/.

IBM Lotus Symphony is exactly the same implementation as in Lotus Notes 8.

Lunch break

As far as I'm concerned, the breaks are actually more important than the actual presentations.

Yesterday I made my presentation regarding the democratic process in Denmark and I have talked to many people yesterday and today about this and other issues. Having a smalltalk with people from Mexico, Hungary, Norway etc. gives much more deep insight of what is going on in the countries around the world than any presentation can give.

I have found out, that the Danish community is in many ways privileged by the rich society and all, but in other ways we are way behind and underprivileged. In most countries (not all) there is a much better understanding and adoption of the whole idea behind open source software and of the benefits for society. Many open source projects (open source in general and OpenOffice.org in particular) are actually sponsored or partly sponsored by governments and local governments.

Why is it, that the Danish government can't see, that open source is a strong accelerator for innovation and development ?

Image is from http://ooocon.kiberpipa.org where you can find more pictures and movies.

Chinese movement (From Barcelona)

Mr. Hu Cai Yong was talking about the background for the Chinese interest in open source software and OpenOffice.org. The company RedFlag 2000 has made their own distribution of OpenOffice.org called ReadOffice. This distribution is in no way competitive to OpenOffice.org
but is more as a distribution with a Chinese spirit inside. As Mr. Hu explained:

"Other providers of office suites is trying to implement western software and a western way of thinking."

and he continued:

"Translating an application like an office suite into Chinese is far more than just translating the words in the menu".

In Chine, as an example, all letters in the alphabet is the same size. And Chinese documents should not be suppressed by western standards, just because a it's common use in North America and Europe. With open source software as OpenOffice.org, the Chinese developers can make their own version that supports the specific needs that comes from Chinese traditions and culture.

I think it was important for all participants to hear that from a Chinese point of view, open source is solving a problem that proprietary western software can never do. We from North America and Europe will never be able to solve problems that actually has its beginning in culture.

OOoCon2007 is open !

The OpenOffice.org Annual Conference opens today. If you cannot attend in person, please note that today's conference presentations are available on-line at
http://marketing.openoffice.org/ooocon2007/programme/wednesday.html and the conference sessions will be broadcast and archived at http://ooocon.kiberpipa.org

Enjoy the Conference, even if you cannot be there in person!

From Barcelona

I just arrived at Barcelona a few hours ago. Despite that I got lost in the Metro, everything is fine. It's about 26 degrees centigrade, but here in the old university it's ok.

I got connected and got news that IBM will release Lotus Symphony in New York later today. It's another clone or distribution of OpenOffice.org. Information from Reuters. I hope to get some further information about it today or tomorrow.

Stay tuned.

Preparing ...

Release of 2.3
Today has been the day of preparations. I'm preparing release of OpenOffice.org 2.3. Expected released tomorrow September 14th. But unfortunately all with webmaster role is out of town. So the Danish release will be delayed for about a week.

Barcelona travel
Preparing my travel to Barcelona. OOoConf2007 (http://marketing.openoffice.org/conference/index.html) is starting on Wednesday and I will go there early Tuesday morning. My flight leaves at 8:30 from Copenhagen Airport. I have been looking into the programme to see where I should participate.

I just received an email from one of the guys there, Jesús Corrius. He is warning us about the weather forecast (http://www.barcelona.com/weather_in_barcelona). His words:

Please note that between Tuesday and Wednesday the temperatures will go down significantly (3 o 4 Celsius degrees less )

I think I can live with that. Here in Copenhagen it's 15 - 18 degrees celcius during daytime (http://www.dmi.dk/dmi/danmark/regionaludsigten/kbhnsj.htm).

Barcelona presentation
Well, I made the presentation about a month ago and I don't feel I need to make any changes. Just ran through the slides to re-discover the spirit.

I'll see you in Barcelona :-)

Barcelona

John McCreesh has persuaded me to come to OOoCON2007 in Barcelona. He wants me to talk about my experiences with the political situation with the Danish Parliament and the Minister of Science and Technology.

I have submitted my proposal to the conference committee and now we'll see if they want to see me.

I can't pay for the jurney my self. I have a full time job and I spend all my spare time on OpenOffice.org. Of cause I'll try to raise some funds in Denmark.