content/editorial/ec14August.html - openoffice-org - Git at Google

 <html><head>
 <meta HTTP-EQUIV="content-type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
 </head>
 <body>


 <h2>Community  Articles: Opinions, Interviews, Analyses</h2>
 <p><a href="../lspintro.html" target="_blank">-Louis Su&aacute;rez-Potts</a> and
   <a href="mailto:zaheda.bhorat at sun.eng.com">Zaheda Bhorat</a></p>
 <p>22 August 2001</p>
 <p>&nbsp; </p>
 <h4> OpenOffice.org at the O'Reilly Convention</h4>
 <p>The debate between Microsoft's lead propagandist, Craig Mundie and Red Hat's
   CTO Michael Tiemann was <i>the</i> event everyone was waiting for. It was probably
   disappointing for most. Mundie, from many accounts, came across, as almost offensively
   reasonable (the word &quot;unctuous&quot; leaps unbidden to mind), and though
   he certainly did not win any popularity contest--the crowd was wearing cheap
   plastic red hats, to give a hint why not--all the same he failed to reveal the
   tell-tale marks of his demonness: you know, fangs, claws, and smoking breath.
 <p><br>
 <table width="400" border="1" cellpadding="0" bordercolor="#99ccff" cellspacing="0" align="center">
   <tr>
     <td width="35%" height="106">
       <div align="center"><img src="panel_mundie.jpg" width="400" height="189"></div>
     </td>
   </tr>
   <tr>
     <td width="35%" height="27">
       <div align="left">
         <p>Microsoft's Craig Mundie and Red Hat CTO Michael Tiemann, among others,
           debate in the long-awaited Sun-sponsored debate.</p>
       </div>
     </td>
   </tr>
 </table>
 <br>
 <p>But the touted debate was actually <i>not</i> the most interesting thing of
   convention. If truth be told, the center of the whole affair was the OpenOffice.org
   Birds of a Feather seminar which Sun organized. Yes, this claim may be a slight
   exaggeration, but it's not really much of one. OpenOffice.org, is, as I've long
   maintained, at the forefront of a new conception of Open Source, in which corporations
   initiate Open Source projects with the aim of creating communities of developers
   who will contribute to the code as well as benefit from the companies' opening
   of the source code of their software.
 <p>The OpenOffice.org BOF was well attended, with around thirty attendees. Max
   Lanfranconi and Zaheda Bhorat, of the OpenOffice.org Sun core team, carried
   out a poll at the beginning of the BOF and found all attendees were new to OpenOffice.org.
   Less than 30% of attendees were aware that the code originated from StarOffice.
   As a result, the general focus was to provide information about OpenOffice.org,
   starting with some background, including the project's history.
 <p>OpenOffice.org was also present at the Sun booth at the O'Reilly conference.
   During the course of the three days, we spoke to new developers and several
   existing member at the booth. Some of these attendees were at the O'Reilly conference
   last year, when OpenOffice.org was announced. Some even admitted that they were
   shy and lurking on the lists; we naturally encouraged them to jump in with their
   questions, positions, answers.
 <p>There were many questions around the <a href="http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/" target="_blank">Mac
   OS X port</a>, and when it would be available. Don't be surprised if the Mac
   OS X people hear from the various interested parties following the conference!
   In particular, there was one group from the University of Texas wishing to contribute
   to this development. We also tried to connect members who wanted to build a
   WordPerfect filter for OpenOffice.org. In sum, we look forward to hearing about
   progress on the O'Reilly connections on the various mailing lists.
 <p>OpenOffice.org will also be at the upcoming <a href="http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/" target="_blank">Linux
   World Expo</a>, to be held in San Francisco, at the Moscone Center, beginning
   27 August and ending 30 August (see the <a href="/">OpenOffice.org
   homepage</a> &quot;Announcement&quot; box for special details and a free pass
   to OpenOffice.org members). If you think that we should be present at any other
   Open Source meetings, please let us know by sending mail to <a href="mailto:dev@openoffice.apache.org">dev@openoffice.apache.org</a>.
 <p>&nbsp;
 <p><a href="index.html">Previous articles</a>

 </body>
 </html>
	<html><head>
	<meta HTTP-EQUIV="content-type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
	</head>
	<body>


	<h2>Community Articles: Opinions, Interviews, Analyses</h2>
	<p><a href="../lspintro.html" target="_blank">-Louis Suárez-Potts</a> and
	<a href="mailto:zaheda.bhorat at sun.eng.com">Zaheda Bhorat</a></p>
	<p>22 August 2001</p>
	<p>  </p>
	<h4> OpenOffice.org at the O'Reilly Convention</h4>
	<p>The debate between Microsoft's lead propagandist, Craig Mundie and Red Hat's
	CTO Michael Tiemann was <i>the</i> event everyone was waiting for. It was probably
	disappointing for most. Mundie, from many accounts, came across, as almost offensively
	reasonable (the word "unctuous" leaps unbidden to mind), and though
	he certainly did not win any popularity contest--the crowd was wearing cheap
	plastic red hats, to give a hint why not--all the same he failed to reveal the
	tell-tale marks of his demonness: you know, fangs, claws, and smoking breath.
	<p><br>
	<table width="400" border="1" cellpadding="0" bordercolor="#99ccff" cellspacing="0" align="center">
	<tr>
	<td width="35%" height="106">
	<div align="center"><img src="panel_mundie.jpg" width="400" height="189"></div>
	</td>
	</tr>
	<tr>
	<td width="35%" height="27">
	<div align="left">
	<p>Microsoft's Craig Mundie and Red Hat CTO Michael Tiemann, among others,
	debate in the long-awaited Sun-sponsored debate.</p>
	</div>
	</td>
	</tr>
	</table>
	<br>
	<p>But the touted debate was actually <i>not</i> the most interesting thing of
	convention. If truth be told, the center of the whole affair was the OpenOffice.org
	Birds of a Feather seminar which Sun organized. Yes, this claim may be a slight
	exaggeration, but it's not really much of one. OpenOffice.org, is, as I've long
	maintained, at the forefront of a new conception of Open Source, in which corporations
	initiate Open Source projects with the aim of creating communities of developers
	who will contribute to the code as well as benefit from the companies' opening
	of the source code of their software.
	<p>The OpenOffice.org BOF was well attended, with around thirty attendees. Max
	Lanfranconi and Zaheda Bhorat, of the OpenOffice.org Sun core team, carried
	out a poll at the beginning of the BOF and found all attendees were new to OpenOffice.org.
	Less than 30% of attendees were aware that the code originated from StarOffice.
	As a result, the general focus was to provide information about OpenOffice.org,
	starting with some background, including the project's history.
	<p>OpenOffice.org was also present at the Sun booth at the O'Reilly conference.
	During the course of the three days, we spoke to new developers and several
	existing member at the booth. Some of these attendees were at the O'Reilly conference
	last year, when OpenOffice.org was announced. Some even admitted that they were
	shy and lurking on the lists; we naturally encouraged them to jump in with their
	questions, positions, answers.
	<p>There were many questions around the <a href="http://porting.openoffice.org/mac/" target="_blank">Mac
	OS X port</a>, and when it would be available. Don't be surprised if the Mac
	OS X people hear from the various interested parties following the conference!
	In particular, there was one group from the University of Texas wishing to contribute
	to this development. We also tried to connect members who wanted to build a
	WordPerfect filter for OpenOffice.org. In sum, we look forward to hearing about
	progress on the O'Reilly connections on the various mailing lists.
	<p>OpenOffice.org will also be at the upcoming <a href="http://www.linuxworldexpo.com/" target="_blank">Linux
	World Expo</a>, to be held in San Francisco, at the Moscone Center, beginning
	27 August and ending 30 August (see the <a href="/">OpenOffice.org
	homepage</a> "Announcement" box for special details and a free pass
	to OpenOffice.org members). If you think that we should be present at any other
	Open Source meetings, please let us know by sending mail to <a href="mailto:dev@openoffice.apache.org">dev@openoffice.apache.org</a>.
	<p>
	<p><a href="index.html">Previous articles</a>

	</body>
	</html>