Re: [libreoffice-marketing] SoftMaker Office

On 08/22/2012 08:55 AM, Tom Davies wrote:
> Hi :)
> Ahhh, yes.  Within 10 years i can easily imagine The Cloud as being the mainstream way that 
> almost everyone uses for almost everything.  However, i think that will still leave a large 
> number of people (and even quite a lot of  companies) that still need desktop apps and localised 
> data-storage.  
>
> Also a lot of people (and companies) that are currently racing to get onto The Cloud will have 
> become disillusioned with it and be moving back away from it for specific things.  Companies did 
> have good reasons for moving away from something similar in the 1980's and it wasn't only about 
> limited bandwidth back-in-the-day.  
> Regards from
> Tom :)  
Hi

One of the reasons for PC's becoming very popular was that users now had
a computer on their desks with software that allowed to work
independently of the mainframe. The cloud is in some senses just a
modernized version of the old mainframe/dumb terminal. That is not to
say there many situations where the cloud is the best overall solution.
Also, most people forget there two clouds: public and private. Usually
they are referring to the public cloud while private clouds has been
around for years. The private cloud is your basic client/server network
with all the computing done on the servers and by extension itself is a
modernized mainframe/dumb terminal system.

Personally, I have many issues with the public cloud. One is the
requirement for relatively fast Internet connections. The second is the
reliability of the connection; no one can guarantee 100% connectivity
and there are numerous possible points of failure. Another is control
and third party access to the data. The data will be on servers
somewhere and what are the local laws? Do you know the actual physical
locations of your data? Some countries have much weaker laws about
protecting privacy than others. By using the cloud some may be violating
inadvertently data protection laws such as the US HIPAA (patient record
privacy) or various fiduciary requirements particularly if the data is
not physically stored in the same country.

Also, many users do not really need the cloud especially for personal
usage. About the only value the cloud has for me personally is the
ability to share data occasionally with others.
> --- On Wed, 22/8/12, Ian Lynch <ianrlynch@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> From: Ian Lynch <ianrlynch@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [libreoffice-marketing] SoftMaker Office
> To: "Tom Davies" <tomdavies04@yahoo.co.uk>
> Cc: "Jay Lozier" <jslozier@gmail.com>, marketing@global.libreoffice.org
> Date: Wednesday, 22 August, 2012, 12:40
>
> On 22 August 2012 12:25, Tom Davies <tomdavies04@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>
> > Hi :)
> > Hopefully it's the range of different products that have a large overlap
> > for most of the functionality people genuinely use.
> >
> > Each Suite has a niche market and allows people to switch fairly easily
> > between different Suites.  For example a document created in Google-docs
> > using Odt format should be easy to modify in LO.  The problems arise when
> > sharing with MSO or between people using different versions of MSO.
> >
> > Google docs is excellent if you need to collaborate through The Cloud but
> > where i'm working at the moment they are all on one site and that has
> > amazingly bad internet connection.  Very low bandwidth.  Not quite as bad
> > as the worst Wireless or Dial-up but still pretty awful.  So, Cloud would
> > seem to be a bad choice for the company where i am at the moment.
>
>
> I'm really thinking ahead here not about specific circumstances and
> limitations. What is the long term trend? We are a small business and its
> important enough for us to make sure we have a decent internet connection
> and backups. If we can do that on our limited resources others will too or
> eventually become uncompetitive.
>
>
>
> > I think a lot of people are likely to be in similar position for a long
> > time
>
> Depends on what yo mean by a long time. 10 years is a long time in therms
> of tech change but not that long if you are as old as me :-)
>
> so although The Cloud is brilliant for many it's not really suitable for
> > everyone.
>
> Yet. That argument has been used since 2000. One thing is sure, there is a
> trend for greater and greater use and that is having a significant impact
> on many businesses and the way people interact.  What really matters is the
> trend and the rate of change. Rates of change can hit tipping points and
> become very rapid. Then it is simply too late as MS has found with mobile
> operating systems and Intel with ubiquitous processor design. ARM now ships
> more designs in a year than the whole x86 installed base. Yes, x86 based
> computers are not going to disappear tomorrow but what leads the world in
> consumer processor technology has radically shifted.
>
> > It's great to have the option to use either using the same format with
> > hardly any troubles with compatibility.  MSO never really delivers that
> > despite it's promises and despite the mainstream-public's perception.
>
> Depends on whether odf as a format is the most important issue or specific
> code as the productivity tool. For me it is odf across a wide range of
> products. For someone committed to a lifetime hacking LO the perception
> might well be different.
>
>
> > Regards from
> > Tom :)
> >
> >
> >
> > --- On *Wed, 22/8/12, Ian Lynch <ianrlynch@gmail.com>* wrote:
> >
> >
> > From: Ian Lynch <ianrlynch@gmail.com>
> > Subject: Re: [libreoffice-marketing] SoftMaker Office
> > To: "Jay Lozier" <jslozier@gmail.com>
> > Cc: marketing@global.libreoffice.org
> > Date: Wednesday, 22 August, 2012, 11:28
> >
> >
> > On 21 August 2012 16:31, Jay Lozier <jslozier@gmail.com<http://mc/compose?to=jslozier@gmail.com>>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > The real question is whether SO (or LO) is adequate MSO replacement for
> > most
> > > users. My experience is for most users the answer is yes; most users only
> > > use a part of the available features. Then the issue is whether a
> > > proprietary, commercial package (SO) is better than LO. Technically, I
> > > believe LO is better and I do not find most commercial software support
> > all
> > > that good (I have not checked SO's support). But others may have
> > different
> > > opinions and comfort levels between proprietary and FOSS software.
> > >
> > > IMHO, the real marketing issue for most users is that MS has convinced
> > them
> > > that there is only office suite that can be used.
> > I think that is weakening. However it seems unclear whether AOO/LO are
> > the main reason. There is some evidence that Google Docs is becoming
> > the most influential as work migrates to the web - hence MS and 365
> > Office. You rightly point out that for most people the features in MSO
> > are complete overkill but that could be said of most desktop office
> > suites. We are using GoogleDocs more and more because we need to share
> > documents with many other people around the world and that feature is
> > more valuable than obscure features. We use LO/AOO in specific cases
> > eg to provide a pdf to publish a book but for most day to day things
> > Google Docs integrated with hangouts and gmail etc is much the best
> > solution. So I see the biggest challenge for all desktop office suites
> > as a gradually eroding user base as more and more people migrate to
> > the web for their productivity tools. Of course this is going to take
> > years and there might always be a specialist desktop market but then
> > development takes years so it is not going to be easy to change track.
> >
> > > --
> > > Jay Lozier
> > > jslozier@gmail.com <http://mc/compose?to=jslozier@gmail.com>
> > >
> > >
> > > --
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> >
> > --
> > Ian
> >
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> >
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-- 
Jay Lozier
jslozier@gmail.com


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