OpenDocument annoyance list - reward?

Hello people,

I put a question mark near "reward" in the subject of this mail because
I wanted to probe for interest/information beforehand...

I have been watching Abiword grow for the last two years and would like
to, let's say... share my biggest gripes. This is a preventive measure
in order to make sure my head doesn't explode from passive-aggressive
thoughts over time :)

Roughly speaking, I am a student. I am not a programmer, but I love
using software, especially software that is integrated into my desktop
environment, in this case, GNOME, and software that runs fast. Abiword
has both of these qualities, and I can't stop looking at the beautiful
usability and responsiveness of Abiword (compared to, say, OO Writer).

As a student, I have to frequently exchange documents with other
students and teachers. That usually (sadly) means that support for .doc
documents must be quite good, BUT, I actually am willing to use
OpenOffice to convert everything back and forth to ODT (if
Abiword's .doc support is lacking for certain documents, which I think
it is).

My attention is towards OpenDocument, because, as a student, I believe a
lot in the promise of OpenDocument. I want to save all my files to .odt
(and that's what I am currently doing). I know, this has been discussed
very often here, I'm not asking for OpenDocument as default (well I
guess I am, but I don't expect you to accept it so easily ;), what I'd
like to know is the realistic "potential" of improving OpenDocument's
support in Abiword.

I am not a developer, and it's a very sad thing because I would help you
on this otherwise.

I realize I'm writing a long post again, so I'll do it point form:
* is there people assigned to opendocument specifically right now?
* any plans to use google summer of code to make it 100% compatible?
* will support for OLPC change anything on the ODT issue?
* I'm far from wealthy, but is there a way I could hire a mercenary to
squash those 22 bugs that REALLY prevent me from using abiword? (not all
related directly to opendocument though, for example, there is no
support for cropped images, and it affects support with other formats,
kind of)
http://tinyurl.com/y9leut

Why I did not initially put a bounty/reward in this thread:
a) I have no idea if anyone is currently working on those bugs or if
they are just sitting among the 2051 bugs waiting for love
b) I fear that adding new features such as collaborative editing will
just take priority over fixing bugs and enhancing format compatibility
c) I a fear that you will just laugh at the measly sum I could afford to
donate to "get those bugs squashed". Or maybe I could use
http://www.fundable.org but I don't know if I would find people
interested in pledging. I would need to mail everyone who requested
opendocument support I guess :)

So here I am, testing the grounds. Using the .rtf and .abw formats are
_not_ options for me, sorry :| I'm sending this because I "have to know"
if I should just give up hope for a while.

Yet again I have to tell you, Abiword is a fantastic piece of software
really, and I admire you guys. That's why it angers me to see that I am
restraining myself from using it because of some compatibility issues
(and I am certainly not alone, judging by the number of threads where
someone actually took the time and effort to post about opendocument on
this mailing list).

Jeff
Received on Sat Nov 25 07:20:35 2006