Re: OpenDocument annoyance list - reward?

Hi Jean,
        Thanks for you interest in AbiWord. No one is assigned to work on
anything in AbiWord. We all do what we're most interested in
doing.

Having said that, one us, sum1, was employed over the Google Summer of
code period and devoted a lot of work to improving the odt and other
import/export filters. I believe he still does.

Fixing bugs as opposed to creating new features has always been a tension
for us. For myself I've concentrated pretty much on collaborative editing
for the last year. I'm committed to making it work as well as possible for
2.6.0

OLPC is not particularly interested in ODF at least for the time being.

Those are a particularly interesting collection of bugs. I'll do my best
to work my through them as I find time.

Cheers

Martin

>
> 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 12:11:17 2006