"An operating system without an office suite is limited in its mass market appeal, making this a fairly serious issue. When yellowTAB decided to update ZETA's compiler, much thought was given to this problem in particular, and finally an answer made itself clear."
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Member since:2005-10-02
Member since:2005-08-26
Member since:2005-07-07
This may be obvious but...
BeOS was/is a great OS, but I don't think it's realistic to think it can survive the amount of time it would take for somebody to write something as big as a "BeOS-Native" office suite. There are simply not enough developers in it's small userbase to do this. Even if such a thing appeared tommorrow, without MS Office compatibility it's useless.
MSOffice compatibility means it must have similar features...features that GoBe Productive fans often refer to as "bloat". I you personally only use an office suite for simple tasks, it doesn't make the more advanced features available in MSOffice "bloat". Business & government *need* these advanced features. Yes, an application should be intuitive and simple and light and fast - but Gobe Productive is frankly limited in it's features, as wonderful as it is.
The most important consideration is that OO.org is *alive* and is being actively developed. Internally it may be a bowl of spaghetti, but you must admit it has improved in it's lifetime and it has the momentum to continue to improve. There is just no way the BeOS community could do the same thing - there are too few users & developers. With OO.org, BeOS will continue to inherit the improvements by it's many developers. OO.org is the frontrunner as an MS Office alternative - it seems to have gained the most traction. It would actually be crazy for Yellow Tab *not* to attempt a port, because BeOS as a platform would be more isolated and limited in appeal, and there would never be enough developers to make the "BeOS Native" applications everyone prefers.
Besides, wouldn't it be nice to use file formats that are really cross-platform, but have decent features?
I think this shows that Yellow Tab has genuine concern for the future of BeOS, and are not solely trying to make a buck with a "cosmetically improved beta version".
Member since:2005-07-06
"Sources have described iOS 7 as 'black, white, and flat all over'. This refers to the dropping of heavy textures and the addition of several new black and white user interface elements." I couldn't be happier.
"Ilja van Sprundel, a security researcher with IOActive, has discovered a large number of issues in the way various X client libraries handle the responses they receive from servers, and has worked with X.Org's security team to analyze, confirm, and fix these issues."
"Google is facing a new antitrust probe by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission into whether the company is using its leadership in the online display-advertising market to illegally curb competition, people familiar with the matter said." Sucks to be Google today, apparently.
"In the midst of the major press blitz surrounding its annual I/O Conference, Google dropped some unfortunate news about its instant messaging plans. In several places around the web, the company is replacing the existing 'Talk' platform with a new one called 'Hangouts' that sharply diminishes support for the open messaging protocol known as XMPP (or sometimes informally Jabber), and also removes the option to disable the archiving of all chat communications. These changes represent a switch from open protocols to proprietary ones, and a clear step backward for many users." That's why I always say: only suckers trust companies.
"The wave of departures is a sign of internal struggle, but amidst all the bad news, there is a glimmer of hope. According to an anonymous HTC executive cited by WSJ, the crucial HTC One is selling 'pretty good so far'. The executive revealed that HTC sold about five million One units since launch, a performance that is deemed encouraging. However, sales have been limited by the persisting supply issues that still plague the production of the HTC One." Finally some good news for HTC. Five million units amidst supply constraints is very impressive.
"Sony gave the PS4 50% more raw shader performance, plain and simple (768 SPs @ 800MHz vs. 1152 SPs & 800MHz). Unlike last generation, you don't need to be some sort of Jedi to extract the PS4's potential here. The Xbox One and PS4 architectures are quite similar, Sony just has more hardware under the hood. Weâll have to wait and see how this hardware delta gets exposed in games over time, but the gap is definitely there. The funny thing about game consoles is that itâs usually the lowest common denominator that determines the bulk of the experience across all platforms. On the plus side, the Xbox One should enjoy better power/thermal characteristics compared to the PlayStation 4. Even compared to the Xbox 360 we should see improvement in many use cases thanks to modern power management techniques." AnandTech does its usual in-depth thing."The Verge has learned that HTC's Chief Product Officer, Kouji Kodera, left the company last week. Kodera was responsible for HTC's overall product strategy, which makes the departure especially notable on the heels of the global launch of the make-or-break One. It's not just Kodera. In the past three-odd months, HTC has lost a number of employees in rapid succession." I really hope HTC pulls it together.
"It is with huge pleasure that the Debian GNU/Hurd team announces the release of Debian GNU/Hurd 2013. This is a snapshot of Debian 'sid' at the time of the Debian 'wheezy' release (May 2013), so it is mostly based on the same sources. It is not an official Debian release, but it is an official Debian GNU/Hurd port release." Important note: 75% of Debian packages are supported bu Debian GNU/Hurd. Impressive.
"The first killer app was VisiCalc. This early spreadsheet turned the Apple II from a hobbyist toy to a business computer. VisiCalc came with room for improvement, though. In addition, a new architecture and operating system, the Intel-based IBM PC and MS-DOS, also needed a spreadsheet to be taken seriously. That spreadsheet, released in early 1983, would be Lotus 1-2-3, and it would change the world. It became the PC's killer app, and the world would never be the same. On May 14, IBM quietly announced the end of the road for 1-2-3, along with Lotus Organizer and the Lotus SmartSuite office suite. Lotus 1-2-3's day is done." Impressive 30 year run."There's a disconnect between how Apple CEO Tim Cook sees his company's tax strategies and how some members of the US Senate view it. That became clearer than ever today after Cook and two other Apple executives testified before Congress, explaining why they're holding most of their international income in Irish subsidiaries like Apple Operations International, which declare no tax residency anywhere in the world. AOI hasn't filed a tax return anywhere in the world for the last five years, yet it earned $30 billion in income from 2009 to 2012, according to a Senate report released yesterday." Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's just. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and many more - these companies might not be breaking any laws, but it's obvious to anyone that what they are doing is scummy.
Member since:
2005-06-29
While I like the idea of having an up-to-date office suite on my Zeta installation... I am wondering if OOo is a solution worthy of BeOS. GoBE sure was, but the BeOS version is defunct and out of date.
I realize OOo is their only option, but still. It doesn't fit BeOS.