Re: OpenOffice.org

sxxx@o2.pl wrote:

>Hi,
>
>(I've lost my mail, so I'll just put Alan's words in quotes as I
>can't reply directly)
>
>"I do not know what version of Abiword you use but soon all the linux
>versions will include gnome-print which provides a standard Print dialog
>for all kinds of Gnome and Gtk applications. I expect the Gnome print
>developers will be willing to gradually add more functionality to their
>software as it improves and Abiword will benefit from that."
>
>And what about Win32 version? :) I guess I can't expect all those
>printing features I mentioned in my last post, to be added to
>Abiword anytime soon. And I need them. This leaves me no choice but
>to use OOo Writer, though I liked Abiword for it's user-friendly
>interface and it's speed. On the other hand, even on my home machine
>OpenOffice (2.0) loads up to 15 seconds and runs at reasonable
>speed, so it's not as bad as many say. It's also 100% stable as far.
>
>
If you really wanted to use AbiWord, our import and export is quite
functional - it would not be impossible to do the majority of the work
in AbiWord then export to RTF, the de-facto standard for WP document
interchange, which OpenOffice.org should be able to read. While I
regret that we don't have more featureful print support on Windows, it's
not exactly a point and click issue to implement.

Also, printing to PDF Creator (
http://www.sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator ) then loading the PDF in
Acrobat Reader should give you plentiful options for output.

>"the HTML export produces relatively clean markup which you can
>work with later for other purposes. Again I thought abiword was
>doing quite well here but perhaps there is something about how the
>exported HTML looks which you dont like."
>
>I can't tell right now, cause I don't have Abiword installed on my
>machine. But try to export some formatted document to HTML and check
>closely how it looks.
>
>
If there's a specific problem you have, please report it. If you even
have a general problem (listing, say, some features which export wrong),
report it to http://bugzilla.abisource.com/

>As a conclusion, I must say I'm rather not going back to Abiword,
>for a number of reasons:
>- virtually no printing options on win32 version,
>
>
That would be because Windows printing is a very tricky thing, and also
a bit of a black box. We wish we could do better, but from our
experience, those with the skills to master what we need to get Windows
printing great generally either get burned out or use Linux. It's not
for lack of interest, it's just for lack of volunteers/time.

>- poor export/import in general,
>

>- still not good enough compatibility with MS Word,
>- not suitable for bigger documents (don't make me tell why, I
>assume that you know),
>
>
These general statements only accomplish riling up emotions, and don't
really give us any useful feedback. If your intent is to give us useful
feedback so AbiWord becomes a better program, then give a specific
example or even just a little more specific than what you said... This
is a mature application, and contrary to the sound of your statements,
there are not really any grand over-arching problems that we are
purposely ignoring.

>- lack of other utilities (excluding Gnumeric) making up an office
>suite.
>
>P.S. You don't have to believe me, but less than a year ago, Abiword
>had some problems with reading it's own *.abw files properly, and
>I'm not quite sure if this has been improved yet. I mean, for
>example: It would change the font size in specific places of the
>document.
>
>
This is not an adversarial relationship, it's a cooperative one. We
have no vested interest in not believing you. Early 2.2 releases had a
few strange bugs like that I recall - they have all been resolved. This
sort of thing is better posted to Bugzilla rather than let to sit in
your mind then come out after the usefulness of the information has
decreased.

>Best regards and good luck!
>
>
AbiWord is not a conspiracy - there are no grand secrets or schemes to
keep needed bug fixes from users. When users realize that in this way,
they can cooperate, the developers can spend more of their time doing
what users would probably prefer that the developers do: develop (fix
bugs, write features, etc)!

(We generally use AbiWord ourselves for word processing, so it's not
like we're developing from some ivory tower or something...)

Thanks for giving AbiWord a shot! With the help of users, we'll be able
to provide the best word processor on the market!

-- 
Ryan Pavlik
AbiWord Win32 Platform Maintainer
www.abisource.com
"Optimism is the father that leads to achievement." - Helen Keller
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