Ranting?

[aussie149]

Hi Folks

I wanted to join in the discussion on the ranting page, but got this message

<Sorry but only can reply to posts in this forum>

AFAICT, I am logged in, so not sure what goes here. However, I am sure the moderator will move this across to the appropriate site

Anyway, what I wanted to say was:

For those of us new to OpenOffice.org/NeoOffice, I am sure this debate is mystifying. There is certainly some heat in it, which reflects old battles, and there is little doubt that whatever is going on is not helping the progress on a native port of OpenOffice.org to OS X. Personally, the language of code might as well be a foreign language to me. However, I have taken up Eric Bachard's invitation to join the OpenOffice.org discussion group [see his earlier post], in the hope of understanding what is going on, and where the roadblocks to progress might exist [if they do].

I cannot help at all in code development or testing, since I am an aged n00b, with little hope of getting my head around all that stuff , but I do want to try to encourage forward movement in the spirit of what I understand about Open Source Software development.

I have only been involved in OSS stuff in the last year or so, but I must say it is potentially very exciting and democratic. I guess Mac owners tend to be people who revolt against the domination of M$ etc, and are more incilned to be attracted by the spirit of Open Source, with its volunteerism and sharing. There is a real sense of a community embarked on a shared project. I am always reminded of JFK's speech about the US quest to get men to the moon: "We choose to do [these things][ not because they are easy, but because they are *hard*". What we are doing [I say "we" very loosely, since I am doing none of the coding] is hard enough, without schisms or internal problems. So, I am all for us trying to get on. I take no sides, because I would like to think that at some stage soon we can have a project *without* sides. I look forward to reading the posts on the OpenOffice.org group which I have joined. I encourage other NeoOffice people to join as well, so we understand more about what is going on, even if we can't do more than cheer from the sidelines.

Thanks to all those who do the hard coding and development work, and a happy new year to us all.

Enough speechifying from me
Peter

[ovvldc]

I share your sentiment. And moved the post to ranting .

Happy new year everyone!
(it is now 3:34 a.m. where I live).

Best wishes for 2006,
Oscar

[jjmckenzie51]