KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

[Posted December 6, 2010 by corbet]

KDE.News carries the news that KOffice has been rebranded as "the Calligra Suite" and given a wider focus. "The Calligra Suite introduces the Calligra Office Engine which makes it easy for developers to create new user experiences, target new platforms and create specialized versions for new kinds of users. Currently, there are two main user experiences: the desktop UI with the applications mentioned above, and FreOffice which is the only free mobile office suite in existence."

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 0:52 UTC (Tue) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link] (8 responses)

From an English perspective, 'Calligra' reminds me of nothing so much as rebranding of the Post Office as 'Consignia'. (For the record: 'disastrously awful' does not *begin* to cover it.)

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 1:13 UTC (Tue) by nicooo (guest, #69134) [Link]

Calligraphy?
Makes me think of typography.

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 11:04 UTC (Tue) by epa (subscriber, #39769) [Link] (1 responses)

Darmok and Jalad at Calligra.

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 9, 2010 3:57 UTC (Thu) by Kamilion (subscriber, #42576) [Link]

Temba, his arms wide!

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 12:03 UTC (Tue) by halla (subscriber, #14185) [Link] (3 responses)

Well, it's never possible to please everyone with a new name. Plenty of people like it, and appreciate that this name really can grow into an umbrella for productivity and creativity applications, for desktop and mobile applications that all share the same powerful core engine.

And had we used something with a K, the whining would have been even worse, I'm sure of that, plus it's impossible to create a name that the great public won't be able to find any innuendo about -- as Dorothy L. Sayers already concluded in Murder Must Advertise.

We went through a lot of suggestions and in the end made a vote for it in the community. Calligra was the first choice, Feniks second. We're happy with it and we're convinced that we're developing something that is unique in the free software world: a capable, free platform for productivity and creativity applications, on desktop and mobile with a suite of applications that we're going to make really great!

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 12:29 UTC (Tue) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

Agreed that it's impossible to find a name that will please everyone. Also, in time, the Consignia joke of a name will fade in the public eye (this is already well underway): one hopes Calligra won't.

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 13:47 UTC (Tue) by mpr22 (subscriber, #60784) [Link] (1 responses)

"KOffice" is a great name. It tells me (roughly) everything I need to know about the product: it's an "office suite" for KDE. I know (roughly) what an office suite is; it has programs for making documents, managing appointments, sending/receiving e-mail, etc.

"Calligra" would be a wonderful name for a handwriting recognition program, and a decent-ish name for a word processor. It's a lousy name for an "office suite" or similar.

However, I don't use or contribute to KOffice, so my opinion here is irrelevant :)

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 14:29 UTC (Tue) by halla (subscriber, #14185) [Link]

That's exactly what the problem was -- the applications in KOffice provide functionality beyond "making documents" -- and it didn't provide apps for "managing appointments, sending/receiving e-mail", so it was a bit a of misnomer.

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 8, 2010 11:49 UTC (Wed) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

After damning it, allow me to reverse my decision and point out that the names of the *individual components* have improved immeasurably. I could never remember which of the programs in KOffice was which...

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 1:02 UTC (Tue) by hitmark (guest, #34609) [Link] (2 responses)

for some reason i keep reading it as caligula.

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 3:14 UTC (Tue) by Duncan (guest, #6647) [Link] (1 responses)

Caligula is the first thing that popped into my mind, as well.

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 13:56 UTC (Tue) by bjacob (guest, #58566) [Link]

Same here, but being french I also read "gras" which means "fat", so: "Fat Caligula".

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 1:04 UTC (Tue) by avtechmjc (guest, #50477) [Link] (4 responses)

Not Kalligra?

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 3:22 UTC (Tue) by Duncan (guest, #6647) [Link] (3 responses)

It seems they've quit with the "K" thing. In fact, the in thing now days seems to be an "anti-K" thing, generally making it a "C" thing (which this matches), sort of playing off on how everything had to have a k in it for so long.

Personally, I preferred the K thing, altho at least from the US perspective I do remember a bit of early discomfort due to the similarity to "Komrade", given the anti-communism politics here, especially since FLOSS was already getting some accusations of that. Still, the K thing did give it a distinctive identity and when "k" was the initial letter as was common, it made finding kde apps easy. =:^)

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 11:23 UTC (Tue) by Los__D (guest, #15263) [Link] (2 responses)

I do remember a bit of early discomfort due to the similarity to "Komrade", given the anti-communism politics here

Huh? There is nothing about K instead of C for "comrade" related to communism, AFAIK?

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 12:29 UTC (Tue) by epa (subscriber, #39769) [Link] (1 responses)

Maybe Das Kapital created some association for the letter K?

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 8, 2010 12:36 UTC (Wed) by feth (guest, #69696) [Link]

And Krutshev was "Mr K".

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 1:21 UTC (Tue) by xorbe (guest, #3165) [Link]

Oh no, cue viagra jokes at the office.

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 12:27 UTC (Tue) by sorpigal (guest, #36106) [Link] (5 responses)

It seems like the story here is really "Nobody gets along with kword maintainers, koffice forks," and takes the opportunity to rebrand while they're at it.

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 12:48 UTC (Tue) by halla (subscriber, #14185) [Link] (4 responses)

Maintainer -- singular, not plural :-). But the Calligra Suite is not a fork in the proper sense: we see it as the legitimate continuation of KOffice, and the KOffice name will disappear. Only Words is a true fork, of KWord, and one that is led and developed by everyone else who used to work on KWord.

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 15:43 UTC (Tue) by macson_g (guest, #12717) [Link] (3 responses)

Folks seems to be pretty secretive about the underlying story, which in turn seems to be pretty interesting. Does anyone have any details (mailing list posts, irc logs)?

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 15:46 UTC (Tue) by halla (subscriber, #14185) [Link] (1 responses)

It's really not interesting. Just rather painful because it went of for a very long time and hurt a lot of people and was very difficult to find a solution to. I don't think you'd enjoy reading the mailing list archives a lot, even though they are public. It's much better to be productive and have fun coding!

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 8, 2010 9:22 UTC (Wed) by gowen (guest, #23914) [Link]

Boudewijn, can I just say how nice its been to see a split in a project in which -- after a fairly acrimonious split -- the forkers are making such an effort to move on without any further acrimony.

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 18:47 UTC (Tue) by henning (guest, #13406) [Link]

Here are some more details: post from devel list.

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 17:16 UTC (Tue) by amacater (subscriber, #790) [Link] (4 responses)

Still Free and gratis - or is there to be a Calligra fee?

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 17:23 UTC (Tue) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]

*groan*

You win the Internet-wide appalling pun prize for this month.

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 19:06 UTC (Tue) by TeDiouS (guest, #67602) [Link]

Bravo *claps*
That made me chuckle a bit.

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 19:32 UTC (Tue) by ingwa (guest, #71149) [Link]

I don't think it would be feesible to demand money...

KOffice becomes the Calligra Suite

Posted Dec 7, 2010 22:23 UTC (Tue) by skvidal (guest, #3094) [Link]

that rocks.