Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4 released

[Posted October 19, 2017 by corbet]

The OpenOffice 4.1.4 release is finally available; see this article for some background on this release. The announcement is all bright and sunny, but a look at the August 16 Apache board minutes shows concern about the state of the project. Indeed, the OpenOffice project management committee was, according to these minutes, supposed to post an announcement about the state of the project; it would appear that has not yet happened.

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4 released

Posted Oct 19, 2017 19:32 UTC (Thu) by simosx (guest, #24338) [Link] (7 responses)

Here is the relevant part about AOO:

C. Article about Apache OpenOffice Waiting for AOO

Bertrand: do we want AOO to make public statements about the level of activity on the project?

Rich: it would be good for them to make a public statement

Chris: no strong opinions about this, but this is not the normal way the board interacts with PMCs

Ted: the issue is the difference between user activity level (downloads) and code activity level

Shane: most of our projects have technical users but AOO users won't necessarily know e.g. that security questions may an issue in the future

Bertrand: maybe we should ask them to publish a blog post about the status of the project

Brett: what is our objective? discourage downloads?

Ted: is either a blog or a disclaimer going to accomplish the objective?

Bertrand: we should have a public statement to make people aware

Jim: no matter what we do, some people will want more. we should go public; ask the PMC to make a statement of direction so end users understand what is happening with the project

@Jim: follow up with the PMC to get a public statement out

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4 released

Posted Oct 19, 2017 20:31 UTC (Thu) by glaubitz (subscriber, #96452) [Link] (4 responses)

I still don't understand why this project hasn't been put to an end.

I don't have the impression that anyone inside Apache is interested in the project and I don't see any serious progress anymore.

What exactly is the point? Am I missing something?

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4 released

Posted Oct 20, 2017 0:46 UTC (Fri) by ledow (guest, #11753) [Link] (3 responses)

Maybe they should less time writing up all those minutes and more time coding, or working out how to get people coding.

AOO is dead.
LibreOffice took the title.

Donate the name to them.
Close up the project.
Turn the lights out
Shut the doors.

LO are literally doing a better job in every possible respect - coding, marketing, dev changelogs, feature additions, compatibility fixes, source-code cleanup, sucking in updates from other upstream sources, etc.

As far as I'm concerned, AOO is just someone not wanting / able to give the name to someone else, but to cling onto it for the cachet. They don't do anything useful or practical, are generating a serious security risk, and that will tarnish their other well-known products (e.g. Apache web server) which can't afford to be associated with a security risk like that.

There is no advantage to them keeping running with it or trying to boost it at this stage.
There are massive disadvantages to their users and reputation to let it idle or to continue on the status quo.
There are nothing but advantages to shutting it down.
Someone, somewhere has a problem acknowledging that. And there's just complete apathy for their users.

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4 released

Posted Oct 20, 2017 13:47 UTC (Fri) by jospoortvliet (guest, #33164) [Link]

All of this has been true for years, some people just don't want to give up... Sad, it harms the entire ecosystem, but it is what it is.

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4 released

Posted Oct 26, 2017 23:17 UTC (Thu) by cornelio (guest, #117499) [Link] (1 responses)

Yes, LibreOffice has much more resources of all kind, it is sponsored by Google, Intel, Samsung, Redhat and I forgot whom else, and yes AOO has slowed down considerably but still, as long as there is someone willing to put together fixes, new releases are welcome and people evidently see some value in downloading it.

And then opensource-never-dies and software-isn't-truly-alive so such declarations of a project being dead are always premature.

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4 released

Posted Oct 27, 2017 14:31 UTC (Fri) by micka (subscriber, #38720) [Link]

When someone says "open-source nevers dies", it usually takes into account the possibility continues as a fork. The project in its aoo incarnation is probably dead (or rather zombie) but there is/are forks that live.

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4 released

Posted Oct 26, 2017 23:25 UTC (Thu) by cornelio (guest, #117499) [Link]

The minutes show two things about the Apache Software Foundation:

- It is pretty public in its communications.
- It respects the independence of its Top Level Projects.

They will not turn off the lights unless the AOO Project Management Committee fails to respond.

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4 released

Posted Nov 28, 2017 10:22 UTC (Tue) by tialaramex (subscriber, #21167) [Link]

It turns out that the board considers this resolved under the rationale that the release included such a public statement.

Did you notice "a statement of direction so end users understand what is happening with the project" in the release? Me either. But the board has assured itself that they provided one. So that's nice.

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4 released

Posted Oct 19, 2017 20:02 UTC (Thu) by tialaramex (subscriber, #21167) [Link] (2 responses)

The board minutes paint the Apache board as rather hapless, unsure what should happen to a project which has "user activity" in the sense that end users keep downloading but doesn't actually have a viable base of developers. The response seems to be "let's ask them", which is management by refusal to manage. Also keep in mind Jim Jagielski speaks in that discussion without bothering to mention that he's basically acting as release manager and keeping the plates in the air for AOO day-to-day. I don't know whether other board members don't know that, or are pretending not to know, but it makes the whole thing a farce.

The AOO PMC is twenty-seven people. Less than half of them take any visible day-to-day role at all, and one of those is Jim Jagielski. The rarely active project chair, Marcus Lange, seems concerned with exactly the sort of transparency-defeating busy work I complained of long previously.

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4 released

Posted Oct 20, 2017 9:00 UTC (Fri) by georgm (subscriber, #19574) [Link]

It's dead Jim, as McCoy would put it

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4 released

Posted Oct 21, 2017 0:58 UTC (Sat) by rahvin (guest, #16953) [Link]

IMO it's damaging the entire Apache Brand, I know my opinion has changed.

Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4 released

Posted Oct 26, 2017 23:22 UTC (Thu) by cesarb (subscriber, #6266) [Link]

They have now released the list of security fixes in 4.1.4 at https://www.openoffice.org/security/bulletin.html

Fixed in Apache OpenOffice 4.1.4

CVE-2017-3157: Arbitrary file disclosure in Calc and Writer
CVE-2017-9806: Out-of-Bounds Write in Writer's WW8Fonts Constructor
CVE-2017-12607: Out-of-Bounds Write in Impress' PPT Filter
CVE-2017-12608: Out-of-Bounds Write in Writer's ImportOldFormatStyles