On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:29:52 +0100, Ian Pawson wrote:

>>> Does anyone know when/if OpenOffice 3 will be/is available for Ubuntu? I
>>> know I can work my way through all the debs from the OpenOffice download
>>> sites, but I would rather wait for it to be packaged for Ubuntu (unless
>>> that's going to take months).

>> If you used Slackware, you could be using it right now. It's a shame to
>> be tied to "repositories" that others control, innit?

> But Ubuntu modify it a bit (mainly to get Excel VBA to work) so best to
> wait.

LOL! Yeah, OK. Right.

Dan C wrote:
> What percentage of *buntu users do you think are going to use other (than
> default) repositories, much less compile/install from source?
>
> It's a serious question. My guess is a percentage *very* near zero.

I know quite a few, some in this NG, including myself. So, not near zero.

johnny bobby bee illuminated alt.os.linux.ubuntu by typing:
> Dan C wrote:
>> What percentage of *buntu users do you think are going to use other (than
>> default) repositories, much less compile/install from source?
>>
>> It's a serious question. My guess is a percentage *very* near zero.
>
> I know quite a few, some in this NG, including myself. So, not near zero.

Stobbit. Please. I can't take anymore.

Dans' ass is being passed around this group on a plate, with full
silver service. ;-)

On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:36:32 +0000, johnny bobby bee wrote:

>> What percentage of *buntu users do you think are going to use other (than
>> default) repositories, much less compile/install from source?
>>
>> It's a serious question. My guess is a percentage *very* near zero.

> I know quite a few, some in this NG, including myself. So, not near zero.

OK, so "a few". How many folks do you think are using *buntu right now?
Is it measured in the hundreds of thousands, would you think? What does
that come out to, in percentage?

Like I said, "near zero".

Dan C <youmustbejoking> wrote in
news:pan.2008.10.20.21.25.23.247027:

> On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:01:55 +0000, ray wrote:
>>
>
> What percentage of *buntu users do you think are going to use other
> (than default) repositories, much less compile/install from source?
>
> It's a serious question. My guess is a percentage *very* near zero.

I don't know......I direct people to www.linuxappfinder.com to find apps for their version of Linux.

'Install Now' button's right on the web page for most apps.

On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:58:31 -0500, caver1 <caver1> wrote:

> Thats where you an I differ. If everything stays the same I get bored so
> I always try the newest as soon as possible.
> So far I am bored with OO3. Everything is working fine on two machines.
> caver1

No, I do not think we differ that much. There was a time when I ran Linux
for the hell of it. I compiled kernels and broke everything as soon as I
had a working system just to see if I could fix it. These days Linux is my
work OS, so I simply can't afford having a non fuctioning OO (or laptop)
even for a couple of hours. I love to mess around with things, but in this
case that's a luxury I can't afford :)

And that's what I like about Ubuntu, or in this case Mint: It just works,
but is still Linux! :)

ray wrote:
> Dan C wrote:
>> ceed wrote:
>>
>>> Does anyone know when/if OpenOffice 3 will be/is available for
>>> Ubuntu? I know I can work my way through all the debs from the
>>> OpenOffice download sites, but I would rather wait for it to be
>>> packaged for Ubuntu (unless that's going to take months).
>>
>> If you used Slackware, you could be using it right now. It's a
>> shame to be tied to "repositories" that others control, innit?
>
> Main problem with your thesis: one is not "tied to repositories
> that others control". One is free to install from a number of
> repositories or download and install from source.

This make three (3) reasonable posts from Dan C in the past two
weeks. Is he taking his meds these days?

caver1 wrote:

> ceed wrote:
>> Thats where you an I differ. If everything stays the same I get bored so
> I always try the newest as soon as possible.
> So far I am bored with OO3. Everything is working fine on two machines.
> caver1

I got bored with word processing software a couple decades ago. :-)

Cheers.

On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:25:23 -0500, Dan C wrote:

> On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 18:01:55 +0000, ray wrote:
>>
>
> What percentage of *buntu users do you think are going to use other
> (than default) repositories, much less compile/install from source?
>
> It's a serious question. My guess is a percentage *very* near zero.

I've seen instructions for adding other repositories quite frequently in
the ubuntu forums - so it must not be as rare as you propose. At any rate
one is hardly "tied to repositories that others control".

On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:46:45 -0500, ceed <ceed.spameater> wrote:
>On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:26:29 -0500, Ro <NoMail> wrote:

>> ceed schreef:
>>> Hi,

I always avoid .0 releases.

open office 2.4.x has been totally wonderful. I don't see a need to
betatest 3.x

On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:55:58 -0500, AZ Nomad
<aznomad.3> wrote:

> On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:46:45 -0500, ceed <ceed.spameater>
> wrote:
>> On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:26:29 -0500, Ro <NoMail> wrote:
>
>>> ceed schreef:
>>>> Hi,
>
> I always avoid .0 releases.
>
> open office 2.4.x has been totally wonderful. I don't see a need to
> betatest 3.x

There are certain Word and Excel compatibility issues which are resolved
in 3.0, so I would like to get hold of it as soon as possible. I agree
with you on the .0 approach in general though.

Dan C wrote:
> OK, so "a few". How many folks do you think are using *buntu right now?
> Is it measured in the hundreds of thousands, would you think?

Possibly even in the millions. There almost no way to tell.

> What does
> that come out to, in percentage?
>
> Like I said, "near zero".

I'm not denying that Ubuntu is used by tons of n00bs, but even these can
follow a HOWTO, and by my count there are at least 3 describing in easy
detail how to do this.

There are lots of us experienced users, too. Some that Debian lost or
use both, some from when SUSE sold out to Novell/Windows. And yes, Dan,
even some from Slackware. Ubuntu's base is diverse. So again, I believe
'near zero' is way off.

On Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:47:33 +0000, johnny bobby bee wrote:

>> OK, so "a few". How many folks do you think are using *buntu right now?
>> Is it measured in the hundreds of thousands, would you think?

> Possibly even in the millions. There almost no way to tell.

>> What does that come out to, in percentage?
>> Like I said, "near zero".

> I'm not denying that Ubuntu is used by tons of n00bs, but even these can
> follow a HOWTO, and by my count there are at least 3 describing in easy
> detail how to do this.

I think you are missing my point a little. Perhaps many of these n00bs
*can* follow a HOWTO, but my question was more like: How many of them
actually *would* do it? Many (most?) *buntu users do not even approach
such a "drastic" measure as adding/changing repositories. They simply
don't know that they can. Remember, probably 99.5% of users don't use
newsgroups, nor even know what they are. They simply don't need the added
power/resource of customizing repository listings, as they don't ever
really add any new software to the default installed packages.

> There are lots of us experienced users, too. Some that Debian lost or
> use both, some from when SUSE sold out to Novell/Windows. And yes, Dan,
> even some from Slackware. Ubuntu's base is diverse. So again, I believe
> 'near zero' is way off.

Sure, there are some more experienced users. I would guess that the
majority of those even would not do any compiling from source. Extra
repositories is about as adventurous as they get, I think. Perhaps I'll
revise my estimate to be "less than 10%". Would you be able to agree with
that figure?

In article <op.ujcru8t8gxuifa@localhost>, ceed <ceed.spameater> wrote:
>On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:55:58 -0500, AZ Nomad
><aznomad.3> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:46:45 -0500, ceed <ceed.spameater>
>> wrote:
>>> On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:26:29 -0500, Ro <NoMail> wrote:
>>>> ceed schreef:
>>>>> Hi,
>> I always avoid .0 releases.

Agreed ... and the 0.<anything> versions as well of course. :)

>> open office 2.4.x has been totally wonderful. I don't see a need to
>> betatest 3.x
>
>There are certain Word and Excel compatibility issues which are resolved
>in 3.0, so I would like to get hold of it as soon as possible. I agree
>with you on the .0 approach in general though.

Interesting. I was really surprised that 2.4 included with 7.10 happily
opened various MS office 2007 files and I have had no trouble. Are there
particular things you need that don't work ? ... if so, can you specify so I
can watch out for them ?

Thanks :)

On 2008-10-20, ceed <ceed.spameater> wrote:
> On Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:15:00 -0500, ceed <ceed.spameater> wrote:
>
> I prefer to be "tied" to repositories. It means that everyting works at
> all times even if I sometimes have to wait a little for software like now
> with OpenOffice 3. I even sometimes think Ubunutu are too early with
> letting software loose in the repositories and like the way Linux Mint
> does it where you can choose to update based on levels of safety: 1 - 5
> where 1 is tested safe packages and 5 is bleeding edge untested. I need my
> computer to work at all times (for work). However, it would be great
> getting OpenOffice 3 since it has features I would like to have access to
> as soon as possible, but not if it means other things breaks in the
> process.

That's not something you have to worry about, though; you can do as I
did, and install OpenOffice 3 right alongside Hardy's installation of
OpenOffice 2.4. Just download and install the debs, and you'll get a
totally independent installation in /opt/openoffice.org3/.

Then, if you like, simply fire up the GNOME menu editor and change the
menu launcher properties to point to the new version... e.g., replace

/usr/bin/ooffice -writer %U

with

/opt/openoffice.org3/program/soffice -writer %U

And you're done!