
LibreOffice 6.1 released - mksaunders
https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2018/08/08/libreoffice-6-1/
======
kqr
I have grown increasingly disinterested in Office Suites, and in particular
word processors, over time.

When composing documents, I prefer to let the final production medium to
dictate the production process. (If I don't, I tend to run into issues
relating to the final product that are costly to overcome late in the
process.)

With this mindset, I still haven't found the use case for word processors. If
I aim for something to be designed well in print, it makes most sense to use a
desktop publishing tool like Scribus. For the web, something like Org or
Markdown covers 99% of the use cases. Org or manually writing LaTeX is good
for print use when fancy designs are not key.

What do you people use word processors for?

~~~
zokier
I've been thinking that we need a new generation of word processors aimed for
authoring blog posts (and wiki pages etc). Sure you and I might be happy
editing markdown with vi (although honestly I'm not happu with that), but that
is not really solution for wider usage.

Most features of word processors are equally applicable for web-style content,
but somehow we ended up having completely separate ecosystem there.

One major issue hampering creation of such tool is the relative lack of
standardization on the web. Every content platform has its own format and api
etc, so making common tooling is difficult.

See also Windows Live Writer

~~~
voltagex_
Windows Live Writer became Open Live Writer!

[https://github.com/OpenLiveWriter/OpenLiveWriter](https://github.com/OpenLiveWriter/OpenLiveWriter)

------
vxNsr
Congrats on pushing out an updated UI, often one of the biggest complaints
people have against OSS is the outdated UI the permeate the space because it's
one of the hardest things to get right and it takes so much time to change.

I think these new icons and menus look wonderful.

It's especially impressive because LibreOffice doesn't really seem to have any
big corporate backers like other OSS projects, and yet they seem to be holding
on. I don't think I've seen LO installed in any corporate environment, and I'd
imagine that MS Office holds like 95% of the market, so I do appreciate this
alternative.

------
ronjouch
Detailed changelog:

[https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/6.1](https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/6.1)

------
stef25
Way better than any Office alternative but also extremely sluggish on my
machine. I just use it to read csv files and even at that it's abnormally
slow.

~~~
mksaunders
I use it on Linux and macOS and it's pretty fast with CSV files (although I'm
not sure how large the ones you're using are!)

If it's specific CSV files that are causing an issue, and you don't mind
sharing them, you could attach them to a bug report:
[https://bugs.documentfoundation.org](https://bugs.documentfoundation.org)

Also try resetting your profile in case that's an issue:
[https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/UserProfile#Resolving_co...](https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/UserProfile#Resolving_corruption)

~~~
stef25
25MB files "work" but still abnormally slow for my 16GB RAM machine, 200MB
files forget it.

I'll do some more testing and report.

~~~
neverminder
I can confirm that large CSVs are dog slow on libreoffice. If excel can do it
a lot faster (which it can) this should definitely be logged as a bug.

------
nailer
It would be great to actually see the new Windows theme, and the UI changes
mentioned, in the actual blog post.

~~~
sleepless
here you go:
[https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/6.1#Icon_Th...](https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleaseNotes/6.1#Icon_Theme)

~~~
maaark
Thanks, I hate it.

The old icons were far clearer as to their purpose. Save is now a download
button in case children don't recognize a floppy...

~~~
mksaunders
Then simply use the older icons :-)

EDIT: Three steps:

1\. Go to Tools > Options in the menu 2\. Click View on the left 3\. Then
choose Icon style on the right

~~~
wila
> Then simply use the older icons :-)

Simple for you doesn't mean simple for other people.

Without writing down the steps on exactly how-to use the older icons, it
doesn't equate to simple in my opinion.

IOW, you probably had done yourself a favor to not use the word "simply".

~~~
mksaunders
I was referring to the fact that he "hated" the icons - it's not the end of
the world, as you can use the old ones. But you're right, I've added the three
steps to my original post!

~~~
wila
Cool. Great that it can be changed via the GUI, disliking icons certainly is
not the end of the world.

FWIW, I didn't like the word choice on not like an icon set with the word
"hate", but well I guess that's what he felt.

Personally I do like the new icons. Keep up the good work!

------
amenonsen
I find it a bit strange that I have to download the LibreOffice "built-in"
help package separately.

------
baronseng
Just download it and compare to 6.0 it seems the startup time are heaps
better.

------
sjmulder
_To continue navigation on the website, you need to acknowledge our privacy
policy_

Policy not linked or displayed. After clicking "Privacy Preferences":

 _As the protection of your personal data is an important concern for us,
please click on the "More information" link to access our Privacy Policy page_

No such links anywhere in that thing. But there is one in the page footer:

[https://www.documentfoundation.org/about-
us/privacy/](https://www.documentfoundation.org/about-us/privacy/)

    
    
        301 about-us/privacy/
        302 privacy/
        301 about-us/privacy/  
        ...

~~~
mrob
I browse with Javascript disabled by default, so I didn't know they were doing
this. Why does the Document Foundation need to track me? Is LibreOffice itself
doing something sneaky that I don't know about? I'd expect this kind of
behavior from Facebook or Google, not a Free Software charitable foundation.
Seeing that pop-up when I enabled Javascript made me think less of the
Document Foundation. If they have a legitimate need for tracking, e.g. user
logins for a forum, they can present the warning at the time the user
interacts with it.

~~~
mksaunders
> Why does the Document Foundation need to track me?

It's not "tracking" (in the sense of monitoring what you do on other sites).
On the LibreOffice website, we use the open source stats tool Matomo (formerly
Piwik) to get an overview of how people use the site, how people go from one
page to another, so that we can improve it. Lots of FOSS projects do this.
Also, as explained in the privacy policy, JavaScript is required if you want
to use certain third-party services that are embedded into some pages:
[https://www.libreoffice.org/about-us/privacy/privacy-
policy-...](https://www.libreoffice.org/about-us/privacy/privacy-policy-en/)

> Is LibreOffice itself doing something sneaky that I don't know about?

Of course not. We're a volunteer-driven, community open source project. It's
all in the open :-) If you really want to change how the website works, we'd
appreciate a hand: website+subscribe@global.libreoffice.org - thanks!

~~~
WorkLifeBalance
1\. What you've described as 'not "tracking" ' is tracking. It's not third-
party tracking but you're still deliberately adding a cookie for the purpose
of tracking users across your site.

2\. Your privacy policy contains:

> !!!add opt-out frame on the website at this position!!!

~~~
mksaunders
> 1\. What you've described as 'not "tracking" ' is tracking. It's not third-
> party tracking but you're still deliberately adding a cookie for the purpose
> of tracking users across your site.

OK, we're using open source tools to try to improve the site. Plenty of other
FOSS projects do this... Not sure why we're being singled out :-)

~~~
sjmulder
_Not sure why we 're being singled out :-) _

Didn't mean no harm or to single you guys out. You're doing fantastic work.
But broken and noncompliant notices do bother me a bit.

Sorry to drag on like this but the privacy statement (thanks for linking)
says:

 _takes place only with the consent of the user_

It does not, as there appears to be a second cookie notice underneath the
first stating how consent is assumed:

 _We use only those functional cookies which are absolutely necessary to
ensure that we give you the best navigation experience on our website. If you
continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with them._

From my understanding, if you're using only functional cookies and no tracking
you don't even need consent (as you have legal basis) and you can drop the
notice altogether. But I don't think analytics count as functional cookies.

Now aside from that nitpicking, thanks for writing such a clear privacy policy
and making such good choices regarding the social media buttons, YouTube's
privacy mode, and so on. Props!

~~~
mksaunders
Thanks for the feedback! I'll pass it on to the website team :-)

~~~
mmastrac
Don't let comments on Hacker News unduely influence your website decision
making. The issues raised here tend to be laser focused on things that likely
won't correlate with your success in the market.

You'll never be able to please everyone so your ability to study and run
experiments is key. If anything, it sounds like you are doing things exactly
the right way.

