OpenOffice gets Ubuntu-media friendly

OpenOffice has adopted the Ubuntu-friendly GStreamer media framework to reach a broader swath of Linux and Unix users. The project created a new media back end from scratch using GStreamer, a move that de-emphasizes use of the Sun Microsystems Java Media Framework (JMF) — Sun was the largest contributor to OpenOffice before …

[Change can be good]

Welcome the move by OpenOffice

OpenOffice is one of the programs that I use the most on Ubuntu. I'm so glad these developments will make it better.

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh good. Jolly, jolly good.

<yawn>

It is 2010 and an office wannabee buzzes.

'scuse the yawn.

</yawn?

[Chris Tyler]

Linux-friendly

Not sure why this is called "Ubuntu-friendly" when the switch to gstreamer makes this friendlier to almost any Linux distro (?).

[Havin_it]

Not every distro

For KDE distros it's just yet another bloody multimedia framework to have to clutter the system with. I never use media in OOo so I hope to hell it's not made a forced dependency.

How about Phonon support, so a choice of frameworks can be used? (Something good that came out of KDE4)

Would have gone for the unhappy penguin icon if there was one, this'll have to do.

[James Henstridge]

Phonon

Aren't you using GStreamer as the backend for Phonon though?

[Not That Andrew]

Yeah ...

Even Slackware includes gstreamer these days, it's hardly bleeding edge anymore.

[Steve McIntyre]

"ubuntu-friendly" ??

gstreamer is a distro-neutral Free Software media stack. Why are you specifically linking it to Ubuntu here?

[I. Aproveofitspendingonspecificprojects 1]

Wouldn't it be better making it chip friendly?

That would give Microsoft users a reason to use it.

[Steve Davies 3]

Re Chris Tyler

This is because most hacks these days think that Linux ===== Ubuntu. End of.

Yeah, the audience here on el-Reg knows difference but hey, it is a cheap headline.

Mines the one with a copy of Fedora 13 ppc in the pocket.

[Tom 7]

Easier ways to use 19thC technology

and a new sqllite so now you can distribute all your important company information in little DB's as well as poxy documents!

[Robert E A Harvey]

'ang on?

An "office suite" uses a "media streamer"?

Is it me, or has the whirled gorn madd? Who, apart from a few pink-trousered show-offs in sales, need to stream media to do an office job? and won't they all be using an iPouf anyway?

Paris, 'cos I believe there is some streamable media involving her. PS: shouldn't her icon now feature hancuffs

[DrXym]

Might have uses

If you're doing a powerpoint presentation you can easily embed media clips which could be use for demos, interludes etc. Enabling the same in Impress would be a benefit.

[Skymonrie]

don't forget

You get the whole pipe line, not just the fuzzy home-cam video at the end. Paris knows what i mean ;)

[Anonymous Coward]

media in office documents

uh, what?

[Anonymous Coward]

Go-oo did this ages ago

Uhm, Ubuntu uses Go-OO (See http://go-oo.org/) which added GStreamer support to OpenOffice.org ages ago. It also adds many other features that Oracle/Sun refuse/refused to add upstream. Most distributions use Go-oo instead of the Oracle official builds.

So, in fact, this change is of no use to most Linux users.

[Al fazed]

Yawn !

Why didn't they fix the printing bug first ?

I'd rather be able to print documents properly from Open Office.

Anyway, GStreamer doesn't work on my OpenSuse 11 install, oh and if it is installed, YAWN YAST cannot find it, and when found in the available packages, it cannot be installed either.

God job I am able to use Microsoft and Apple software when I want to listen to music, or print documents.

ALF

[Anonymous Coward]

Re : Yawn !

Having read some of your previous posts it seems clear that you shouldn't be let near a brick let alone a computer system. It seems strange that you have problems that no-one else seems to.

[Old Marcus]

Re: Printing

What printing problems are you having? I never had any, except having to manually tell it to print in reverse so my essay comes out in the right order...

[Robert E A Harvey]

Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title Title

It's always tricky printing streaming media.

[Anonymous Coward]

Phonon would of been a excellent choice.

""""

How about Phonon support, so a choice of frameworks can be used? (Something good that came out of KDE4)

""""

Yes that makes lots of sense. Writing software to the lowest common denominator. Supporting multiple broken multimedia frameworks and then forcing users to randomly choose one of them in a vain effort to pick one that is broken in a way that does not affect them is so full of win.

The average person:

* knows what a 'multimedia framework' is.

* Cares deeply about the different options, licenses, and advantages, offered by Xine, Gstreamer, Mplayer, VLC, and Gstreamer (and whatever else Phonon supports)

* understands the different technical merits of each framework and is able to make informed decisions on which one they should configure their desktop to use by default.

This sort of thinking is why Linux desktop is so successful and KDE4 in particular. Because CHOICE MATTERS. Especially when the choice is really irritating, technical, boring, and all the choices suck in different ways. That is just 100% quality design. Absolutely FANTASTIC. Apple could learn a lot of KDE4.

I mean OpenOffice.org may still be ugly and it's spreadsheet software may have only a fraction of the capabilities that Excell can offer, but users will have the ability to choose between Xine or VLC as the multimedia backend. Think of all the icons and little slides and dialogs you could make for it! It would blow Microsoft Office out of the water.

(in case you did not realize, this is sarcasm)

[Havin_it]

@Mr Angry Coward

I'm not sure why this inflames you so. It's true multimedia in Linux is a horrendous hodgepodge, and I never suggested otherwise, but the OOo developers are going to have to deal with it on some level if they want multimedia support in the suite at all (though that in itself is questionable goal, as you indicate).

Devs have to work out how to make their apps reliably produce sounds and/or video. And your "average person" -- who I'd argue is already *not* an average person if they're using Linux -- won't get far in Linux without having some part of the multimedia stack let them down, and if they don't quit in disgust at that point, then they will soon get an introduction to the horrors that lurk beneath. I can't speak for more than a handful of other people, but a trial-and-error approach to finding a player and backend that plays a given bit of content (over a given bit of hardware) tends to prevail.

So yes, being able to choose between Xine and VLC (does Phonon have a backend for that now? Sweet, must investigate) is bloody handy in my opinion, because one of them might actually work; if the choice were made for me, it'd probably be the one that didn't.