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View Full Version : Sexy new look for OpenOffice



JeevesBond
June 3rd, 2008, 03:10 AM
Has anyone seen the new front-end for OpenOffice the Chinese have been working on? It's called Red Office and it looks sweet (http://www.johannes-eva.net/index.php?page=redoffice).

I've already posted up an idea on Ubuntu Brainstorm (http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/9406/), didn't see any other posts about this on the forums, so thought I'd share. :)

geoken
June 3rd, 2008, 03:17 AM
Looks cool. The ribbon makes a lot more sense as a side panel considering most monitors have a wide aspect ration, while people like the page they're typing on to have a thin aspect ratio (thereby resembling a standard sheet of paper).

I think it may look a little too much like office to get buy over here without legal problems.

DeadSuperHero
June 3rd, 2008, 03:37 AM
Wow, that looks great!
I wonder how usable it is, though...

LaRoza
June 3rd, 2008, 03:40 AM
Choices are good. As long as it is an option, not forced on users, it can only be a good thing.

Kinst
June 3rd, 2008, 03:59 AM
That's sexy, I wonder if there's an english version?

DeadSuperHero
June 3rd, 2008, 04:11 AM
That's sexy, I wonder if there's an english version?

The English site seems to imply that it has *SOME* sort of English in it.

In any case, I'm downloading the Beta, it'll be interesting to see how usable this all actually is.

Alex J.
June 3rd, 2008, 04:23 AM
HA. This is awesome. I was just having a fight with a friend who was arguing that the new MS version of Word was superior due to it's ribbony menu thing. Open Office isn't far behind...I'll convert him yet.

Personally, I love the look, but not huge on the ribbon thing. I would be interested in an English version though.

PrimoTurbo
June 3rd, 2008, 04:40 AM
Looks like a complete rip off the new office.

hanzomon4
June 3rd, 2008, 06:19 AM
Good ideas are worth copying

MadsRH
June 3rd, 2008, 08:18 AM
This is great!!!

I love the Microsoft Office 2007 ribbon interface and OO simply can't keep up ones you've tried the ribbon interface (and OO design/icons looks outdated)

I'm currently running MS Office 2007 on Wine and it works fine, but the integration with Ubuntu isn't optimal. If I somehow could replace my OO installation with RedOffice I would do it in a heartbeat.

I really hope the Chinese will make an English version that works better (just try their website!)

//MadsRH

billgoldberg
June 3rd, 2008, 09:45 AM
Am I the only one who thinks it looks horrible?

kellemes
June 3rd, 2008, 09:48 AM
Am I the only one who thinks it looks horrible?

Not at all.. Much too shiny for me.

PrimoTurbo
June 3rd, 2008, 09:51 AM
I don't understand why people have to copy Office, yes it's a good program but cmon make something more original or even better.

Sometimes it feels like everything is just a sub par alternative or copy on gnu/linux. We need our own original programs. I would figure that Microsoft would paten the ribbon interface?

Kernel Sanders
June 3rd, 2008, 10:34 AM
Am I the only one who thinks it looks horrible?

Nope, I think so too. The "ribbon" being on the side is just wrong. It needs to be on top.

jethro10
June 3rd, 2008, 10:39 AM
I don't understand why people have to copy Office, yes it's a good program but cmon make something more original or even better.



When your trying to convert people from Office, and thats the whole idea really, it needs to look familiar and just as flash or they'll say "no thanks, it's rubbish". Right or wrong, thats what you get.

We have to remeber us enthusiasts are not the target audience for this type of thing.
Good luck I say, if it converts another billion or so to Open source stuff.

J

JeevesBond
June 3rd, 2008, 01:45 PM
To those who're complaining that this is a rip-off of Microsoft Office 2007: the decision to copy Microsoft Office was made a long time ago. Look at the current OpenOffice, it looks like Microsoft Office 97/2000.

Microsoft have put us in a difficult position with Office 2007, their new interface is markedly better than the old one (Office sales figures speak for themselves). It makes sense to continue to copy that because that's been the plan all along.

It would be great if OpenOffice could come up with a totally new and innovative UI, but that doesn't seem to be what they're aiming for. So here we are, copying Microsoft again. :)

The ribbon works best on the side IMO. Makes better use of screen real estate.

littletinman
June 3rd, 2008, 03:14 PM
as long as it's recourse efficiant, i'm all in. It be sweet if there were themes for it too.

madjr
June 6th, 2008, 07:56 PM
i think Ibm's lotus symphony has a good mid interface between OOo and redoffice
http://symphony.lotus.com/


http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/theme/images/documents_graphics_new.gif

but i do like all the bling bling of red.

FyreBrand
June 6th, 2008, 08:06 PM
i think Ibm's lotus symphony has a good mid interface between OOo and redoffice
http://symphony.lotus.com/


http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/theme/images/documents_graphics_new.gif

but i do like all the bling bling of red.A very attractive factor of the MS Office ribbon interface is that it provides live previews. The side bar on the Lotus office is nice, but isn't much different than any docked config option. That is you still have to select and apply settings and then undo them or redo them if they aren't what you want. The live preview let's you get a quick visual of what you want and then you can tweak it.

I was pretty resistant to Office 2007 and have always used OOo before that, but now I have to admit it is a much better user experience for me and in general Office 2007 is a dramatic improvement over previous versions.

Redrazor39
June 17th, 2008, 06:50 PM
DANG THAT'S NICE!!!

We need a version for English and then many, many other languages!

YA!!!

Change the close/min/max buttons so they're not so Mac-like, but still JUST WHAT WE NEED!!!

I've been looking for this for so long!!!

www.redoffice.com.cn

AWESOME!!!

2cute4u
June 20th, 2008, 07:52 AM
I checked the download page and they don't have .deb or even .rpm files. All they have is an .exe file. Does anyone know what package manager this is for?

madjr
June 20th, 2008, 08:11 AM
I checked the download page and they don't have .deb or even .rpm files. All they have is an .exe file. Does anyone know what package manager this is for?

The port for linux is not done (if they already started working on it).

if anyone wants to port it i suppose the source code is available.

Ioky
June 21st, 2008, 09:53 AM
Am I the only one who thinks it looks horrible?

no, you are not alone, I do think it loos horrible when I first see it. I am chinese myself, and Yes, I do think, sometime, the Chinese are lack of creativity in term of whatever they are making. except for macao, hongkong, and taiwan. In the other hand, they are really good at copying other people's stuff though, and some what make it "better"

seriously, Chinese Art a beautiful, how come non of the artistic appear in computer industrial? haha