@JessDail It's not bad but not perfect. I recommend reading reviews of it from trusted sources, like CNet, PCMag, PCWorld, etc. That will give you a good idea of where it stands.
It’s really really embarrassing that @TheASF still distributes OpenOffice, leaving people like this schoolteacher (name omitted to spare them spam) to think it’s a maintained or viable alternative.
My casual count suggests LibreOffice has done 40+ releases since OOo last did a release.
It seems clear to me that the embarrassment lands squarely on the tech media, who should be far better at communicating "#OpenOffice is not what you're looking for, use #LibreOffice @libreoffice instead". That's firmly within the tech media's job.
The job of @TheASF lies primarily in maintaining software. Let them maintain whatever software, for as long as people want it maintained.
@bignose @libreoffice Eg, the OpenOffice website could say “please don’t download this, we just do it for fun and as a result this often has security vulnerabilities. If you want an free office suite that is maintained to a high level of professionalism and security, please go to libreoffice.org”. But instead it not only encourages downloads, it misleads a banner stating “380M downloads”, giving the impression that it is an active (and presumably secure) project.
@bignose @libreoffice something needs to be done about this. It's unethical to distribute insecure software. If there's corporate association here they could find themselves in a law suit, too, though most likely victims wouldn't have the wherewithal to initiate one. Where is sense of responsibility to one's community?
@bluetea Please contact press@apache.org and ask them why they're still distributing OpenOffice despite multiple unfixed security issues over a year old. The more people that do this, the more chance there is of finally putting it in the Attic...
@bignose @libreoffice tbh I didn't know that OO is not well-maintained until your post... I was thinking that way because of Manjaro calamares installer (which I used like 5 years ago) that had two options of office suite.
@somereatardedwood @bignose @libreoffice it’s unfortunate but this is the case. Elsewhere in this thread I’ve posted at least three situations where a security researcher did proper bug filing against OOo, and then no release was done until after the security researcher had done the correct thing (waited, waited, and only then with reluctance published the vulnerability). And given that Libreoffice is doing regular security releases from a similar codebase, there’s almost certainly more.
Please contact them (apache@apache.org) and ask why they're still distributing OpenOffice despite multiple unfixed security issues over a year old, and no updates. Let us know what they say. Thanks!
@bignose @libreoffice Not at all. The media can report on it (and they have, there are articles linked in this thread), but ASF is responsible for its own failure when they’re supposed to act as a FOSS project incubator. Nothing much is incubating here, and there’s no reason they should be misleading users when there’s an actively maintained fork.
@kirb You can email press@apache.org and ask them if it's responsible to keep distributing OpenOffice despite the multiple, year-old security issues. See what they respond...
Glad I'm not the only one who carried politeness over into such endeavors. I've been laughed and even scorned for it. It's a waste to do such to a non-living thing. I always counter with it keeps me in good form so therefore, it's not wasted.
@robini71 I respect that. I've occasionally thanked CoPilot when it did a good job but I admit I try very hard to avoid doing it. I don't want my software to interact with me as though it is a human being with human emotions and I therefore don't want to interact with it for the same reason. Still, I do respect your choice.
@js to je v poho ja často vyzerám ako bezdomovec. Do práce mi prišli nové tenisky tak som si šiel po ne, zároveň mi dali vtedy aj podpísať výpoveď (chvíľu som nepřemýšlel a som ju podpísal). Pršalo. Býval som na Vinohradoch rovno nad nemocnicou.
Vispero® Announces Year-Long Celebration for JAWS’ 30th Anniversary, Beginning at CSUN 2025 Three Decades of Empowering Independence Through Accessible Technology FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (Clearwater, Florida – March 4, 2025) – Vispero® is pleased to an…
Yup. JAWS was the reason I was employed back in 95. Mind you, I almost killed the job because I installed the newest Internet Explorer which included Active Desktop and JAWS got all quiet on me.
Another Insurance CEO was almost killed at his home.
Is it a policy to not post news about copycats? (Which is a common policy) Or is it that they don't want overwhelming public support for it again?
"The home of State Accident Insurance Fund Corporation (SAIF) CEO Chip Terhune in Lake Oswego, near Portland, was shot up in the early hours of Feb. 21, the Lake Oswego Police Department said Wednesday."
In my opinion, it's not that they fear another CEO's death. CEOs are replaceable. It's that they don't want another anti-hero in the news.
EDIT: Replies are arguing based on the term "anti-hero" without acknowledging the definition of the word, confusing it with the term hero. Here's the definition of anti-hero: An "antihero" is a main character in a story who lacks the typical heroic qualities like strong morals, selflessness, and idealism, often making questionable decisions while still being the protagonist.
Would the news sharing this information make the suspect in the story a main character? Yes. Would this person possibly be applauded because it mirrors other recent events? Yes. Does that term mean we think the person is a hero? No. That's literally not the definition.
Before telling someone to "do their research" or the like, try Googling (or using your preferred search engine) first.
Our international partner, Dream Vision Group, will be representing Help Tech at CSUN 2025! Our international partner, Dream Vision Group, will be representing Help Tech at CSUN 2025!
Visit their booth 411
Last week, a shocking incident at a Morrisons store in Wincheap, Kent, highlighted the urgent need for better disability awareness in the retail sector.
I hope that there will be someone participating who has knowledge about accessibility APIs and can maybe address some of the long-standing screen-reader-compatibility issues from the bug database. fosstodon.org/@libreoffice/114…
Hey text-to-speech nerds: Can anyone tell which text-to-speech engine this is? It's a Bose portable speaker. It's not a WiFi "smart" speaker; it just has analog, USB, and Bluetooth inputs, and it boots instantly. So I'm guessing it's only using a microcontroller, not a full Linux-capable processor. But the speech is decent.
Update: A couple of people have guessed Svox Pico. But that would sound like this, unless Svox has some other variant than the one they let Google release as open source in Android.
FWIW: If I were asked to develope something like this, I wouldn't neccessarily go for a full "text to speech" engine, but seriously consider putting a handful of prerecordings into ROM.
@Tamasg I don't know the answer, but it is the same voice my Bose headphones use. Not sure this helps you in any way though. It is tts, as the voice can also speak out the name of connected devices, so it isn't prerecorded.
@jessewienholts oooh yeah, ding to that one, I didn't even think of it but for sure it's the Bose TTS lady. I just checked against the QC Ultra and it's even the same to the pitch, so perhaps maybe there's some obscure datasheet mentioning that TTS engine. Would be funny to use that as an actual computer voice, but it's the same voice that has existed even in the QC Link around-ear in 2012, so compact voices back then had fewer prediction models to create the voice with.
Curl and libcurl are everywhere. Not only has the project maintained success for almost three decades now, but it's done that while being written in C. Danie...
The training course, AI Like That, has now been concluded. The archive is therefore available as usual to purchase from the training page: hartgenconsultancy.com/trainin…
🇨🇦🇨🇦Dear Canadian contractors, industry, and others still using non-metric measurements (inches, lbs, miles, gallons, tons, etc) mostly ‘because-America'.
Since America officially and royally sucks now… can we just do metric now? Please? PRETTY PLEASE?
Metric system also uses tons, unless I am mistaken. But we use it here. Nah, why change? Make people's lives harder... Like seriously, some brains can't handle the change. But then again, going from one system to another is a pain in the personal experience I've had.
@hans @AngelaScholder We don't "need" them. But we're not going to arbitrarily reject open source code patches from volunteers, which greatly improve LibreOffice for all users, because those volunteers get some financial help to work on the open source code patches.
@christianschwaegerl Yes, really! Independent volunteers will add features and improvements to LibreOffice, and everything is open source for all to benefit from.
I sorely hope that someone in that project will also tackle accessibility issues. There are quite a number of screen-reader-related bugs open in the database that haven't been addressed for years.
From McCleans: The Diabolical World of Phone #Scams How the #RCMP busted the biggest #fraud ever to target Canadians—and why they can’t keep up anymore. macleans.ca/longforms/the-diab…
Incredible statement from the American Meteorological Organization. It takes a lot for a scientific organization to issue a statement like this:
"U.S. leadership in scientific innovation is at risk due to the recent and ongoing reductions in U.S. federal science capabilities. The consequences to the American people will be large and wide-ranging, including increased vulnerability to hazardous weather...Recent terminations within the government workforce for science are likely to cause irreparable harm and have far-reaching consequences for public safety, economic well-being, and the United States’ global leadership."
Ukrajinský prezident v očích spolupracovníků amerického prezidenta nevykazuje dostatečně velkou vděčnost za pomoc, kterou Američané napadené zemi poslední tři roky posílají. V důsledku toho jí tak bude americká podpora ukončena.
Pokud jsem z obsahu pochopil, není to úplně tak, jak by se z titulku mohlo zdát. Podobně např. i zde: seznamzpravy.cz/clanek/zahrani… Spíš je to prostě vyjednávací taktika.
Ukrajinské armádě nehrozí bezprostřední zhroucení, měla by mít zásoby na několik měsíců, které zčásti dokáže doplňovat Evropa. Jsou ale oblasti, kde je americká pomoc nenahraditelná.
It seems I'm going to get back on TWBlue's development for a while in case someone is interested. So if there are issues that have been pending to fix or new stuff you wish to add (filters are already on the list, and language selector is done) just reply and I'll add those to the issues on gitHub so it will be easier to track them.
Hi, what happened with translations? :) I am also glad to hear filters are on the list. There is also an issue with content warnings for some posts. Maybe it's the formatting or something, but some posts with content warnings aren't viewable, and have to be opened on the web. It's a strange issue, and only Windows clients seem to possess it.
@tardis hi there! sorry for the long time :), I was having some work, health and family stuff. I'll get back to you today with instructions regarding how to register in the translation site for TWBlue. About the issue, I've fixed a bug that was making TWBlue to not display posts with special characters or emojis on them, perhaps that is the same issue you're having?
What do you do when you need to choose an OS at boot but aren’t physically near your machine? [Dakhnod]’s inventive solution is a mix of GRUB, Wake-on-LAN (WOL), and a lightweight ESP82…
A Bug Squashing Party is organized in Montréal, Canada, by Debian Québec on 28-29 March, to facilitate the release of the next stable version of Debian (Debian 13 - Trixie), fixing as many Release Critical bugs as possible wiki.debian.org/BSP/2025/03/ca… #debian #trixie
So this evening, #Windows update installed the wrong #AMD video driver update for my Framework 16. Using #narrator, I was able to boot into recovery mode, enter my bitlocker key to decrypt the effected drive, find my system restore point, and restore it to just before the bad update. The entire process was fully #accessible: all of my sound devices worked, my external keyboard worked, the screen reader read every screen, etc. The only thing that wouldn't work was my Braille display.
@mcourcel Yup, it is. However, if you're Windows is so broken that it can't boot, and you use the system recovery option, and it can't access the internet, it won't be able to get your bitlocker key that's associated with your Microsoft account. So it will give you a url to visit on your phone, where you sign in with your Microsoft account, and then it will give you a long string of numbers. You type those numbers into the broken computer, and then it can decrypt your bitlocker encrypted drive.
@mcourcel It is solid! The only two issues are that they assume you'll be leaving it plugged in when it's not in use, as the battery discharges over the course of a few days even when it's fully off. The other issue is that if you get the extra AMD GPU, the fans are loud if you're gaming or doing something else that would use a high percentage of the GPU constantly. Like, loud enough that you'd have to use headphones to hear your screen reader, and you wouldn't want to hold a conversation with someone with it on your lap. But I've even had it apart to upgrade the ram and hard drive! There are excellent instructions for doing that here: community.frame.work/t/framework-16-visually-impaired-owners-case-mid-plate-and-mainboard-orientation-guide/51168
Introduction This text describes the location, orientation and nature of some aspects of the framework 16 laptop for the benefit of visually impaired owners. It can be used alongside the framework maintenance guides.
Someday, someone will study the long-term effects of the cognitive dissonance of blind people mustering up legitimately positive energy about something so horrendous being accessible.
Jessica Dail
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