DRAFT

Purpose

The purpose of this page is to generate discussion about the User Guide(s) to be developed for Apache OpenOffice or indeed if any should be done at all. Since there has been little or no effort on this aspect of the project Since 2011 or early 2012 I will propose 3 scenarios to start the discussion.

Scenario 1: No Updated Users Guides

We muddle along as we have been. If user ask about documentation we direct them to the out of date v3.3 guides in PDF or ODT format on the OpenOffice.org documentation site http://wiki.openoffice.org/w/images/7/7e/Installation_Guide_OOo3.pdf, http://wiki.openoffice.org/w/images/6/63/Installation_Guide_OOo3.odt,or the even more outdated v3.2 version on the mwiki http://wiki.openoffice.org/wiki/Documentation/OOo3_User_Guides#OpenOffice.org_3.2.

Pro's

• none that I can see.

Con's

• Unprofessional
• Increased possibility of incorrect or out of date information
• Increased frustration of the user base

Scenario 2: Use ODFAuthors web site to update previous versions of the Getting Started guide.

There are draft chapters for the Getting Started Guide currently at the ODFAuthors website waiting to be reviewed and polished. The major stumbling block to this has been the licensing of the documents. They are currently dual licensed as GPL ver3 and CC-BY ver3. This would require either that we ask legal@ to review the CC-BY version 3 license as to whether it is compatible with the ALV2 (the 2.5 version is already approved) or that we host the distribution of the documents somewhere other than an Apache server.

Pro's

• Much work already done
• Possibility to have basic documentation ready for AOO version 3.5 release or shortly thereafter

Con's

• Licensing issues
  • A JIRA LEGAL issue for acceptance of the CC-BY v3 as a catagory A license was turned down. (SEE:https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LEGAL-96
    • We could submit a narrower request allowing us to only host the documents for distribution.
• Possible distribution issues
  • Can we host them on Apache Controlled Servers?
    • This ties into the License Issue above and also presents bandwidth and space considerations.
  • Host them elsewhere with a link from our website to them.
    • Would need to negotiate with ideally ODFA or some other entity to do this.

Scenario 3: Start from scratch under ALV2 License

I see this more as a long term scenario for AOO 4.0 or beyond. It would solve the licensing and distribution issues, it raises the issue of resources. This would be a major undertaking and require the services of experienced technical writers and editors.

Pro's

• Solves licensing and distribution problems
• Allows restructuring of Guides that have grown from there original intent as new features have been added.

Con's

• Abandons the 3.x line prematurely
• Can we recruit the experienced people that will be needed or this to be successful