For the first time, the LibreOffice Community will have an exclusive trail at Latinoware with activities related to the software. In addition to lectures and short courses, the community – which is completing two years of activities – will have a stand in the exhibition space of the event, where members will be able to interact with the public and provide information about the project. Not to mention, of course, the celebration of the date with cake and everything at the stand! Check out the full program:
“We want LibreOffice on tablets, phones, and on our television”
Check out our interview with Eliane Domingos de Sousa, member of TDF (The Document Foundation – LibreOffice Maintainer):
What is the balance of these two years? What were the main achievements and challenges?
Two years is long enough to see a project born and start to walk alone. LibreOffice is a wonderful success story. We started with the challenge of taking the project in our hands and we parted with the tutelage of large corporations and the results are here: a bold and modernized software, filled with new features and an installed base in Brazil that makes us a privileged player in the development and driving of the project. In Brazil, to date, we have had over 2 million downloads, many in giant companies. We consolidated the preference of Brazil for LibreOffice and our users more and more satisfied with the software. We were able to create an active and acting community in the promotion of the software and we already have developers working with the code in Brazil.
Internationally, we had the arrival of at least 500 new developers, and we have a core of almost 50 of them practically permanent. Some are employed by companies with interests in LibreOffice technology and services and others volunteers dedicated to the subject. We had many students and trainees who graduate and work in companies associated to LibreOffice. In those same two years, we released four major versions and dozens of upgrade versions, thus showing a technical vitality uncommon in free software.
Our main challenge is to move forward more and more, with faster innovation in the software. For that we want more and more developers, to help us in this endeavor. Software is a product that never ceases to be refined and improved, so we still have a vast field of work that we are eager to embrace. We want LibreOffice on tablets, phones, and on our TVs.
Last year, the stand served as venue for the celebration of the group’s first year.
For Latinoware, what novelties can the public expect?
For the first time the LibreOffice Brazil Community has the opportunity in an event as big as Latinoware, of making a LibreOffice trail. In this trail, we will have 8 activities, divided into lectures and short courses. Besides the activities, we will have a LibreOffice stand open to the public for information about this magnificent project. On 19/10 at 5 pm, we will be celebrating the 2 years of the project with cake, balls and many congratulations! We will repeat what we did in Latinoware 2011. Another novelty is that, in this event, we will have the LibreOffice Installfest at our stand This event will be unforgettable!
Among the speakers, any special stand outs?
I think all speakers are important. Unfortunately, we could not bring any international speakers, because the LibreOffice Conference is happening in Berlim on the same days as Latinoware. At the international event, our community will be well represented by TDF founding member and LibreOffice developer in Brazil, Olivier Hallot.