Community Stories
OpenOffice.org and the 約束 of 共同
2001 October 13
-Jost Ammon, Marketing 事業／計画（する） Co-Lead
I have ever been an （麻薬）常用者 to music. Of course I've always 手配中の，お尋ね者 to 株 my experience with music. The ‘逮捕する 申し込む／申し出d me 全く 予期しない 適切な時期s to do so, first, by enabling me to 参加する in さまざまな mailing 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）s with others who 株 the same 利益／興味 as I, and whom I would never have met where I live, later in getting 熟知させるd with Lyle Mays, 作曲家 and keyboarder to the Pat Metheny Group, who was open enough to enter an email 関係 with someone he didn't know. And when I thought of 令状ing an essay about this 事実上の/非，不，無-事実上の 知識 with Lyle and with others, I began to 調査する this new medium which 申し込む／申し出d 可能性s that go far beyond of what is possible with the good old linear and two-dimensional text, based on 黒人／ボイコット letters on a white paper.
I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to create a website that would 反映する my 利益／興味s and 許す me to communicate with my 事実上の (and nonvirtual!) friends. And as I started my website I realized I needed an HTML editor. I 設立する some for 解放する／自由な, but one of them 消えるd after I had learnt to 扱う it, or rather it morphed into a bigger word 過程ing ソフトウェア I never really got to master. Then I needed ソフトウェア that could edit graphics. I 設立する one, but again it didn't have all the features I needed. Finally I needed a database for all my emails, and again had to look for yet more ソフトウェア. I don't know remember when it was, but one day I 設立する a CD-ROM copy of StarOffice in a magazine at the library. I copied it to my PC and started working with it.
It could do everything I needed.
I could compose my website, 令状 my stories, articles, letters; I could 支配（する）／統制する the website’s design easily. I could update the source code of my website. I could edit the graphics; and I also 設立する that StarOffice 含む／封じ込めるd the database I 手配中の，お尋ね者, one that 許すd me to 索引 and search through my emails by keyword. The more I became attracted to this 全世界の／万国共通の 道具 for a 全世界の／万国共通の medium, the more I learned about Open Source, since Sun Microsystems gave the code of its StarOffice to the open-source community helping OpenOffice.org (the ソフトウェア) get off the ground. I learned about the 解放する／自由な and open spirit of the Internet that still lives. And that it lives only through the idea of 株ing. I learned about OpenOffice.org (the 事業／計画（する）), this international community that 株 the idea of putting the best of each together, ーするために create a 全世界の／万国共通の, 解放する／自由な and open 道具 for our daily work. And so I 設立する not only the medium and its 道具 but also the spirit that embraces it all.
OpenOffice.org is just more than just the best office 控訴, based on incredible work by some of the brightest individuals the international ‘逮捕する community has gathered together. And it’s more than just the best ソフトウェア to 表明する the universality of the medium called the ‘逮捕する. 解放する／自由な, OpenOffice.org is 最終的に an 表現 of our will to grow on the grounds of 株ing our 自由に accessible knowledge.
Perhaps it is good to 解任する some facts about OpenOffice to get a 支配する on the dimensions of OpenOffice.org. There are more than 3600 加入者s to the mailing 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる）s and contributors of code, documentation and bug 身元確認，身分証明. Over two million downloads as of this day, not counting those of the mirrors. At least twenty-three 現在進行中の 事業／計画（する）s 含むing, besides the technical features, things like documentation, groupware, and even marketing. There are now open-source 機能（する）／行事s such as printing, spellchecker, and thesaurus in English. We have ports 利用できる for Linux, Solaris, Windows NT, 2000, 95/98/ME, Linux PPC, and soon even Mac OS/X. And last but not least, OpenOffice.org receives nearly half a million page 攻撃する，衝突するs a week.
All these open-source 成果／努力s remind me a bit of editing the French Encyclopédie. Some 250 years ago the brightest spirits of the western world gathered to pool their experiences for the largest status quo of knowledge ever 記録，記録的な／記録するd until then. Its 衝撃 was 信じられない at the time and 覆うd the way to the civilization we know today. Today the same is certainly true for the Internet and maybe so for the open-source movement. In this 状況 the significance of OpenOffice.org 越えるs 存在 "just another good ソフトウェア," but is rather a 重要な comment on how we 解釈する／通訳する 進歩.
For the 十分な article, "Halfway to Literacy," please go to Jost Ammon's page.
