Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

ttuuxxx · Last edited by ttuuxxx on Wed 30 Dec 2009, 01:05; edited 1 time in total

Removed free trial period is over now Shocked

ttuuxxx

John_C

TERRIFIC! I have used SoftMaker Office in Windows for years and always felt I needed to pay for it as it is that good and FAST -- and I don't want the developers to starve and stop making this great small replacement for the likes of MS Office. SoftMaker does a great job with DOC files.

I have used the Linux version in other Distros but it will now be a breeze for me to install it in Puppy...

BarryK · Posted: Tue 22 Dec 2009, 03:02 Post subject:

ttuuxxx,
Excellent work -- I was wondering how little it could be made as I noticed there was lots of stuff in there that could be taken out!

Note about that free licence, offer expires December 31, though MU mentioned they might be interested in a special deal for Puppy, if we create a puplet with Softmake Office in it.

pri · Joined: 09 Oct 2009 Posts: 330 Location: Bandung Indonesia

ttuuxxx...... downloading and try.. Smile

Lobster · Posted: Tue 22 Dec 2009, 11:19 Post subject:

gposil · Posted: Tue 22 Dec 2009, 11:39 Post subject:

Caneri · Joined: 04 Sep 2007 Posts: 1565 Location: Canada

Hi Jeff et al,

Let's be careful here as the web page states the following....

What is not permitted?

It is not permitted to resell the SoftMaker Office 2008 license or to offer the download on download sites.

On an aside I like it so far and will see if our local historical society may be interested in SMO.

Let me know how the licensing pans out as I don't want any big hairy guys showing up on my doorstep.

Good work,
Eric

esmourguit · Posted: Tue 22 Dec 2009, 15:00 Post subject:

Bonjour à tous,
Here is for Christmas, Toutou Linux 4.3.1-beta (French version of Puppy 4.3.1), with Softmaker Office 2008. Total iso files with french localization files 141 Mb.
SoftMaker Office suite (only french locale) is 27 Mb.
Not yet available for download though.
Waiting for license information.
Cordialement Wink

MUguest · Joined: 09 Dec 2006 Posts: 73

I had no further reply yet, the messages in Barrys Blog reflect the current state.
I don't expect a reply this year, as I think they are busy with the charity campaign and christmas.

I also hesitated to create stripped down versions, because it is proprietary software.
I even was uncertain about offering downloads of pre-packaged versions of the charity version, because of the disclaimer mentioned by amigo.
But after the positive reactions before mentioned in the blog, I think this will be tolerated.
(and it is not altered, and the readme.htm encourages to download the original installer in addition).
This is always somewhat difficult, and also one reason, why I encouraged Softmaker to contact Barry, to clarify in detail what will be allowed and what not.

There are implications - if Softmaker allows to bundle the Office with Puppy - what does this mean for derivates based on Puppy?
May the office be included - or not?
May parts of the software be removed (special languages) - or not? Proprietary software often is very restrictive in this concern, on the other hand SoftMaker was tolerant in the past.

We have similar problems with other software - it was an issue with Java (before it was relicensensed), it still is an issue with Flash, and Ati and Nvidia drivers that we "strip down" and repackage for easier installation and to save space in the small savefiles.
In the past, the companies never officially gave us the "ok", but they also never investigated. I think, some may not be allowed to say "ok", because their own license would not allow it. An official permission could have implications on existing contracts. So I think, some tolerate it "silently". But this is just a guess.

I had no request yet to remove the download that I offer, and that was announced in the blog.
I sent SoftMaker the link to the blog via mail, but I did that, before I added the download. So maybe they did not read that part yet.

So I actually wait, if there will come a detailed offer in january, or if Barry reports, that he is discussing details with SoftMaker.

Happy christmas from northern germany, Mark

Lobster · Posted: Wed 23 Dec 2009, 01:19 Post subject:

This what I wrote to Softmaker - I sent to the tech support guys:

DaveS · Joined: 09 Oct 2008 Posts: 3669 Location: UK

Is a database app included?

ttuuxxx · Posted: Wed 23 Dec 2009, 02:55 Post subject:

esmourguit · Posted: Wed 23 Dec 2009, 03:11 Post subject:

Bonjour à tous,
Sorry to annoy you ttuuxxx, but there is only Textmaker (wordprocessor), PlanMaker (spreadsheat) and Presentation (slide presentation).
Cordialement. Wink

Lobster · Posted: Wed 23 Dec 2009, 04:07 Post subject:

Softmaker are working on a database
It is in alpha and only for Windows

http://www.softmaker.com/english/dm_en.htm

Smile

PupGeek · Joined: 06 Sep 2009 Posts: 388

Actually I think Lobster had the right suggestion that Softmaker could do it themselves.... Its easy enough to create a puppy remaster. The devs at Softmaker could do that and even offer a special GPL version .pet. Usually when a software dev offers their product free of charge, its because they are planning a major overhaul of it. If that is the case then they probably should GPL this version next year.