Open Source Magic

Open source software's rapid pace of development often seems like magic to people unfamiliar with the process, but the reason for this speed is purely mundane: Open source development puts no barriers between the users and the developers. No marketing people or retailers or others are involved in the program's creation and distributionjust you (the user) and the programmers who develop it.

If you have an idea about how a piece of open source software can be improved, or you want to suggest a new feature, you typically can join that software project's email list and make your suggestion directly to the people who can do something about it. This is great for the developers, too, because if you run into a bug, they can ask you directly what you were doing when it happened instead of hearing about users' problems thirdhand from customer service or tech support people.

Besides reporting bugs, open source software users who are programmers themselves can modify their favorite programs however they wish and then share their improvements with others. These modifications can become part of the program if enough other users and programmers feel they are worthwhile. If they are useful to only a few users, they may become "plugins" or optional add-ons that aren't part of the basic software package but that can be downloaded by those who need them.

Nonprogrammers can also contribute to open source projects, including OOo. Artists are always needed to design logos, screens, icons, and the many other graphic details that make a piece of software look good on the user's screen. Writers can help produce documentation. Neither this book nor any other piece of mass-produced printed material can possibly keep up with every advance in OOo or the many plugins for it, so there is always a need for updated "how-to" material that can be published on the OOo Web site.

And then there's translation. OOo and other open source programs can legally be translated into any language you want. There is no need to beg a software company for a localized version. You can write it yourself, either on your own or as part of a group.

In fact, you can modify OOo however you like, for whatever purpose you want. The copy of the software you got with this book (or a more recent version you downloaded) is yours in a way no piece of proprietary software hampered by a restrictive license will ever be.

OpenOffice.org in many languages.