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by HexDecOctBin11 hours ago |
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upvoteby whyleyc10 hours ago|
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Don't bother, I tried with a disposable email address and they make you subscribe to a mailing list before sending you the download link. When you do eventually get it, it's a 3 page puff marketing PDF.

I converted it to TXT and pulled out the only bit of interest here:

                  Collabora Office                              Collabora Office Classic
                  Fresh, modern UX                                Classic, established UX
  Javascript & CSS UI to match Collabora Online                    VCL-based classic UI
       Simpler settings / streamlined defaults           Very extensive options, menus & dialogs
                       No Java                       Java used for some features/wizards/DB drivers
                 No built-in Base app                                Includes Base UI
                     Runs macros                    Full macro editor & advanced BASIC/Python/UNO
      Modern web tech (Canvas, WebGL, CSS)                         Custom toolkit (VCL)
     Fast to iterate (edit JS, fewer recompiles)      Core/C++ changes typically require recompiles
   Initial release – Enterprise Support is coming            Long term Enterprise Supported
       Quick Start Guides and video tutorials                  Extensive manuals & books
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upvoteby eviks11 hours ago|
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But how will we spam you if you don't give us email?
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upvoteby gowld11 hours ago|
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Even funnier when you try that from the "freedom" whitepage download https://www.collaboraonline.com/case-studies/opendesk/

If you don't give an email address, it doesn't even prompt you to ttry again. It just bugs out and redirects to a home page with a broken URL attempting to inject HTML from client side.

That's strange because the only reason for a user to use OpenOffice/Collabra is because they don't want to deal with an annoying company that makes a far superior product. If the inferior product is also run by an annoying company, why bother?

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upvoteby tracker110 hours ago|
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Yeah, I'd say that's the gist of it altogether... I get they want to monetize hosting/support etc.. but they should really try not to gatekeep what should be basic/public information.

I'd still probably put Collabra above Google Docs, but definitely a step below even MS Office Online, err 365, err CoPilot App or whatever the hell they're calling it now... (naming issues not withstanding). Though MS has been enshitifying the offline versions of office a lot, not to mention Outlook in particular.

Aside: Why MS hasn't done a version of "Microsoft Access Online" with a WASM port of VBA in order to lift/shift Access apps into a hosted environment that's backed by Azure SQL under the covers is kind of beyond me. I mean, it shouldn't take too much effort at this point with the level of tooling MS has been capable of.

Access was the distilled VB + Database apps kind of thing that a lot of SOHO really thrived on, and they could totally (re)capture that market with a bit of legacy uplift/support along with a newer model/design. Displacing the winforms models with webforms and a dedicated server/service system. 3 versions to start, a legacy/support, a bridge and a new model where it's TS/JS and monaco for editing instead of VBA/wasm/webforms in a browser/canvas. People are running older versions of Windows in wasm/x86 emulation... making that pretty and wrapping hosted access runtimes should be somewhat reasonable. Shouldn't it?

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