Before LibreOffice there was OpenOffice, and before there was StarOffice
a year ago
- #OpenSource
- #StarOffice
- #LibreOffice
- LibreOffice evolved from OpenOffice, which was based on StarOffice, a proprietary suite from the 1990s.
- Stefan Soyka joined Star Division in 1990, working on Star Writer, the foundation of today's LibreOffice Writer.
- Star Division initially developed a DOS-based text processor, Star Writer, which funded the graphical Star Lab project in Hamburg.
- Marco Börries foresaw the importance of graphical user interfaces (Windows, X Window, macOS) for future office applications.
- The Star View compatibility layer enabled cross-platform development but initially lacked a full application.
- The Hamburg team included around 20 people, with key contributors like Thomas (Windows), Dirk (Mac), and Jürgen (file imports).
- Development challenges included long linking times, debates over MVC patterns, and Unicode adoption.
- Stefan left Star Division due to slow progress and personal reasons but later used StarOffice and now LibreOffice daily.
- LibreOffice is now his primary tool for documents, PDFs, and e-books, with custom macros and templates.
- Stefan reflects on StarOffice's legacy as a pivotal but challenging project in his career.