Google Docs the default for Ubuntu?
Ubuntu’s forthcoming Netbook Remix (UNR) will very likely not include OpenOffice.org and instead use Google Docs or other lightweight alternatives as the default office tools. The decision is proving to be a controversial one within the developer community but the lead developers believe that the web-hosted suite will free up enough space to give UNR a speed boost.
If the team does decide to default to Google Docs, the increase in users as a result of the move will be relatively insignificant for Google but it is still noteworthy as it sends out a strong signal that online applications, or cloud apps, are considered worthy replacements to traditional desktop ones. It also mimics Google’s own plans with its Chrome OS which is essentially a Linux-based desktop that uses online applications for almost all tasks.
Netbooks are traditionally smaller in capacity than standard desktop or laptop PCs and are primarily aimed at web-based tasks such as checking email, browsing the web or chatting online. In this respect having a web-based office suite makes sense.
Critics of the decision, however, argue that netbooks are more than just web-browsing tools and are used more widely by remote users for reviewing, or even creating, office-style documents. They also argue that netbooks are increasingly popular among students which prefer them for their price and portability and do use them to create new documents.
The argument in favour of dropping OpenOffice.org as the default office suite for netbooks is twofold: The suite is very large and consumes significant amounts of disk space, something that is at a premium on the smallest netbooks. OpenOffice.org’s interface is also not ideal for the smaller screen sizes common in netbooks. Ubuntu Netbook Remix has a customised interface that maximises the space available to applications.
Response to the proposal to drop OpenOffice.org has been mostly negative, prompting developers to look at other alternatives to using Google Docs. One of the proposals is to include AbiWord and Gnumeric as the basic tools for word processing and spreadsheets combined with other online tools.
Lucid Lynx, the next release of Ubuntu which will include these changes, will be made available in April this year.
Google Docs for Ubuntu? << give your views
Loading ...