this post was submitted on 22 Jan 2024
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I downloaded Java, Removed LibreOffice, and installed OpenOffice. I see all the icons, and everything, but when I click on it to open it, NOTHING happens. I just, wont open, I uninstalled, and reinstalled it. and I dont know what to do. Can anyone please help me?

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 11 months ago

I downloaded Java, Removed LibreOffice, and installed OpenOffice.

Why ? O.O
pls tell us,
Dont bother with openoffice, go back libreoffice ^^"

[–] [email protected] 43 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Here's what you do:

  • Remove OpenOffice
  • Install LibreOffice

OpenOffice is discontinued a long time. Last time updated was 4.1.6 on Jan 25, 2019

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Last major release, 4.1, was 2014. It's a dead duck.

[–] marcos 33 points 11 months ago

I don't have solutions, but I have a pressing question: why?

I'm not sure OpenOffice is even supposed to work nowadays.

(Anyway, maybe try running from a terminal. Usually programs log the errors into it.)

[–] [email protected] 30 points 11 months ago

OpenOffice is dead. Use literally anything else if you want it to work properly.

[–] robolemmy 28 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Even Oracle, a company that funds OpenOffice and has its own proprietary fork of it, doesn’t use it internally. Oracle internal laptops come with libre office installed.

[–] Ozy 20 points 11 months ago

Try to launch OpenOffice via the command line and see if you get any errors, that might help you with what to search for.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

All these people saying "Just use LibreOffice" are missing the point: if they ask about a program, then that means they have a usecase for said program.

This isn't StackExchange; let's not repeat that cycle.


Edit: Changed "is" to "are". Lol.

[–] InternetCitizen2 24 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Sure, but they may also be unaware OpenOffice is unmaintained and its worth pointing out.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Then those people should say that as an addendum or side-note to an attempted answer to OP's question, not as a replacement for said attempted answer.

[–] acid_falcon 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You're not wrong, and I'm upvoting everything you say because I hate the smug SO people who ask why instead of actually trying to help.

But in this specific case, there's literally no reason to use OpenOffice, it's discontinued. People shouldn't have to explain how to use a defunct software with an addendum.

It's not an obscure programming language with an edge case, it's a word processor.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

You're not wrong, and I'm upvoting everything you say because I hate the smug SO people who ask why instead of actually trying to help.

Yeah, I hate those people too. I appreciate the support.

But in this specific case, there's literally no reason to use OpenOffice, it's discontinued. People shouldn't have to explain how to use a defunct software with an addendum.

It's not an obscure programming language with an edge case, it's a word processor.

I can see where you're coming from. Still, I personally try to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume until demonstrated otherwise that they have considered alternatives and decided their current program is best for their particular usecase.

Is it naïve? Possibly. I fully admit that possibility.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I admire the respect you have for those who ask questions like this, but I think I disagree.

If there is something egregiously wrong with the premise of what a person is seeking to do, and there are no qualifying statements in their query about why they do in fact need to do this specifiic thing in this specific way, chances are high that they are uneducated about why the premise of what they're trying to do is flawed, and they are best served by being course corrected. Giving them the answer they're looking for to continue the bad thing while hiding your suggestion of what they should be doing instead in a footnote is just enabling them to double down on the short term path of least resistance that will probably come back to bite them again later.

If they really did know what they were doing with regards to doing an otherwise unsafe and/or unsupported thing, or if the restrictions tied their hands from using the obvious replacement solution, it either should have appeared in their question prompt, or it should be in the first replies to the first round of answers.

I say, withhold outdated advice unless the context of the conversation makes it explicitly clear that the old advice is genuinely required and not substitutable with current advice. But also don't be smug, rude, dismissive, or standoffish about it. Don't argue with someone who says they really do need a specific solution.

That said, this only applies in really cut and dry cases like this one, where there very clearly is an indisputable thing you shouldn't be doing, and a drop-in replacement you should be using. The ones I hate are moreso those you may see on StackOverflow where the question is like, "how do I do in JavaScript?" and five of the seven responses including the accepted answer offer a solution in some big dumb framework or lib that they apparently expect you to just incorporate into your project.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

If there is something egregiously wrong with the premise of what a person is seeking to do, and there are no qualifying statements in their query about why they do in fact need to do this specifiic thing in this specific way, chances are high that they are uneducated about why the premise of what they’re trying to do is flawed ...

You are probably right about this. Still, as I said to another user, I just feel it's a bit of a slippery slope from a stance of concern to full-blown-StackOverflow-ignoring-the-question.

If they really did know what they were doing with regards to doing an otherwise unsafe and/or unsupported thing, or if the restrictions tied their hands from using the obvious replacement solution, it either should have appeared in their question prompt, or it should be in the first replies to the first round of answers.

I can agree with this.

That said, this only applies in really cut and dry cases like this one, where there very clearly is an indisputable thing you shouldn’t be doing, and a drop-in replacement you should be using. The ones I hate are moreso those you may see on StackOverflow where the question is like, “how do I do in JavaScript?” and five of the seven responses including the accepted answer offer a solution in some big dumb framework or lib that they apparently expect you to just incorporate into your project.

Fair enough.

Truth be told, I work in customer service, and have very little tolerance for bullshit, so I'm genuinely surprised to find myself as patient and giving-the-benefit-of-the-doubt as I am being. I guess this thread just reminded me a bit too much of the days of 2015. Lol.

 


Edit: Shit. Forgot to add the > at the quote at the top. My bad.

[–] merthyr1831 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This is only correct when the software in question isnt abandonware from 2014

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago

Eh, I can see where you're coming from, certainly, but I feel it's a slippery slope from this stance to full-blown StackOverflow levels of ignoring-the-question.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago

The reality that OpenOffice is dead since a decade aside and you only want to try it for experiment reasons and not for actually using it: What happens instead? Do you get any error messages? Try running it from a shell and see if you get any useful output.

[–] turbowafflz 14 points 11 months ago

Why do you need OpenOffice? It isn't maintained

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

Go for LibreOffice or OnlyOffice. Both can be installed natively or with Flatpak or Snap (or maybe AppImage) is a safer bet.

[–] DerpDerpingtonIsHere 5 points 11 months ago

Try onlyoffice. It has excel, weird, and PowerPoint alternatives, very compatible with Microsoft office, and looks like it was made this century. If you need any of the other apps then I'd look into something else.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Libreoffice should work better

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

It's decades old is is probably broken. Run from the console and see what happens. More than likely it's a core dump.