The KDE community today announces the start of the Calligra Suite project, a continuation of the KOffice project. The new name reflects the wider value of the KOffice technology platform beyond just desktop office applications. With a new name for the Suite and new names for the productivity applications, the Calligra community welcomes a new stage in the development of free productivity and creativity applications for desktop and mobile devices.
Calligra Overview
The Calligra Suite contains the following applications:
| Productivity applications: | |
| Words | Word processor; new, but evolved from KWord |
| Tables | Spreadsheet program, previously known as KSpread |
| Stage | Presentation program, previously known as KPresenter |
| Flow | Flowchart program, previously known as Kivio (will be released in the next version) |
| Kexi | Database application like Microsoft Access |
| Management applications: | |
| Plan | Project management, previously known as KPlato |
| Graphics applications: | |
| Krita | Drawing application for multi-layered pixel-based images |
| Karbon | Drawing application for multi-layered vector images |
More applications will be added as we get more contributors. Currently all applications except Calligra Words will be maintained by their respective KOffice developers.
The Calligra Suite introduces the Calligra Office Engine which makes it easy for developers to create new user experiences, target new platforms and create specialized versions for new kinds of users. Currently, there are two main user experiences: the desktop UI with the applications mentioned above, and FreOffice which is the only free mobile office suite in existence.
Calligra and Users
It is a goal of the Project that users will see only positive changes. In addition to new names, we expect that the move to Git will make development speedier and higher quality. New user experiences will be added and the existing ones will see more usability work.
The community will release KOffice version 2.3 as planned in approximately 2 weeks, and will maintain it with bugfix releases during the KOffice 2.3 life cycle. Starting with version 2.4, we will continue development of most of the applications under the new names.
Calligra and the Past
Nearly everyone in the KOffice community has joined together to make this move. Leaving the past behind us, we are excited at this opportunity to make our software more innovative and widely-used. At the same time that the Calligra project is created, we will move from Subversion to Git, making it an even better platform for innovation in the free office space.
Calligra and KDE
KDE is one of the largest open source communities in the world. KDE software is one of only two projects that has reached a million commits in their repositories (the other is Apache).
KDE publishes several workspaces (Plasma Desktop, Plasma Netbook and soon Plasma Mobile), a development platform, and many sets of applications like the KDE EDU applications, KDE games, Amarok and K3b.
KOffice has always been part of the larger KDE community. Calligra will continue to use the KDE infrastructure such as bugtracker, forums, and community wikis. The Calligra team is very much a part of the KDE community and proud of it. The applications we develop will continue to be KDE offerings.
Resources
Find out more about Calligra Suite here:
For users:
User Web Site: http://www.calligra-suite.org/ (this site)
User Forum: http://forum.kde.org/viewforum.php?f=203
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Calligra/161929600510563
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_176774135672923
For developers:
Developer Mailing List: https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/calligra-devel
Developer Wiki: http://community.kde.org/Calligra
Source code: https://projects.kde.org/projects/calligra/repository
Existing web sites for individual applications like krita.org and kexi-project.org will continue to work as before.
Why didn’t you change the names of the other K applications too? They look out place. Kexi, Krita, Karbon are fake while the other ones are all real words. Consistence is important.
And this statement couldn’t be worded in a more vague and meaningless way:
“The Calligra Suite introduces the Calligra Office Engine which makes it easy for developers to create new user experiences, target new platforms and create specialized versions for new kinds of users. Currently, there are two main user experiences: the desktop UI with the applications mentioned above, and FreOffice which is the only free mobile office suite in existence.”
And please make installing on windows easier and faster without having some really ergonomic and usability bad installer. Please!
I can assure you that we have a very concrete meaning in mind when we say office engine. Unfortunately it’s difficult to describe it in text only, so I think I’m going to blog about it soon. But let me try anyway.
There are four main activities that can be done with a document: load it, render it save it and edit it. The office engine can load, save and render a document. It publishes a canvas that the UI can embed and show a document. It also publishes an API for editing operations that can be performed on the document. So this means that by embedding the canvas into some application and provide the user with tools to manipulate the document, a developer can give the user a UI that is well suited for the environment, be it a desktop machine or a mobile phone.
Right now, this API isn’t as clean as we like. We have a canvas abstraction and two different canvas implementations based on QWidget and QGraphicsView respectively. The tool API is not well separated yet, but that will happen betweeen release of 2.3 and 2.4. We do have two different UI’s in the source tree: the desktop version and the mobile version, a.k.a FreOffice. The former was created by the community and the latter by Nokia.
I absolutely agree here. I was happy when I thought all those “K-names” were being left behind. It’s a bit disappointing seeing them still there.
In contrary I am sad that the K was left off, but happy that it was left from un-natural way like “Kword” or “Kpresent”. The “Kexi”, “Karbon” and “Krita” are natural and you can pronounce them without problems. Application names should not be just english or some basic words like “Word” or “Exchange”. They can very well be non-english with K’s but the K must be added with a style (Krita, Amarok, digiKam, K3b, Konversation) so that the application really has a unique name what is possible pronounce normal way. KWord, KPresent and even the KPlato are such that it is not possible and it is not good but it makes the name funny and too geeky.
The K in application names has now gone to the other end, where there is a real witch hunt going about every possible K in the names and taunting how the “K’s” are bad and they are so terrible and they should really go.
We can not have situation where every application has similar names or names are so close to the real world way of discussing things.
That is one thing what Microsoft did gain for Microsoft Office, that the name was so typical what people used on everyday talks. Word, Office, Powerpoint, One Note and so on. They are really stupid names as you can not have more than one of those sets and they get even the power from being a normal daily words.
Words
Tables
Stage
Those are nice ones (tables and stage, especially the stage is nice) but when thinkin “Word” and “Words” you can not notice the idea.
KWord was very geeky but it had own identity what even MS Word does not have. Problem was it could not be pronounced correctly. Thats why names should have been in KOffice more like “KDE Office” and “KDE Word” and so on.
But the names were chosen and they are fine but they do not have identity being unique and such that you can just type the name to google and you could find right away the application name and discussions from it. People talks from Microsoft Word just as “Word” and now you have “Words” what is even more in the shadows of the Microsoft Word. No own identity at all. Nice one but it does not have elegance on it at all. And it is sad.
I thought it a sensible move to distance the project from the words ‘office’ and ‘word’ and was surprised to find ‘Words’.
As unfortunately I am not entirely sure what the whole breakup was about, it looks mostly like rebranding from the outside.
Hi,
I would like to ask about the localization – I suppose it to remain where it is: http://l10n.kde.org.
And one another question: The localizations files set is quite long, the new names for apps are already listed. The naming of the rest of localization infrastructure will be modified too? Any table with old and new names would be welcome.
Everything stay on kde infrastructure. Right now, the focus of translations is on the 2.3/branch where nothing is changed.
Please can we have an accounts package for small businesses? GnuCash is not bad but setting up VAT accounts for EU users isn’t easy. And of course it isn’t KDE.
HAve a look at kmymoney
http://kmymoney2.sourceforge.net/index-home.html
Kmymoney can’t be used as it doesn’t get European tax (salestax, VAT). It’s fine for personal use but not for businesses.
Without meaning to derail this, consider taking a look at the web-based accounting system Phreebooks.
Congrats!
I reckon Krita should be standalone app, not tightly integrated into KDE, though.
I would suggest same thing. Krita and Karbon should be separated from Office package and link it more with the Gwenview as the Full Graphics package for KDE SC. For office use I do not understand why the SVG/Painting application should come as users use premade cliparts and photos.
I bet “Words” would infringe MS trademark…Couldn’t you guys come up with a better name ? Huh.
Unlike kword ? or koffice ? 🙂 No more seriously, common words are not trademarkable, the trademark is “Microsoft Word” not Word.
Very nice, I always disliked the word Koffice. If pronounced in English and together, it sounds like “Coughice”, which sounds like a sick day at the office:-)
Have KDE lost their minds?
Its the Kalligra Suite to you 😉
emk
I agree kalligra! The only way I really know what is a kde app is just by looking at the name!!!
Congratulations, and Thankyou.
OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice, is a great productivity tool, however the very nature of the concept is archaic. A framework based system allows for innovative developments and integrations with other technologies potentially improving productivity and ease of use for home and business users alike. We at BungieSoft have some interesting ideas which have seemed to ambitious to implement until now, we look forward to supporting and using Calligra in the near future.
Maybe you want to update the screenshots (atleast for words, tables and stage)? They still show the erstwhile names in the titlebar
Did you consider
Kexi -> Relations
Krita -> Pixels
Karbon -> Strokes, Vectors, Curves
or some nice equivalents?
I personally like geeky corny names. Think of what VLC has become. I like the K names. Of course in the commercial interests, we have to see our roots get chopped, because we are too corny for the civilians in intertubes. Arg…
The KDE and KOffice devs are great and have some of the best desktop code on the planet. However, I could care less about the marketing drivel. To hell with political correctness. Screw that biatch!
Whatever happened to KMail? I haven’t had my own PC in a couple of years, but I loved KMail because it handled my gmail accounts a lot smoother than Thunderbird or anything else I used. Also, KMail was fully compatible and standards-compliant with Kolab Exchange Server, which is a free and powerful alternative to MicroSoft Exchange. Any comments on this one?
kmail is not a koffice or calligra application, but a kdepim one. And is released as part of KDE SC.
While it is exciting with new names, I must agree with the above posters that these new names are not necessarily an improvement. In this day and age you must realize that search engine hits are important, and a simple search for just “Tables” brings up hits on HTML tables and coffee tables while a search for “KSpread” only brings up hits on the spreadsheet program and nothing else. I don’t have any better names to suggest, but a unique spelling of a normal word could improve searchability drastically, such as “Teibels”.
Congrats gals & boys – I really hope this gives you the creative room needed for the future – sometimes these changes are needed.
Regarding the new names – tables, stage and flow sounds a bit LibreOffice’sh – most likely good for marketing …. but
But I totally love the K name conventions – especially I miss the KOffice, KWord and Kivio names – it is quite a shame, especially because only a few of the members has been renamed, it kind of clashes and ruins it.
Live long and prosper…
I used to have KOffice when I used Suse and KDE. I didn’t adapt to the looks and behaviour of KDE4, though, so I changed to Ubuntu, and preferred it to be a clean Gnome install. Well, today I found I have some info stuck in a KSpread file THAT NO OTHER SOFTWARE PACKAGE CAN READ OR CONVERT. Now, this is not what I expect from any software, even less from open standards software. If things simple like this are not taken care of, you’ll end up caring for a small and unconnected audience. How come nobody took care of creating import filters from KOffice to other common suites? (I know there are export filters, they are no help if you are on a system without KOffice).
Tomasina: To avoid situations like this in the future, we are concentrating on the OpenDocument Format instead of our own proprietary ones. I realise that this is no help to you right now. What I suggest is that you download one of the live CD’s with KDE3 and KOffice 1.6.3. Use that to load your files and then resave them in odf format (ods in the case of kspread). That’s probably going to be both faster and better than waiting for a kspread-to-ods filter to be developed.
That said, I’m sure that nobody would be negative if somebody wanted to work on kspread-ods filter or any other koffice format.
The word processor needs to not be weird and belligerent when I give it another go next time. As for names, you can name them after giant robots or kamen riders. The nerds will get a kick out of that.
This is a really good news.
I use KDE everyday but still using Libreoffice (which is good too) for my text work and such things.
I’m happy I “soon” could use a real kde suite to make these jobs.
LCG
My suggestion for the other K-named apps:
Krita – Calligra Photos or Calligra Pictures
Karbon – Calligra Vector
To add to my previous suggestion, another name I can think of for Krita would be
Krita – Calligra Photolabs
Wouldn’t that be cute?
Then, if Calligra would decide to have a PIM, I would suggest calling it Calligra Insight (because the competition is named Outlook, haha).
In the future, maybe we can have Calligra School (like Microsoft Student). This can include a fork of Basket Notes and perhaps a frozen version of Wikipedia (which can be updated if online) for those without 24/7 access to the Internet.
I don’t care if the names start with K or not…but I hate the new names for a very good reason. I use a Mac for my job and one of the most ANNOYING things about Macs are the names of the applications because they make web searches impossible. If you ever have a problem and need to search for a solution, you will never locate anything helpful. Go ahead, do a Google search for “Numbers,” “Pages,” “Aperture,” etc., and tell me what you find. It is the same with “Words,” “Tables,” “Stage,” “Flow,” “Plan,” etc. The only ones you’ll be able to find are the unique ones like Kexi or Karbon.