OpenOffice is still a processing hog

• February 7, 2006
• James Skemp
• software, Internet

I like OpenOffice, I do. I think that OpenOffice is where things are heading in the future.

Some say that the next platform for word processors will be the Internet. Need to write a document? Go online to do so. Yet, with Internet security the way it is, not to mention that a number of people still don't have always-on connections, we're just not ready for that quite yet. One day, yes, but not quite yet.

Back to OpenOffice, there is a problem with it, however - it's a hog when it comes to installation. It's time for programs to start acting like anti-virus software (and yes, I did mention this in a previous post) and allow us to only update the components that need to be updated. Is there a difference between your average program and an AV program? Sure, the core components of your average program are often what's getting updated. AV programs are built to expect updates, in the form of new definitions.

Yet, updates to the core components of AV programs happen, and they're fairly similar to regular updates. Every once in a while one may require a restart of the computer, but certainly not as often as other (and I'm talking non-MS software here as well) programs.

It's time for programs to take yet another look at AV software, this time not just for how they get updates, but also for how they update.

Update July 31, 2007 @ 5:15

The solution is Linux. Having used Ubuntu for the last couple of months, it's apparent that they're definitely doing updates right, while the Windows world continues to fight with this issue of updating.