…but if you develop mass-market software, you need to please most of them most of the time. If you’re really smart, you can then please the rest of them by providing a mechanism for extensions. Extensions are a way to add in features to a piece of software which appeal to a sub-set of users, without cluttering up the software for everyone else.

During the lifetime of OpenOffice.org 2, the developers rapidly increased the ability of OpenOffice.org to support extensions. At the same time the project created a repository to collect and distribute extensions.

A note posted today to our Native Language mailing list highlighted an innovative use of extensions. The OpenOffice.org Japan user group has released an extension to make Japanese users feel instantly at home with the software. Just one install tweaks thirty settings within the software, as well as adding clip art and templates more in tune with Japanese culture. As a final touch, it also makes use of high-quality Japanese fonts for Linux users.

Just one small example of how open-ness creates great software.

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