Before I begin with the complaints, let me thank you for opening
the source of Open Office.

Now on to the complaints!

I believe you should separate Open Office's applications
(e.g., word processor, spread sheet) into truly distinct programs.
Having them appear in the same interface is unwieldy and rather
an imposition on the user.  (Frankly, I don't know anyone who likes
the current interface: "They're trying to make a single program
look like a Windows * desktop!")  Think for a moment: what is your
own experience interacting with a computer, whether it's running
UNIX or a Windows variant?  Do you have several programs running
at the same time, some iconified or minimized, or do you run just
one application?  For most people, it's the former.  The monolithic
interface of Open Office defies this experience.

I also believe you should drop your current GUI toolkit and
go with something more attractive, like Gtk.  Gtk is supported
on almost all UNIX systems, and on Windows * as well.  This
might save you considerable effort in maintaining and developing
Open Office.  Another compelling reason to port Open Office
to Gtk is that Sun Microsystems will soon ship Solaris with
the GNOME Desktop.

Finally, I believe you should rid Open Office of both the
email client and the web browser.  There are already more
than enough mail and web browsing clients out there.  Don't
force your users to install programs they don't need (and
which you shouldn't feel obliged to provide).  For example,
clicking on a mailto: embedded in a document could execute
the user's mail client of choice.  The client command could
be 'xterm -e pine' or 'outlook.exe' or anything else the
user desired.  This also could simplify your maintenance and
development efforts.

Regards,

Nick