The Document Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Document Foundation is an open-source software
organization. It was created by members of the OpenOffice.org
community to manage and develop a fork
called LibreOffice
. The goal is to produce a vendor-independent office suite with ODF
support and without any copyright assignment requirements. This is in contrast to OpenOffice.org, which requires developers assign copyright to Oracle.
The Document Foundation was created partially over fears that Oracle Corporation
, after acquiring Sun Microsystems
, would discontinue developing OpenOffice.org as they had done with OpenSolaris
.
, RedHat, Canonical and Google
.
The Foundation also made available a re-branded fork of OpenOffice.org which was based on the upcoming 3.3 version. It was hoped that the LibreOffice name would be provisional as Oracle was invited to become a member of the Document Foundation, and was asked to donate the OpenOffice.org brand to the project. Following the announcement, Oracle asked members of the OpenOffice.org Community Council who were members of The Document Foundation to step down from the Council, claiming that this represented a conflict of interest.
Jacqueline Rahemipour, Co-Lead of the OpenOffice.org Board, stated:
When the project was announced, the Document Foundation did not exist as a legal entity. The Steering Committee wished to formally set up a foundation, and following research chose establish the foundation in Germany. On 16 February 2011, a fundraising drive was announced to raise the 50 000 euro
needed to create a German foundation. The required amount was raised in eight days.
Some media observers have held the belief that the formation of the Document Foundation is just the Go-oo
project reinventing itself to the long-term detriment of users. In October 2010 Linux Magazine
's Bruce Byfield said:
As a result of the creation LibreOffice and the resulting loss of developers from OpenOffice.org, in April 2011 Oracle announced its intention to move OpenOffice.org to a "purely community-based project".
Oracle has also terminated their commercial product, called Oracle Open Office.
As of 2 June 2011 Oracle has relicensed OpenOffice.org under the Apache License 2.0
and transferred ownership of the project and its trademarks to the Apache Foundation.
, SUSE, Red Hat
, Freies Office Deutschland e.V., Software in the Public Interest
, and the Free Software Foundation
. Journalist Sean Micheal Kerner noted "The new advisory board along with the stable release are proof positive that LibreOffice has a stable, healthy and supported ecosystem of vendors and developers. This isn't some flash in the pan fork, this a new direction forward." He also asked with regard to membership on the advisory board, "where is Canonical?!"
Open-source software
Open-source software is computer software that is available in source code form: the source code and certain other rights normally reserved for copyright holders are provided under a software license that permits users to study, change, improve and at times also to distribute the software.Open...
organization. It was created by members of the OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org, commonly known as OOo or OpenOffice, is an open-source application suite whose main components are for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, and databases. OpenOffice is available for a number of different computer operating systems, is distributed as free software...
community to manage and develop a fork
Fork (software development)
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software...
called LibreOffice
LibreOffice
LibreOffice is a free and open source office suite developed by The Document Foundation as a fork of OpenOffice.org. It is largely compatible with other major office suites, including Microsoft Office, and available on a variety of platforms...
. The goal is to produce a vendor-independent office suite with ODF
ODF
ODF may be an acronym for:* OpenDocument format, a standard for electronic office documents** OpenDocument Fellowship, a volunteer organisation with members around the world to promote the use and development of the OpenDocument format....
support and without any copyright assignment requirements. This is in contrast to OpenOffice.org, which requires developers assign copyright to Oracle.
The Document Foundation was created partially over fears that Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation that specializes in developing and marketing hardware systems and enterprise software products – particularly database management systems...
, after acquiring Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems
Sun Microsystems, Inc. was a company that sold :computers, computer components, :computer software, and :information technology services. Sun was founded on February 24, 1982...
, would discontinue developing OpenOffice.org as they had done with OpenSolaris
OpenSolaris
OpenSolaris was an open source computer operating system based on Solaris created by Sun Microsystems. It was also the name of the project initiated by Sun to build a developer and user community around the software...
.
Creation
The Document Foundation was announced on 28 September 2010 with the Foundation being governed by a "Steering Committee" during the phase of initial creation. The announcement received support from companies including NovellNovell
Novell, Inc. is a multinational software and services company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Attachmate Group. It specializes in network operating systems, such as Novell NetWare; systems management solutions, such as Novell ZENworks; and collaboration solutions, such as Novell Groupwise...
, RedHat, Canonical and Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
.
The Foundation also made available a re-branded fork of OpenOffice.org which was based on the upcoming 3.3 version. It was hoped that the LibreOffice name would be provisional as Oracle was invited to become a member of the Document Foundation, and was asked to donate the OpenOffice.org brand to the project. Following the announcement, Oracle asked members of the OpenOffice.org Community Council who were members of The Document Foundation to step down from the Council, claiming that this represented a conflict of interest.
Jacqueline Rahemipour, Co-Lead of the OpenOffice.org Board, stated:
When the project was announced, the Document Foundation did not exist as a legal entity. The Steering Committee wished to formally set up a foundation, and following research chose establish the foundation in Germany. On 16 February 2011, a fundraising drive was announced to raise the 50 000 euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
needed to create a German foundation. The required amount was raised in eight days.
Reaction
In assessing Oracle's role in the events surrounding the establishment of The Document Foundation, writer Ryan Cartwright in late October 2010 said:Some media observers have held the belief that the formation of the Document Foundation is just the Go-oo
Go-oo
Go-oo was an office suite which started as a set of patches for the cross-platform OpenOffice.org office suite, then later became an independent fork of OpenOffice.org with a number of enhancements...
project reinventing itself to the long-term detriment of users. In October 2010 Linux Magazine
Linux Magazine
Linux Magazine is a European professional journal. It addresses itself to readers who work professionally with operating systems based around the Linux kernel. Linux Magazine is published by Linux New Media AG and was born after the great success of Linux-Magazin...
's Bruce Byfield said:
As a result of the creation LibreOffice and the resulting loss of developers from OpenOffice.org, in April 2011 Oracle announced its intention to move OpenOffice.org to a "purely community-based project".
Oracle has also terminated their commercial product, called Oracle Open Office.
As of 2 June 2011 Oracle has relicensed OpenOffice.org under the Apache License 2.0
Apache License
The Apache License is a copyfree free software license authored by the Apache Software Foundation . The Apache License requires preservation of the copyright notice and disclaimer....
and transferred ownership of the project and its trademarks to the Apache Foundation.
Advisory board
In June 2011 the foundation announced that it had formed an advisory board. The initial members included GoogleGoogle
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, SUSE, Red Hat
Red Hat
Red Hat, Inc. is an S&P 500 company in the free and open source software sector, and a major Linux distribution vendor. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina with satellite offices worldwide....
, Freies Office Deutschland e.V., Software in the Public Interest
Software in the Public Interest
Software in the Public Interest, Inc. is a non-profit organization formed to help other organizations create and distribute free/open-source software and open-source hardware...
, and the Free Software Foundation
Free Software Foundation
The Free Software Foundation is a non-profit corporation founded by Richard Stallman on 4 October 1985 to support the free software movement, a copyleft-based movement which aims to promote the universal freedom to create, distribute and modify computer software...
. Journalist Sean Micheal Kerner noted "The new advisory board along with the stable release are proof positive that LibreOffice has a stable, healthy and supported ecosystem of vendors and developers. This isn't some flash in the pan fork, this a new direction forward." He also asked with regard to membership on the advisory board, "where is Canonical?!"