Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Oracle submits OpenOffice.org codebase to Apache

LibreOffice backers say they are open to merging with OpenOffice

Oracle is submitting the codebase for OpenOffice.org to the Apache Software Foundation, where the productivity suite will live on in the group's incubator program for open-source software initiatives, Oracle announced Wednesday.

"Donating OpenOffice.org to Apache gives this popular consumer software a mature, open, and well established infrastructure to continue well into the future. The Apache Software Foundation's model makes it possible for commercial and individual volunteer contributors to collaborate on open source product development," said Luke Kowalski, vice president with Oracle's Corporate Architecture Group, in a statement.

"We welcome highly-focused, emerging projects from individual contributors, as well as those with robust developer communities, global user bases, and strong corporate backing," said ASF president Jim Jagielski in a statement. "Today's submission of the OpenOffice.org code base is testament to our track record for successfully incubating highly-established, well-respected projects such as Apache SpamAssassin and Apache Subversion."

Jagielski has also been proposed to serve as a mentor for OpenOffice.org as it becomes an incubation project, or "podling."

IBM also released a statement Wednesday, saying it would strongly support the incubation process.

While Oracle previously said it would no longer actively manage OpenOffice.org and planned to transition it to a "purely community-based open-source project," the chosen home was not made public until now.

Oracle, which acquired OpenOffice.org through the purchase of Sun Microsystems, made a brief go at selling a commercial version of the suite under the name Oracle Open Office. It also announced a related product, Oracle Cloud Office.

But the vendor scrapped both applications in April, ostensibly due to a lack of interest from customers.

Oracle had clashed with members of the OpenOffice.org community, some of whom broke off to form an offshoot project called LibreOffice and a related group, the Document Foundation.

The Document Foundation hailed Oracle's move in a blog post Wednesday, albeit with some caveats.

"It is great to see key user features released in a form that can be included into LibreOffice," it stated. "The Document Foundation would welcome the reuniting of the OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice projects into a single community of equals in the wake of the departure of Oracle."

But that process won't be automatic, it added.

"The step Oracle has taken today was no doubt taken in good faith, but does not appear to directly achieve this goal. The Apache community, which we respect enormously, has very different expectations and norms -- licensing, membership and more -- to the existing OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice projects."

The Document Foundation is willing to begin talks with ASF, it added. "We all want to offer corporate and individual users worldwide the best free office suite for enterprise and personal productivity."

Chris Kanaracus covers enterprise software and general technology breaking news for The IDG News Service. Chris's e-mail address is Chris_Kanaracus@idg.com

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: Apache, Apache Software Foundation, Architecture Group, IBM, IBM Australia, IDG, OpenOffice, OpenOffice.org, Oracle, Sun Microsystems
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: Apache Software Foundation, applications, business issues, collaboration, Office suites, open source, oracle, software
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • IBM agility@scale™: Become as Agile as You Can Be
    In this eBook, Scott Ambler, IBM Rational software's Chief Methodologist for Agile and Lean discusses how IT organisations are finding that agile project teams, as compared to traditional project teams, enjoy higher success rates, deliver higher quality projects, have greater levels of stakeholder satisfaction, provide better return on investment (ROI) and deliver systems to market sooner.
    Learn more »
  • Protecting Against the Leading Causes of Data Breach
    This whitepaper was written for the organisation that wants to focus on prevention of data loss and doesn’t have millions to spend, but needs affordable solutions that can be implemented today to protect millions of sensitive records and dollars worth of intellectual property. This whitepaper addresses: - What organisations can do to prevent the four leading causes of data breaches - Why dedicated (pure-play) DLP solutions may not protect you from all four leading causes of data breaches - How to get prevent sensitive data leaving your organisation
    Learn more »
  • Workshifting: a global market research report
    New business requirements are transforming the demands placed on IT. To operate effectively in today’s fast-paced global environment, organisations need to be able to get work done anywhere, anytime, by any type of worker to achieve the best results. This is the context for the rise of workshifting—the practice of moving work to the most optimal location, time and resources. As one of the most comprehensive reports ever conducted into the role of desktop virtualisation in enabling workplace flexibility and mobility, it reflects the growing consensus of those using technology to improve the performance of their organisation.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments