_posts/2020-10-15-the-apache-software-foundation-celebrates.html (123 lines of code) (raw):
---
layout: post
status: PUBLISHED
published: true
title: The Apache Software Foundation Celebrates 20 Years of OpenOffice®
id: 8875eac5-34a2-4130-80cd-ee4938f65f9c
date: '2020-10-15 22:15:59 -0400'
categories: ooo
tags:
- anniversary
- openoffice
- celebration
permalink: OOo/entry/the-apache-software-foundation-celebrates
---
<p class="entryContent">
<p><b><i>Leading Open Source office<br />
application and personal productivity suite under development as a<br />
community-led Apache® Project for the past 8 years</i></b></p>
<p><b>Wakefield,</b><b> MA —14 October 2020—</b><br />
The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the all-volunteer developers,<br />
stewards, and incubators of more than 350 Open Source projects and<br />
initiatives, announced today the twenty-year anniversary of OpenOffice<sup>®</sup>, the last eight of which as an Apache<sup>®</sup> Top-Level Project.</p>
<p>"It’s<br />
inspiring to see so many dedicated people from around the world<br />
volunteer their time to mentor, contribute code, test issues, moderate<br />
mailing lists, help on forums, translations, marketing and more to keep<br />
making this great product better and available for millions of users,"<br />
said Carl Marcum, Vice President of Apache OpenOffice. "OpenOffice is<br />
more than just software. It’s a great community that I’m glad to be a<br />
part of."</p>
<p>With more than 300 million downloads, Apache OpenOffice<br />
is used by countless individuals, organizations, and institutions around<br />
the world who are seeking a reliable, robust, and freely-available Open<br />
Source office document productivity suite. Apache OpenOffice features<br />
the following applications for Windows, macOS and Linux:</p>
<ul>
<li>"Writer" word processor;</li>
<li>"Calc" spreadsheet tool;</li>
<li>"Impress" presentation editor;</li>
<li>"Draw" vector graphics editor; </li>
<li>"Math" mathematical formula editor; and </li>
<li>"Base" database management program. </li>
</ul>
<p>Apache<br />
OpenOffice supports more than 120 languages, 41 of which are officially<br />
maintained and released by the Project. Apache OpenOffice is the<br />
productivity suite of choice for governments seeking to meet mandates<br />
for using ISO/IEC standard Open Document Format (ODF) files.</p>
<p>Originally<br />
created as "StarOffice" in 1985 by StarDivision, who was acquired by<br />
Sun Microsystems in 1999. The project was open-sourced under the name<br />
"OpenOffice.org", and continued development after Oracle Corporation<br />
acquired Sun Microsystems in 2010. OpenOffice entered the Apache<br />
Incubator in 2011 and graduated as an Apache Top-level Project in<br />
October 2012.</p>
<p>"At Apache OpenOffice we are very excited about 20<br />
years of OpenOffice," said Marcus Lange, ASF Member and Apache<br />
OpenOffice Committer since the project first arrived at the ASF.<br />
"Countless users, developers and friends have made it possible that we<br />
can today celebrate this incredible anniversary. Their commitment makes<br />
me believe that we will see many more years of this great Open Source<br />
productivity suite."</p>
<p>"The need and, in fact, the demand, for a<br />
permissively licensed Open Source office suite, available to the masses<br />
and not just the privileged few fortunate enough to have the latest<br />
hardware and software, has never been greater within the last two<br />
decades," said Jim Jagielski, ASF co-Founder and Apache OpenOffice<br />
incubating mentor. "Apache OpenOffice exists to provide essential<br />
functionality, with as few licensing restrictions as possible, to the<br />
world at large. It is truly a noble mission, and I am honored to be a<br />
small part of it."</p>
<p>"As a long-term user, I joined the project in<br />
2016 to give something back," said Matthias Seidel, Committer and member<br />
of the Apache OpenOffice Project Management Committee. "After a steep<br />
learning curve, I am proud to be part of the community that provides<br />
this great software for the public good and benefits millions<br />
worldwide."</p>
<p>Apache OpenOffice is available as a free download to<br />
all users at 100% no cost, charge, or fees of any kind. OpenOffice<br />
source code is readily available for anyone who wishes to enhance the<br />
applications. The Project welcomes contributions back to the project,<br />
its code, and its community. Those interested in participating with<br />
Apache OpenOffice can find out more at <a href="https://openoffice.apache.org/get-involved.html" target="_blank">https://openoffice.apache.org/get-involved.html</a> .</p>
<p><b>Availability and Oversight<br></b>As<br />
with all Apache projects, OpenOffice software is released under the<br />
Apache License v2.0 and is overseen by a self-selected team of active<br />
contributors to the project. A Project Management Committee (PMC) guides<br />
the Project's day-to-day operations, including community development<br />
and product releases. For project data, documentation, and more<br />
information on Apache OpenOffice, visit <a href="https://openoffice.apache.org/" target="_blank" style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://openoffice.apache.org/</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/ApacheOO" target="_blank" style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://twitter.com/ApacheOO</a> .</p>
<p>12<br />
releases have been made under the auspices of the ASF. The project<br />
strongly recommends that users download OpenOffice only from the<br />
official site <a href="https://www.openoffice.org/download/" target="_blank">https://www.openoffice.org/download/</a> to ensure that they receive the original software in the correct and most recent version.</p>
<p><b>About The Apache Software Foundation (ASF)<br></b>Established<br />
in 1999, The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is the world’s largest<br />
Open Source foundation, stewarding 227M+ lines of code and providing<br />
more than $20B+ worth of software to the public at 100% no cost. The<br />
ASF’s all-volunteer community grew from 21 original founders overseeing<br />
the Apache HTTP Server to 813 individual Members and 206 Project<br />
Management Committees who successfully lead 350+ Apache projects and<br />
initiatives in collaboration with 7,900+ Committers through the ASF’s<br />
meritocratic process known as "The Apache Way". Apache software is<br />
integral to nearly every end user computing device, from laptops to<br />
tablets to mobile devices across enterprises and mission-critical<br />
applications. Apache projects power most of the Internet, manage<br />
exabytes of data, execute teraflops of operations, and store billions of<br />
objects in virtually every industry. The commercially-friendly and<br />
permissive Apache License v2 is an Open Source industry standard,<br />
helping launch billion dollar corporations and benefiting countless<br />
users worldwide. The ASF is a US 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charitable<br />
organization funded by individual donations and corporate sponsors<br />
including Aetna, Alibaba Cloud Computing, Amazon Web Services,<br />
Anonymous, Baidu, Bloomberg, Budget Direct, Capital One, Cerner,<br />
Cloudera, Comcast, Facebook, Google, Handshake, Huawei, IBM, Inspur,<br />
Pineapple Fund, Red Hat, Target, Tencent, Union Investment, Verizon<br />
Media, and Workday. For more information, visit <a href="http://apache.org/" target="_blank" style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);">http://apache.org/</a> and <a href="https://twitter.com/TheASF" target="_blank" style="background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);">https://twitter.com/TheASF</a> </p>
<p>©<br />
The Apache Software Foundation. "Apache", "OpenOffice",<br />
"OpenOffice.org", "Apache OpenOffice", and "ApacheCon" are registered<br />
trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation in the United<br />
States and/or other countries. All other brands and trademarks are the<br />
property of their respective owners.</p>