The OpenOffice.org Foundation

Last updated 2001 November 4

The OpenOffice.org project currently does not have a foundation. Plans are in the works for creating such a foundation. The below text was composed at the project's birth and can serve as a proposal for the creation of a foundation.

The OpenOffice.org project will establish the OpenOffice.org Foundation, a non-profit organization that will oversee the operations, technology strategy, incorporation of technology contributions, and establishment of standards in conjunction with other standards bodies and open source projects as appropriate. The intention is that this foundation will be modeled after the Apache Software Foundation. A Steering Committee (or board) will be established with members from the open development community and SISSL licensees. Sun Microsystems will hold a minority representation in this governance structure.

Open Office.org Standards Process
The key objectives of the OpenOffice.org project include:

Establishment of standard, open productivity, XML-based file formats and component application programming interfaces (APIs).
Creation of standard implementation source code for the open office productivity utilities that implement the APIs and utilize the XML-based file format standards.
At various times, the OpenOffice.org Foundation will specify new versions of these standards. In the case of the file formats and the APIs, it is the intent to publish and submit these standards to appropriate standards bodies such as OASIS, IETF, and/or the W3C. As previously specified, these standards will bear specific version specifications, allowing the compliance testing of implementations and products against these standards.
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