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Press Kit

Key facts and figures about Apache OpenOffice for the media.

Naming

• Name - we are Apache OpenOffice (not Open Office, OpenOffice, etc.)
• Apache OpenOffice is both the name of a software product - the Apache OpenOffice Productivity Suite - and the name of the open-source project which designs, develops, maintains, translates, tests, documents, supports, and promotes the Suite - the Apache OpenOffice Community.

Key points about the Apache OpenOffice Productivity Suite.

1. Apache OpenOffice provides everything most people need in an office productivity suite. The main components of the Apache OpenOffice Suite are the Writer wordprocessor (screenshot); the Calc spreadsheet (screenshot); Impress for presentations (screenshot); Draw for graphics (screenshot); and the Base database (screenshot). Apache OpenOffice is stable, reliable, and robust, built up over twenty years' development. Unlike its major competitor, it was designed from the start as a single piece of software, which makes for higher quality software and a more consistent user experience. It is actively developed, with several releases every year.
   
2. Apache OpenOffice is both easy to use and easy to migrate to, for both experienced and beginners alike. It has a familiar user interface, and is able to read and write the vast majority of legacy file formats (including common Microsoft Office formats). It is supported in over ninety languages, with active support both Community based (free) and from commercial organisations (paid-for).
3. Apache OpenOffice is released under an open-source licence (the LGPL), which means it may be used free of any licence fees, for any purpose: private, governmental, commercial, etc. Once acquired (either as a free download or as a CD) it may be installed on an unlimited number of computers, and may be copied and distributed without restriction. Apache OpenOffice supports extensions, allowing users to add on extra functions easily from an extensions repository. This is a key differentiator from the competition.

Apache OpenOffice is available on all major computing platforms and is supported in over ninety languages. Our best estimate is that Apache OpenOffice currently enjoys over 15% market share for office productivity suites.

Key points about the Apache OpenOffice Community

The Community is organised into projects, covering all aspects of our activity. In languages alone, we have nearly 100 language localisation projects, with over 90 supported languages currently available. Over five thousand people have signed up to take part in project activities and are Community members. As an internet based worldwide community, we do not have a physical headquarters in any one country. We have a Community bank account in Germany, and some of the bigger native-language projects have not-for-profit or equivalent status in their countries.

The overwhelming majority of Community members are volunteers. A small number (probably not more than a hundred or so) are sponsored by their employers to work on Apache OpenOffice. Most of these work in software development. The Community acknowledges with gratitude the sponsorship it receives from its founding and primary sponsor, Oracle. Other significant contributors include major industry players like Novell, RedHat, RedFlag CH2000, IBM, and Google.

Potted history of Apache OpenOffice

Apache OpenOffice is a mature software product, tracing its origins back over twenty years to a commercial software house in Germany, StarDivision. Following the acquisition of StarDivision by Sun Microsystems in April 1999, Apache OpenOffice version 1.0 was released as open-source software on May 1st 2002. It proved hugely successful, and after more than 49 million recorded downloads, version 2.0 was released on 20th October 2005. Apache OpenOffice 2 removed the last barriers to migration with a new user interface, improved support for competitors' file formats, and a new integrated database component. It also became the first office suite to support the new OpenDocument Format for office applications (ODF) natively. ODF was adopted as an ISO standard on May 1st 2006 and is the only office document format to be approved at this level. Apache OpenOffice 3 was announced on October 13, 2008, and recorded 100 million downloads from the Apache OpenOffice download site alone just over one year later on October 28, 2009.

Logos etc

Logos may be found here

Press Releases

We keep an on-line archive of press releases.

We also have a low volume announcements mailing list; you can browse an archive of these announcements, or subscribe to the list by sending a blank email to announce-subscribe@openoffice.apache.org.

Contacts

Global Contacts

Please remember that these numbers DO NOT provide support for Apache OpenOffice. Please DO NOT call them for support requests. Instead, please see our website at support.openoffice.org.

Peter Junge (UTC +08h00)
OpenOffice.org Marketing Project Co-Lead
Email: pj@openoffice.org
Phone: +86 139 116 248 54
Fax: +49 3212 106 44 65
Skype: peter13j

Louis Suárez-Potts (UTC -05h00)
OpenOffice.org Community Manager
Email: louis@openoffice.org
Phone: +1 (416) 625-3843

Worldwide Marketing Contacts

List of worldwide contacts.

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