Hello,
the following decision, which has been taken in private today, is now made public in accordance with our statutes.
Mike Saunders wrote on 10.06.25 at 11:07:
A few years ago we introduced the “LibreOffice Community” branding to distinguish what TDF offers from the ecosystem. With the shrinking ecosystem I believe that there is no longer a need to do this distinction and brand dilution – and we still see messages from users who are confused what “Community” means (as we also talk about the “LibreOffice community” as the makers of the software).
I have talked to Italo and he is in favour of removing the “Community” branding. We raised the topic in a team call and many are also in favour of the idea to remove the tagline. We already have a detailed list of code and build system changes that we need to make to remove the “Community” branding.
I therefore call for the following vote:
- remove the “Community” branding from TDF’s LibreOffice builds so that they are simply “LibreOffice”
The Board of Directors at the time of voting consists of 7 seat holders (not including deputies). In order to be quorate, the vote needs to have 1/2 or more of the Board of Directors members, which gives 4.
A total of 6 Board of Directors members have participated in the vote.
The vote is quorate.
A quorum could be reached with a simple majority of 4 votes.
Result of vote:
5 approvals: Sophie, Eliane, Paolo, Mike, Osvaldo
0 abstain
1 disapproval: Simon
Decision: The proposal has been accepted.
Additional comment from Simon:
This is a significant change and we should consult openly before making it.
- While it appears reasonable our community deserves the chance to comment.
- If there were a public vote anfter a reasonable period for community feedback I would vote “yes”
- There is no need to use this accelerated secret voting procedure to make this change.
I thus note “NO” and request my reasons for doing so be minuted given there are no meeting minutes published for actions like this taken in secret.