[VOTE] Revoke votes related to LibreOffice Online atticiziation and freezing of repository

Dear Community,

FOSDEM has been yet another venue where people have asked either the availability of an online version of LibreOffice or, for those that were aware of the existence, about the status/future plans of LibreOffice Online. This follows similar questions at many other events, as local communities report.

As many in our community are aware, LibreOffice Online started thanks to substantial funding provided by The Document Foundation. Code contributions were made largely by ecosystem companies while community volunteers contributed with documentation, localization and the help system. LibreOffice Online was well-known globally thanks to the LibreOffice brand allowing it to thrive - and thanks to contributions from the community and companies of the ecosystem until it was forked by a member of the commercial ecosystem in October 2020.

Past Boards, with Board members acting in Conflict of Interest on all stages of the processes, voted to “freeze” the repository and eventually put it into the “attic”, and linking to their own third-party repositories.

There was an open letter in 2022 (Open letter for revive LOOL, add your +1 if you agree). There was also external funding for projects using the LibreOffice Online name (NLnet; Collabora Online/LibreOffice Accessibility and (NLnet; LibreOffice/Collabora Online typography).

We acknowledge the importance that an online version of LibreOffice has for the community, and the need to correct a situation that has been unsatisfactory for too long.

Many of the details in terms of processes and technologies that could be used moving forward need to be clarified in an open discussion with the community, including ecosystem partners, whom we explicitly invite to the discussion, so this is now a starting point.

To start the process of freeing LibreOffice Online, and to start the journey that will lead to having an online version by the community and for the community, we propose the following vote:

  1. Revoke the decisions to freeze the LibreOffice Online repository
  1. Revoke the decision to put LibreOffice Online in the “attic”
  1. Reopen the repository for LibreOffice Online at TDF for contributions

  2. Provide warnings about the state of the repository until TDF’s team agrees that it’s safe and usable - while at the same time encourage the community to contribute with code, technologies and other contributions that can be used to move forward

  3. Actively work with the community to identify how to foster LibreOffice Online, including technological basis

The vote runs 72h from now.

Best,
Eliane Domingos

14 Likes

I vote in a favour.

Best,
Eliane Domingos

3 Likes

+1 for me.

Paolo

3 Likes

+1
Sophie

3 Likes

+1

3 Likes

-1

I vote in favor

+1

–Osvaldo

3 Likes

Voto a favor!
+1

1 Like

I vote in a favour.
+1

1 Like

¡Voto a favor!
Votare a favore!
Voter pour!
Für!

1 Like

+1

1 Like

I vote +1.

1 Like

-1

I vote in favour.

Best,
Jean-Francois Nifenecker

1 Like

+1

Kind regards,
Regina Henschel

1 Like

not conditional anymore ?

Open letter for revive LOOL, add your +1 if you agree - #11 by mariosv

The great news of course is that there is one: Collabora Online - it is available for free download by anyone interested. The slightly sad news is that some people don’t know that yet.

Sadly this is just incorrect. There are a couple of FAQ entries “who created LibreOffice Online” and “Who contributed to the mobile work” that present the facts (as of ~five years ago, when the entire development community around LOOL moved away to COOL, there is now a rather larger team working on COOL). We tried hard there to credit both volunteers and those who actually funded things (alongside Collabora’s now multi million Euro investment)…

Your mail also ignores the rather clear reasons for the move away from TDF. Your short history ignores the many months during which no-one showed up to maintain TDF’s Online. Even the atticization vote (where the ecosystem members abstained) gave extra time for serious people to show up, tackle the security concerns, and keep it alive, but no-one did. Subsequently de-atticization was requested, and independent ESC members assessed that (as now) the activity didn’t meet even the basic threshold necessary to re-open the project. If there is a viable project now - why not just re-open LOOL following the agreed procedure ?

One of the major reasons for the COOL move was around branding and visibility. It seems your post starts with an unwillingness to direct people to Collabora’s work - and continues with the deeply inaccurate claim that TDF has substantially funded Online. That doesn’t seem like a promising start of a discussion that meets the ecosystem’s need for visibility to drive lead flow, sales a return on investment, and hence more investment into the software in a virtuous spiral leading to much more and better Free Software.

In conclusion: there is already a thriving Collabora Online community, which is a true FOSS project like Fedora, openSUSE, Nextcloud, ownCloud, openCloud, BigBlueButton etc. etc. - with an open bug tracker, forum, matrix channel, weekly public developer call, ~weekly public training calls, mentoring, and constant development.

Collabora Online is a friendly place, where contribution and do-ers are respected and appreciated for what they contribute by a large peer group of skilled developers. I encourage anyone interested in driving the state of the art forward around collaborative office - to join us on our mission to make open source rock.

3 Likes

Dear Michael,

Thank you for sharing your perspectives and historical context. I will be brief in my answer, as I am not a fan of exhaustive debates that distract us from executing our mission; I prefer to focus our energy on what is essential for the future of our foundation.

I would like to summarize my point of view based on the following pillars:

  • The reality at FOSDEM: During my time at the FOSDEM booth, I spoke personally with many people who were asking for an online version of LibreOffice. There is a legitimate expectation from the community that TDF, as the guardian of the project, provides a clear and accessible path for its users.

  • Recognition and support: In all of these interactions, I was the first to state, “If you need professional support for LibreOffice, whether for desktop or online, Collabora is the company in the ecosystem with the technical expertise to do so.” This demonstrates that my position is not an attack on the commercial ecosystem, but a recognition that we have different and complementary roles.

  • Investment and nature of FOSS: We are immensely grateful for the investment Collabora has made in the code. However, anyone who runs a business understands the inherent risks and strategic decisions involved; in Open Source Software, code must be shared. The fact that other projects already use this code base only reinforces that the software is free and that innovation cannot be contained.

  • Technological evolution and mission: For LibreOffice to remain relevant, it must keep pace with technological evolution. We cannot allow the foundation to remain stagnant while the world moves toward online collaboration; LibreOffice must be where technology evolves.

  • Commitment to the global community: Our commitment is to our donors, our volunteers who dedicate their time, and our millions of users. Providing the infrastructure for a repository at TDF ensures an independent institutional home for the project. This allows the community to create and share innovations under the identity that serves as a global reference for our work.

We must overcome narratives of conflict. Free software is about freedom: those who want to collaborate, collaborate, and those who want to use it, use it. We must not be restricted in our ability to fulfill our mission. Reopening the repository is simply honoring our mission and respecting everyone who donates, collaborates, and believes in LibreOffice.

All the best,

Eliane Domingos

5 Likes