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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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