Apache: OpenOffice.org is not at risk

The OpenOffice software project is "not at risk", the Apache Software Foundation has said, after some members of OpenOffice.org publicly called for donations.

The document creation software was made into an official project called Apache OpenOffice.org (incubating), the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) announced on Friday after the project's funding group, Team OpenOffice.org, asked for donations on Tuesday.

"We understand that stakeholders of a project with a 10+ year history — be they former product managers or casual users — may be unfamiliar with The Apache Way and question its methods," the ASF wrote in a statement. "Those following the project's migration to process and culture unique to the Apache community may challenge the future sustainability of the project."

In its statement, "Open-source software defends itself against looming shut-down", OpenOffice.org said in order to ensure future development of the open-source software, the project needed to do fundraising. The project's financial backer, Oracle, which took control of the project from Sun, ceded control of the project to the ASF in the summer.

"As an all-volunteer organisation, we do not compensate any contributors to develop Apache code," the ASF wrote in its announcement. "We do, however, support those individuals with relevant expertise to pursue consulting/remuneration opportunities."

"The way to move this forward is via the ASF, which owns the OpenOffice.org trademark and official code base," the ASF wrote.

OpenOffice's fork, LibreOffice, is backed by the Document Foundation which is funded by over 2,000 members.