[tdf-announce] By the community, for the community: TDF to base community-driven foundation in Berlin, Germany

By the community, for the community: TDF to base community-driven 
foundation in Berlin, Germany

Openness, meritocracy and transparency anchored in cornerstones of an 
enduring entity
Successful vendor-neutral development model to provide the best free 
office suite

Berlin, February 1st, 2012 - The Document Foundation (TDF) today 
announces that it will base its community-driven entity in Berlin, in 
the legal form of a German Stiftung. This kind of structure is 
recognized worldwide as a legally stable, safe and long term entity, 
providing the ideal cornerstone for the long term growth of the 
community and its software.

"For the first time in 12 years, the development of the free office 
suite finally takes place within an entity that not only perfectly fits 
the values and ideals of the worldwide community, but also has this very 
same community driving it. The future home of the best free office suite 
is built and shaped by everyone who decides to participate and join. And 
the best is: Everyone can contribute and is invited to do so, to further 
strenghten the free office ecosystem", says Florian Effenberger, 
Chairman of the Board at TDF.

Charles-H. Schulz, one of the founders and a member of the Board of 
Directors, adds: "Berlin is the icon of reunification and unity, and as 
such is the ideal home of our global community, aggregated around the 
objective of creating the best free office suite ever. We expect to be 
legally established during the next weeks, as soon as the last details 
of the formal process have been finished."

"After many months of work in close cooperation with the authorities, we 
were able to keep the spirit of the community bylaws, and incorporate 
them into legally binding statutes, that ensure the promises that TDF 
has made in its manifesto", says Michael (Mike) Schinagl, a Berlin-based 
lawyer and contributor to various free software projects, who has been 
driving the legal aspects of the foundation set-up from the very beginning.

In addition, TDF currently publically discusses ways for local entities 
to join and participate, and operative entities are currently being 
created to carry on special projects.

Founder of the Stiftung will be the German nonprofit association Freies 
Office Deutschland e.V., formerly OpenOffice.org Deutschland e.V., that 
so far acted as interim legal entity. "We congratulate the community for 
having achieved this key step, and are proud of having played a key role 
in setting up The Document Foundation. Our association is looking 
forward to working closely with the new entity and acting as a gateway 
between TDF and private as well as enterprise users", says Thomas 
Krumbein, Chairman of the Board at Freies Office Deutschland e.V.

The LibreOffice project welcomes donations at 
http://www.libreoffice.org/get-involved/donate/

The website of TDF can be found at http://www.documentfoundation.org
The best free office suite, LibreOffice, has its website at 
http://www.libreoffice.org
Freies Office Deutschland e.V. host their German homepage at 
http://www.frodev.org

Note to editors: A "Stiftung" is a German Foundation established with an 
endowment and supervised by state authorities. See 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_%28non-profit%29#Germany for 
more details.

Short link to blog post: http://wp.me/p1byPE-e5


About The Document Foundation

The Document Foundation is an open, independent, self-governing, 
meritocratic organization, which builds on ten years of dedicated work 
by the OpenOffice.org Community. TDF was created in the belief that the 
culture born of an independent foundation brings out the best in 
corporate and volunteer contributors, and will deliver the best free 
office suite. TDF is open to any individual who agrees with its core 
values and contributes to its activities, and warmly welcomes corporate 
participation, e.g. by sponsoring individuals to work as equals 
alongside other contributors in the community. As of February 1, 2012, 
TDF has 146 members and over a thousand volunteers and contributors 
worldwide.


Media Contacts

Florian Effenberger (based near Munich, Germany, UTC+1)
Phone: +49 8341 99660880 - Mobile: +49 151 14424108
E-mail: floeff@documentfoundation.org - Skype: floeff

Olivier Hallot (based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, UTC-3)
Mobile: +55 21 88228812 - E-mail: olivier.hallot@documentfoundation.org

Charles-H. Schulz (based in Paris, France, UTC+1)
Mobile: +33 6 98655424 - E-mail: charles.schulz@documentfoundation.org

Italo Vignoli (based in Milan, Italy, UTC+1)
SIP Phone: +39 02 320621813 - Mobile: +39 348 5653829
E-mail: italo.vignoli@documentfoundation.org - Skype: italovignoli
GTalk: italo.vignoli@gmail.com

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