The suite has been forked and renamed “LibreOffice” because Oracle still owns the brand. The Document Foundation is an independent self-governing group formed by leading members of the community. The company recently re-branded the product but had made no public commitment to future development.

However, the product’s future had been uncertain following Oracle’s acquisition of Sun in early 2010. It was used as the basis for Sun’s commercial Star Office product, so many OOo developers worked on the product full-time. Until recently, OpenOffice’s principal developer was Sun Microsystems.

For Windows users, it’s a viable free alternative to Microsoft Office. For Linux users, it’s one of the best office suites available and provides good compatibility with Microsoft documents. OpenOffice is an important product for small businesses and freelancers.

The product has been given the temporary name of “LibreOffice” following a major restructuring effort that declares independence from Oracle. An open source collective known as the The Document Foundation has seized control of the OpenOffice suite.

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