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Author: Italo Vignoli

Visit of the Univention Summit 2017

The Document Foundation has enabled us to visit the Univention Summit in Bremen, so here is our report

Univention’s primary product is the Univention Corporate Server  (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univention_Corporate_Server#App_Center). UCS combines various free software applications into a comprehensive server platform based on Debian GNU/Linux.

The goal of the summit was networking in the field of open source software and, of course, to popularize UCS. This package is used by companies, administrations, and schools – and we (coming from the south of Germany) noticed that the new version of the paedML, the educational sample solution at the schools of Baden-Württemberg, runs on the basis of UCS. Accordingly, pedagogy was a focus of this meeting, in addition to a technology track and a series of app programming. There were also lectures on this central question: how should school IT structure look now and in the future? Several members of the host company and media representatives from schools, municipalities and federal states, including the Senator for Children and Education in Bremen, who played a major role at the beginning of the development of UCS between 2002 and 2004, spoke about this question.

LibreOffice played a role in many lectures and discussions – because it is open and free, but also because the resistances are often (still) great. The entire program and the presentations can be found at https://www.univention-summit.de/programm/ or via http://en.slideshare.net/Univention. There were more than the originally announced 250 visitors present, and this high number (in addition to the plans of the federal government for a €5 billion nationwide support program for IT in schools) shows the importance of this conference.

Besuch des Univention-Summits 2017

Die TDF hat uns den Besuch des Univention-Summit in Bremen ermöglicht, deshalb hier unser Bericht

Das Hauptprodukt von Univention ist der Univention Corporate Server (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univention_Corporate_Server#App_Center). UCS vereint verschiedene freie Softwarepakete in einem umfassenden Server-Betriebssystem auf Basis von Debian GNU/Linux.

Ziel des Summits war das Netzwerken im Bereich der Open Software und natürlich die Bekanntmachung von UCS. Dieses Paket wird von Unternehmen, Verwaltungen und Schulen eingesetzt – besonders fiel uns auf, dass die neue Version der paedML, der pädagogischen Musterlösung an den Schulen Baden-Württembergs, auf der Basis von UCS läuft. Entsprechend war ein Schwerpunkt dieser Tagung (neben einem Technik-Track und einer Reihe über App-Programmierung) ein Pädagogik-Track mit Vorträgen z.B. der Senatorin für Kinder und Bildung in Bremen, deren Amt schon am Beginn der Entwicklung von UCS zwischen 2002 und 2004 eine wichtige Rolle spielte. Zentrale Frage: Wie muss die schulische IT-Struktur jetzt und in Zukunft aussehen? Zu dieser Frage äußerten sich einige Mitglieder der gastgebenden Firma und Medienbeauftragte von Schulen, Kommunen und Bundesländern.

LibreOffice spielte in vielen Vorträgen und Diskussionsbeiträgen eine Rolle – weil es offen und gratis ist, aber auch, weil oft die Widerstände dagegen (noch) groß sind. Das gesamte Programm und die Vorträge finden sich unter https://www.univention-summit.de/programm/ oder alternativ über http://de.slideshare.net/Univention. Es waren mehr als die angekündigten 250 Besucher anwesend und diese hohe Zahl zeigt (neben den Plänen der Bundesregierung für ein 5 Milliarden schweres bundesweites Unterstützungsprogramm für die IT an Schulen) die Bedeutung dieser Tagung.

Ellen und Walter Pape

The Document Foundation announces LibreOffice 5.3.1

Berlin, March 16, 2017 – The Document Foundation (TDF) announces the availability of LibreOffice 5.3.1, the first minor release of the LibreOffice 5.3 family released in early February, with 100 bugs or regressions fixed against the previous version.

LibreOffice 5.3.1 is targeted at technology enthusiasts, early adopters and power users, as it is focused on bleeding edge features. For all other users and enterprise deployments, TDF suggests the just released LibreOffice 5.2.6, with the backing of professional support by certified professionals (a list is available at http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/professional-support/).

People interested in technical details about the release can access the change log here: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.3.1/RC1 (fixed in RC1) and https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.3.1/RC2 (fixed in RC2).

Download LibreOffice

LibreOffice 5.3.1 is immediately available for download from the following link: https://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/.

LibreOffice users, free software advocates and community members can support The Document Foundation with a donation at http://donate.libreoffice.org.

Several companies sitting in TDF Advisory Board (http://www.documentfoundation.org/governance/advisory-board/) are providing either value added Long Term Supported versions of LibreOffice or consultancy services for migrations and trainings, based on best practices distilled by The Document Foundation.

Job Search for a Development Mentor

The Document Foundation (TDF), the charitable entity behind the world’s leading free office suite LibreOffice, seeks an individual – or individuals part (or full) time – to be:

a Development Mentor

to start work as soon as possible. The role requires the following:

  • Self-starting, remote working experience
  • Experience contributing to FLOSS communities
  • C++ or LibreOffice coding experience
  • Excellent communication skills

The role is a for a minimum of 10 hours per week, and includes amongst other items:

Supporting existing mentors in the LibreOffice community including:

  • Building relationships between existing mentors and new contributors
  • Identifying and onboarding new contributors
    1. Affirming and encouraging their contribution
    2. Building initial relationships with them
    3. Encouraging them to join IRC to meet the team
    4. Introducing them to domain experts for deeper learning
  • Helping to educate new contributors by
    1. Positively reviewing their code contributions
    2. Introducing them to our tooling & culture
  • Attracting new contributors by promoting the project

Previous experience with such tasks is highly welcome, so is using free software. Speaking and writing English reasonably well is a mandatory requirement.

The work time during the day is flexible, apart from some fixed times when availability is required (e.g. during meetings, which usually take place at 14:00 or 15:00 UTC once per week).

TDF welcomes applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age.

As always, TDF will give some preference to individuals who have previously shown a commitment to TDF, including but not limited to members of TDF. Not being a member, or never having contributed before, does not exclude any applicants from consideration.

TDF is looking forward to receiving your applications, including curriculum vitae, your financial expectations, and the earliest date of your availability, via e-mail to Florian Effenberger at floeff@documentfoundation.org no later than April 11, 2017. You can encrypt your message via PGP/GnuPG.

If you haven’t received feedback by May 16, 2017, your application could not be considered.

Announcement of LibreOffice 5.2.6

Berlin, March 9, 2017 – The Document Foundation (TDF) announces LibreOffice 5.2.6, the sixth minor release of the LibreOffice 5.2 family, targeted to enterprises and individual users in production environments.

TDF suggests to deploy LibreOffice in large organisations, public administrations and enterprises with the backing of professional support by certified people (a list is available at:
http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/professional-support/).

People interested in technical details about the release can access the change log here: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.2.6/RC1 (fixed in RC1) and https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Releases/5.2.6/RC2 (fixed in RC2).

Download LibreOffice

LibreOffice 5.2.6 is immediately available for download from the following link: http://www.libreoffice.org/download/download/.

LibreOffice users, free software advocates and community members can support The Document Foundation with a donation at http://donate.libreoffice.org.

Several companies sitting in TDF Advisory Board (http://www.documentfoundation.org/governance/advisory-board/) are providing either value added Long Term Supported versions of LibreOffice or consultancy services for migrations and training, based on best practices distilled by The Document Foundation.

International Women’s Day: #BeBoldForChange

March 8 is the International Women’s Day. The theme for 2017 is #BeBoldForChange.

Amongst the members of The Document Foundation there are only 19 women (10% of the total number): Belinda Dibra (Albania), Christina Roßmanith (Germany), Chrystina Pelizer (Brasil), Eliane Domingos de Sousa (Brasil), Ellen Pape (Germany), Emma Pietrafesa (Italy), Gülşah Köse (Turkey), Irmhild Rogalla (Germany), Jean Hollis Weber (Australia), Jona Azizaj (Albania), Katarina Behrens (Czech Republic,), Marina Latini (Italy), Priyanka Gaikwad (India), Regina Henschel (Germany), Rosemary Sebastian (India), Sigrid Carrera (Germany), Sonia Montegiove (Italy), Sophie Gautier (France) and Vinaya Mandke (India).

Marina Latini is the current ChairWoman of the Board of Directors, while Katharina Behrens is a member of the Membership Committee.

Women active in the LibreOffice and Document Liberation communities are definitely more than 19. They should apply for membership, not only to be recognized for their contributions but also to elect and be elected to the Board of Directors and the Membership Committee. They can find the application form on the website: http://www.documentfoundation.org/governance/members/application/.

February 2017: a record month for donations

February 2017 has been a record month for donations to The Document Foundation, with 8,556 people supporting the project from every geography. The record has been sparked by the announcement of LibreOffice 5.3 at the very end of January 2017. The new release has been covered in online and print media with an unprecedented number of articles, which have focused on the exciting new features.

Press Releases

The Document Foundation announces the simultaneous availability of LibreOffice 26.2.2 and LibreOffice 25.8.6

Berlin, 26 March 2026 – The Document Foundation today announces the simultaneous release of LibreOffice 26.2.2 and LibreOffice 25.8.6. These…

Open Document Format

Let’s put an end to the speculation

Ideally, we would have preferred to avoid this post. However, the articles and comments published in response to Collabora's and…