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The Document Foundation and GNOME Foundation to tighten their relationship, by exchanging seats in their Advisory Boards

gnome-logosBerlin, June 16, 2016 – The Document Foundation and GNOME Foundation have decided to tighten their relationship, in a move intended to create stronger ties between the two communities, and to foster the integration between LibreOffice and one of the most popular desktop environments for Linux.

The GNOME Foundation is a non-profit organization that furthers the goals of the GNOME Project, which is composed of both volunteers and paid contributors, helping it to create a free software computing platform for the general public that is designed to be elegant, efficient, and easy to use.

GNOME is a desktop environment that is composed entirely of free and open source software, targeting Linux but also supported on most derivatives of BSD. Since the release of GNOME 3.0, the GNOME Project has focused on the development of a set of programs known as the GNOME Core Applications, for the adherence to the current GNOME HUD guidelines and the tight integration with underlying GNOME layers.

“The GNOME Foundation oversees one of the cornerstones of the FLOSS desktop, and we are extremely happy to work with them on an organizational level to improve the desktop software experience and user interface. We can also learn from each other, as we are both based on volunteer-driven governance,” says Michael Meeks, Director, The Document Foundation.

“GNOME and LibreOffice both aim to bring competitive Free Software products to as many people as possible. Our growing partnership will help us to further this mission, by increasing cooperation and sharing information, expertise and best practices. We’re excited about this new chapter in the relationship between the two projects!”, says Shaun McCance, President of the Board of GNOME Foundation.

About GNOME Foundation

The nonprofit GNOME Foundation is an independent organization committed to supporting the advancement of the GNOME Project and software freedom. It provides financial, organizational and legal support to the GNOME Project and helps determine its vision and roadmap. GNOME software is used by millions of people around the world. More information about GNOME and the GNOME Foundation can be found at www.gnome.org.

KDE e.V. joins advisory board of The Document Foundation

ev_largeBerlin, June 16, 2016 – The Document Foundation announces that KDE e.V. is joining the organization’s Advisory Board, and at the same time The Document Foundation joins KDE’s group of advising community partners as an affiliate.

KDE is creating Free Software since 1996 and shares a lot of values around Free Software and open document formats with The Document Foundation, and brings the experience of running a Free Software organization for almost two decades to their advisory board.

Both organizations are working in the OASIS technical committee for the OpenDocument format, and also collaborate on common aspects of development of office software, such as usability and visual design. The affiliation of KDE and The Document Foundation at an organizational level will help to move forward with the shared goal of giving end users control of their computing needs through Free Software.

“The KDE project is one of the essential pieces of the FLOSS desktop initiative, and we are most happy to liaise with them now also on an organizational level. Beyond the shared goal of liberating people’s software experience, there is also lots of synergies to explore in areas ranging from document filter technologies to volunteer-driven governance,” says Thorsten Behrens, member of the board at The Document Foundation.

Lydia Pintscher, President of KDE e.V., says: “KDE has been one of the first Free Software non-profit organizations incorporated according to German law. We are happy to share some of the things we learnt over the many years we are running KDE now. Free software and open formats are two of the cornerstones which unite us with many other organizations, such as The Document Foundation, working on establishing freedom for users of digital devices everywhere. In order to achieve our vision of a world in which everyone has control over their digital life and enjoys freedom and privacy, we need strong partnerships with like-minded organizations like The Document Foundation.”

About KDE e.V.

KDE e.V. is a registered non-profit organization that represents the KDE Community: an international technology team dedicated to creating a free and user-friendly computing experience, offering an advanced graphical desktop, a variety of applications for communication, work, education and entertainment, and a platform to easily build new applications upon. More information about KDE and KDE e.V. can be found at www.kde.org.

The new Board of Directors of The Document Foundation

TDF_Logo_WikiBerlin, February 19, 2016 – The Document Foundation (TDF) announces the new Board of Directors, in charge from February 18, 2016, to February 17, 2018. Elected as directors are, in order of votes: Marina Latini (Studio Storti), Michael Meeks (Collabora), Thorsten Behrens (CIB), Jan Holesovsky (Collabora), Osvaldo Gervasi (independent), Simon Phipps (independent) and Eike Rathke (Red Hat). Elected as deputies are, in order of votes: Norbert Thiebaud (independent), Bjoern Michaelsen (Canonical) and Andreas Mantke (independent).

The board has elected Marina Latini as Chairwoman and Michael Meeks as Deputy Chairman. “The new board of directors provides at the same time the continuity with the past, and the new energies to push forward the project. After four years, The Document Foundation is globally recognized as one of the most successful free software projects. I look forward to the next two years, as we will have the challenge of growing our community to improve the awareness of LibreOffice and open document standards in every geography”, comments TDF Chairwoman Marina Latini.

membermapAs of January 1st, 2016, The Document Foundation has more than 200 members – representing 50 different countries or native language communities, from the five inhabited continents (a map is attached) – and thousands of volunteers worldwide. For additional information, please visit: http://www.documentfoundation.org.

TDF@4

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The Document Foundation was officially registered in Berlin on February 17, 2012. Four years have gone by, and the project has grown to a size that nobody would have dared to dream at that time. Happy Birthday !

R.I.P. John McCreesh

533120_10151138749737628_577502702_nJohn McCreesh, a founding member of The Document Foundation and the author of the project “manifesto“, has suddenly passed away on Saturday, January 16, at the age of 61.

This is an extremely sad time for The Document Foundation, as John has been a friend of every project founder, and often a mentor for the younger members. Without his work as a volunteer, the free office suite environment would have not been what it is today.

In fact, John wrote the original OOo Strategic Marketing Plan, which was instrumental for the growth of the project from 2004 to 2010, and contributed to the birth of LibreOffice and The Document Foundation.

If you have never met John, you can read his LinkedIn professional profile or his FaceBook page. His recent activity is summarised in the News & Star commemorating article.

Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family and friends. We will never forget John.

 

Announcement elections for the Board of Directors

Cor Nouws, Chairman of TDF’s Membership Committee, announced the following today:

Dear Community,

We hereby officially announce the upcoming elections for the next Board of Directors of The Document Foundation.

As per § 7 II of our statues, [1] the Board’s term lasts two years. The current board started its duty on February 18, 2014. Therefore, the old board remains in charge until the end of February 17, 2016, so the new board will be in charge the day after that, which is February 18, 2016.

As per § 6 III, only members of the Board of Trustees of The Document Foundation, as well as current members of any of its bodies, are eligible to be elected into the Board of Directors, and the election is overseen by the Membership Committee (§ 7 II).

The active electoral right is reserved to those who have been members of the Board of Trustees before this announcement (§ 7 II).

§ 6 III also states that members of the Board of Directors or their deputies may not be members of the Membership Committee and vice versa. This means that current members of the Membership Committee are eligible to be elected, but given that with the acceptance of their new role they lose their current role in the MC, they would have to step down from the Membership Committee the minute before accepting to become a member of the Board of Directors.

There is one more notable limitation: Per § 8 IV of the statutes, a maximum of 1/3 members of the Board of Directors is allowed to work on an employment basis for the same company, organization, entities, affiliates or subdivisions.

Nomination of candidates fulfilling the above requirements, as well as self nomination is welcome. In total, at least seven Board of Directors members are required, and given there are enough candidates, up to three deputies can be elected (§ 7 II).

Re-election of current members of the Board of Directors is explicitly permitted (§ 7 II).

Please send nominations and self-nominations via e-mail to elections@documentfoundation.org (which reaches the Membership Committee in private) and also (!) to board-discuss@documentfoundation.org (which is a public mailing list). We kindly ask nominees who would like to stand for elections to provide a 75 words statement on their candidacy as continuous text (so no bullet lists or multiple paragraphs). In addition, please also provide your full name, e-mail address and your corporate affiliation, if any.

Discussions with the candidates and questions to them as well as questions about the elections should take place on the public board-discuss@documentfoundation.org mailing list. For details on how to use the mailing list, see http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/

Eligible voters will receive further details via e-mail prior to the start of elections, including a summary of the candidates, details on how to access the voting system, and instructions on how to independently verify the vote count. Please ensure the Membership Committee has your recent and correct e-mail address on file. For questions, you can reach the Membership Committee in private at elections@documentfoundation.org

Following the time line set forth in § 7 II, requiring a 45 day advance notice, we hereby announce the following time line for the elections:

  1. 2015-10-19: announcement of the elections (this e-mail); and start of the nomination phase
  2. 2015-11-26, 24:00 CET/UTC+1: end of the nomination phase (one week before the election starts, as per § 7 II)
  3. 2015-12-04, 00:00 CET/UTC+1: official start of the elections (at least 45 days after #1, as per § 7 II)
  4. 2015-12-11, 24:00 CET/UTC+1: end of the elections
  5. 2015-12-12: announcement of the preliminary results
  6. 2015-12-14, 00:00 CET/UTC+1: start of the challenging phase
  7. 2015-12-18, 24:00 CET/UTC+1: end of the challenging phase
  8. afterwards: official announcement of the final results

Be advised that the newly elected Board of Directors will only be in charge beginning from February 18, 2016. The current Board of Directors will however include them in the decision making process, to easen up the transition.

Challenges to this announcement with respect to the deadlines outlined have to happen no later than seven (7) days after this announcement, via e-mail to elections@documentfoundation.org (which reaches the Membership Committee in private).

Challenges to the preliminary results of the election have to happen until the deadline set forth above, via e-mail to elections@documentfoundation.org (which reaches the Membership Committee in private).

On behalf of the Membership Committee,

Cor Nouws

[1] http://www.documentfoundation.org/satzung.pdf (binding version) and http://www.documentfoundation.org/statutes.pdf (non-binding translation)

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