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OpenOffice.org

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OpenOffice.org
Company typeOpen-source software project (formerly)
IndustryOffice software suite
PredecessorStarOffice
FoundedJuly 19, 2000; 26 years ago (2000-07-19)
FounderStar Division (original StarOffice), Sun Microsystems (open-source project)
Defunct2011
FateDonated to Apache Software Foundation; development discontinued
SuccessorApache OpenOffice, LibreOffice (fork)
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsWriter, Calc, Impress, Draw, Base, Math
OwnerSun Microsystems (original), Oracle Corporation (later)
ParentSun Microsystems, later Oracle Corporation

OpenOffice.org was an open-source office productivity software suite that has since been discontinued. It originated from the proprietary StarOffice, which was created by Star Division before being acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1999. In July 2000, Sun released the source code to the public as a free alternative to Microsoft Office, with version 1.0 launching on 1 May 2002.

After Oracle Corporation acquired Sun Microsystems, development of OpenOffice.org slowed down and eventually stopped. In 2011, Oracle transferred the project to the Apache Software Foundation, which continued it under the name Apache OpenOffice, although this initiative has seen minimal activity since 2015. Meanwhile, a more actively maintained fork called LibreOffice was established in 2010 by members of the original OpenOffice.org community.

The OpenOffice suite comprised several applications: Writer for word processing, Calc for spreadsheets, Impress for presentations, Draw for vector graphics, Base for database management, and Math for formula editing. Its primary file format was the OpenDocument Format (ODF), which it helped originate, while also supporting numerous other formats, particularly those from Microsoft Office. Initially developed mainly for Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Solaris platforms, support later expanded to OS X. The software was distributed under the GNU Lesser General Public License version 3 (LGPL), with earlier versions also available under the Sun Industry Standards Source License (SISSL).

History

OpenOffice.org traces its roots back to StarOffice, a proprietary office suite developed by the German firm Star Division starting in 1985. In August 1999, Sun Microsystems purchased Star Division for $59.5 million, reportedly aiming to avoid expensive licensing fees for Microsoft Office across its workforce of 42,000 employees.

On 19 July 2000 at the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, Sun announced plans to release StarOffice’s source code to cultivate a free and open-source office suite. The project was named OpenOffice.org (including ".org" to circumvent trademark conflicts), with its source code officially published on 13 October 2000. A public preview followed in October 2001 and rapidly exceeded one million downloads. The first stable release, OpenOffice.org 1.0, debuted on 1 May 2002.

OpenOffice.org quickly became the standard office suite on numerous Linux distributions and emerged as a significant alternative to Microsoft Office, reportedly capturing around 14% of the enterprise market by 2004. Sun developed the OpenOffice.org XML file format—compressed within ZIP archives—to facilitate easier data exchange and aimed to replace proprietary formats. In 2002, Sun submitted this format to the Organization for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS), which led to the establishment of the OpenDocument standard in 2005; this standard was later ratified as ISO/IEC 26300 in 2006. Starting with version 2.0, OpenDocument became OpenOffice’s default format and saw broad adoption across various organizations.

Sun managed OpenOffice.org’s development while continuing commercial sales of StarOffice and licensing its codebase to third parties such as IBM, which developed IBM Lotus Symphony on this foundation. This dual approach attracted criticism that Sun favored commercial objectives over fostering community collaboration. Integrating OpenOffice.org into many Linux distributions proved difficult, prompting initiatives like ooo-build to enhance compatibility and incorporate community patches that were otherwise rejected upstream. Sun also faced backlash for its slow acceptance of external contributions and its policy requiring contributors to sign agreements granting joint ownership of their code submissions—enabling continued proprietary sales.

After Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems in January 2010, development persisted under the Oracle Open Office brand but with significantly reduced developer resources, casting doubt on Oracle’s dedication to the project. By September 2010, most community contributors departed due to concerns about Oracle’s stewardship and formed The Document Foundation (TDF). They launched LibreOffice in January 2011, which was rapidly embraced by most Linux distributions.

In April 2011, Oracle halted development of OpenOffice and dismissed the remaining team amid speculation regarding waning community interest and commercial factors. Subsequently, in June 2011, Oracle donated both the trademarks and codebase of OpenOffice.org to the Apache Software Foundation. At IBM’s request, the code was relicensed under the permissive Apache License. This donation laid the groundwork for what continues as the Apache OpenOffice project.

Governance

Under Sun Microsystems' stewardship, the OpenOffice.org initiative was overseen by the Community Council, a body consisting of community participants who proposed project objectives and managed coordination with derivative software developers for sustained advancement.

Nonetheless, it was reported that both Sun and later Oracle made unilateral decisions without engaging the Council or contrary to its advice. This led to a significant departure of third-party developers who transitioned to LibreOffice. In October 2010, Oracle insisted that all Community Council members affiliated with the Document Foundation step down, resulting in a Council populated exclusively by Oracle personnel.

Naming

The official designation OpenOffice.org was chosen because the name "OpenOffice" had already been trademarked in the Benelux countries by Open Office Automatisering since 1999. A comparable trademark conflict in Brazil caused the software to be distributed under the name BrOffice.org starting in 2004, which was supported by a nonprofit organization from 2006. This nonprofit eventually redirected its backing to LibreOffice in December 2010.

Features

The release of OpenOffice.org 1.0 aimed to deliver a premier global office suite compatible with multiple platforms, providing comprehensive capabilities through open-component APIs and utilizing an XML-based file format.

Components

Icon Title Description
Writer A word processor comparable to Microsoft Word or WordPerfect.
Calc A spreadsheet application similar to Microsoft Excel or Lotus 1-2-3.
Impress A presentation program analogous to Microsoft PowerPoint or Apple Keynote, featuring export options to Adobe Flash (SWF) for extensive compatibility. Presentation templates were accessible on the OpenOffice.org website.
Draw A vector graphics editor akin to drawing tools found in Microsoft Office suites.
Math An editor for creating and modifying mathematical formulas, similar to Microsoft Equation Editor, which can be embedded within other OpenOffice.org documents.
Base A database management program resembling Microsoft Access, acting as a front-end interface for databases such as Access (JET), ODBC, MySQL, and PostgreSQL. It utilized HSQL as its database engine and incorporated report generation through Pentaho starting with version 2.3.

The suite did not include a dedicated personal information manager, email client, or calendar application comparable to Microsoft Outlook, despite these features being part of StarOffice 5.2 previously—a commonly requested addition. The OpenOffice.org Groupware project, initiated in 2003 as an alternative to Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Server, evolved into OpenGroupware.org (currently known as SOGo). There were intentions to bundle Mozilla Thunderbird and Mozilla Lightning with OpenOffice.org version 3.0 to fill this functionality gap.

Supported operating systems

The final release, version 3.4 Beta 1, was compatible with IA-32 editions of Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 or newer, as well as IA-32 and x64 Linux distributions, Solaris, OS X version 10.4 or later, and the SPARC variant of Solaris.

Previous versions of OpenOffice.org supported these platforms:

Fonts

OpenOffice.org came bundled with several font families, including OpenSymbol, DejaVu, the Liberation fonts starting from version 2.4, and the Gentium fonts introduced in version 3.2. Earlier releases up to 2.3 incorporated the Bitstream Vera fonts. Additionally, it utilized the default typefaces provided by the underlying operating system.

The Fontwork tool allowed users to generate decorative text featuring effects such as gradient coloring, customized shapes, variable letter heights, and adjusted character spacing, comparable to Microsoft Word's WordArt. When saving files in Microsoft Office formats, Fontwork objects were converted into WordArt elements.

Extensions

Beginning with version 2.0.4, OpenOffice.org enabled support for third-party extensions. By April 2011, its Extension Repository offered over 650 add-ons designed to expand functionality and personalization options. The Free Software Foundation also curated additional extension collections.

OpenOffice Basic

Included within OpenOffice.org was OpenOffice Basic, a scripting language akin to Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), accessible in Writer, Calc, and Base modules. The suite also provided partial compatibility with VBA macros developed for Microsoft Office.

Connectivity

OpenOffice.org facilitated database connectivity through ODBC (Open Database Connectivity), JDBC (Java Database Connectivity), and SDBC (StarOffice Database Connectivity) interfaces. This allowed seamless integration with both local and remote database systems for improved data handling capabilities.

File formats

Starting with version 2.0, OpenOffice.org adopted the ISO/IEC 26300:2006 OpenDocument format as its standard file type. Versions 2.0 through 2.3.0 defaulted to ODF 1.0; versions 2.3.1 to 2.4.3 used ODF 1.1; and from version 3.0 onward, ODF 1.2 was the default.

The initial OpenOffice.org release utilized OpenOffice.org XML as its native format, which was contributed to the OASIS consortium and subsequently evolved into the OpenDocument standard.

The suite supported a wide array of file formats for importing and exporting documents, enhancing interoperability with leading office software:

Data Interchange Format DIF style="background:#9EFF9E;color:black;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-yes"|Yes style="background:#9EFF9E;color:black;vertical-align:middle;text-align:center;" class="table-yes"|Yes Various graphic formats such as BMP, JPG/JPEG, PNG, GIF, TIFF were supported for both import and export. Additional supported formats included HTML, SYLK, StarOffice StarCalc files, dBase (DBF), Microsoft PowerPoint (97–2003), StarOffice StarDraw/StarImpress documents, along with vector graphics like SVG and EPS. Uniform Office Format UOF, UOT, UOS, UOP Supported for reading and writing since version 3.0. Microsoft Office 2007 Office Open XML DOCX, XLSX, PPTX Readable beginning with version 3.0; writing capabilities available through derivative projects such as go-oo.

This broad compatibility made OpenOffice.org a flexible choice for organizations requiring extensive document format interoperability across various platforms.

Development

OpenOffice.org utilized an internal XML format to convert various external file types both to and from this standardized representation.

Its application programming interface (API) was constructed around a component model known as Universal Network Objects (UNO), which provided an extensive array of interfaces specified through an interface description language similar to CORBA.

Native desktop integration

The initial release, OpenOffice.org 1.0, was criticized for not delivering a native look and feel across its supported operating systems. Starting with version 2.0, the suite incorporated native widget toolkit, along with platform-specific icons and font-rendering technologies on GNOME, KDE, and Windows environments, significantly improving the user interface experience.

For Mac OS X users, early editions required the installation of X11.app or XDarwin, whereas the alternative NeoOffice port provided a fully native interface. From version 3.0 onward, OpenOffice.org operated natively within Apple's Aqua GUI, enhancing its integration and usability within the Mac ecosystem.

Use of Java

Initially developed in C++, OpenOffice.org gradually increased its dependence on the Java Runtime Environment, including bundling a dedicated JVM. This reliance attracted criticism from the Free Software Foundation because Java was not entirely free software.

In 2005, concerns escalated when Richard Stallman proposed creating a fork due to the project's Java dependency. In response, the OpenOffice.org team pledged support for free Java implementations and addressed obstacles that had prevented version 2.0 from running on such platforms.

On 13 November 2006, Sun Microsystems committed to releasing Java under the GNU General Public License, subsequently launching the free software Java distribution OpenJDK by May 2007. This development aligned with OpenOffice.org’s objective to minimize reliance on proprietary components.

Security

In 2006, Lt. Col. Eric Filiol from the Laboratoire de Virologie et de Cryptologie de l'ESAT pointed out vulnerabilities in OpenOffice.org’s macro system. That same year, Kaspersky Lab demonstrated a proof-of-concept virus named "Stardust" targeting OpenOffice.org, confirming the theoretical possibility of malware but with no recorded real-world infections.

By October 2011, Secunia reported that no unpatched security vulnerabilities existed in the software. A security flaw inherited from the OpenOffice.org codebase was identified and rectified in LibreOffice in October 2011 and later fixed in Apache OpenOffice by May 2012.

OpenOffice.org 1

The source code of OpenOffice.org was made publicly available on 13 October 2000. The first public preview, milestone build 638c, was released in October 2001. The stable release of OpenOffice.org 1.0 became available on 1 May 2002 under LGPL and SISSL licenses for Windows, Linux, and Solaris systems. A Mac OS X version using an X11 interface followed on 23 June 2003. The last official release supporting Windows 95 was version 1.0.3.1 in April 2003.

OpenOffice.org 1.1, launched on 2 September 2003, introduced capabilities such as one-click PDF export, Flash (.SWF) export, macro recording functionality, and a basic extension framework for third-party plugins.

Version 1.1.1 (released on 29 March 2004) was included in the OpenCD project—a curated collection of open-source applications for Windows users.

On 2 September 2005, Sun Microsystems discontinued the SISSL license to reduce license fragmentation; some analysts interpreted this move as an effort to prevent IBM from reusing code without contributing back. The update version 1.1.4 (22 December 2004) was the last distributed under both SISSL and LGPL licenses; this licensing change also applied to beta releases of OpenOffice.org version 2.

The concluding release in the OpenOffice.org 1 series was version 1.1.5 (9 September 2005), which added support for editing OpenDocument Format (ODF) files and marked the final version officially supporting Windows NT 4.0.

OpenOffice.org 2

The development of version 2.0 commenced in early 2003, driven by the "Q Product Concept" aimed at improving compatibility with Microsoft Office, boosting performance, expanding scripting capabilities, integrating with GNOME, enhancing database functionality, supporting digital signatures, and refining the overall user interface. This version also set ODF as the default file format. The initial beta was released on 4 March 2005.

The official release of version 2.0 occurred on 20 October 2005, followed by version 2.0.1 eight weeks later, which included bug fixes and additional features. Starting with version 2.0.3, the project transitioned from an 18-month release schedule to quarterly updates.

Version 2.1 was launched on 12 December 2006, offering minor improvements and bug resolutions. Version 2.2 arrived on 29 March 2007, delivering security patches, usability enhancements, and refinements. On 17 September 2007, version 2.3 introduced a revamped charting module, an upgraded extension manager, along with several smaller updates.

Released on 27 March 2008, version 2.4 incorporated new functionalities and resolved bugs while integrating enhancements from RedOffice, a Chinese fork of OpenOffice.org. The last maintenance update in this series, version 2.4.3 (released on 4 September 2009), marked the final official support for Windows 98 and ME.

Version 2 attracted considerable media coverage. PC Pro awarded it a flawless six-star rating, identifying it as a formidable alternative to Microsoft Office. Federal Computer Week emphasized its significance due to the adoption of the ODF standard. According to Computerworld, migrating large government organizations to OpenOffice.org 2.0 cost approximately one-tenth of what upgrading to Microsoft Office 2007 would require.

OpenOffice.org 3

Released on 13 October 2008, version 3.0 brought substantial enhancements such as import capability for Microsoft's Office Open XML format (though export was not supported), compatibility with ODF version 1.2, improved handling of Microsoft's Visual Basic for Applications macros, and a native interface for Mac OS X. It also introduced the "Start Center" and adopted the LGPL version 3 license.

The update to version 3.1 (released on 7 May 2009) added features like text overlining and transparent object dragging. Version 3.2 (11 February 2010) enhanced PostScript-based OpenType font support, implemented integrity checks for ODF files with repair options, and cut cold start times by nearly half compared to version 3.0, alongside other performance improvements.

Version 3.2.1 (released on 4 June 2010) focused on bug fixes, refreshed OpenDocument icons, and updated the "Oracle Start Center," marking the first stable release under Oracle’s stewardship.

The final Oracle-backed release, version 3.3 (26 January 2011), introduced new spreadsheet functions, an updated print dialog, a FindBar feature, and usability upgrades in Impress. This was also the last stable version supporting Windows 2000 and Mac OS X on PowerPC hardware.

Alongside version 3.3, Oracle launched a commercial edition named Oracle Open Office 3.3 (previously StarOffice) on 15 December 2010, as well as Oracle Cloud Office—a proprietary cloud-based suite developed from a different codebase.

A beta for OpenOffice.org version 3.4 was made available on 12 April 2011 with SVG import capabilities, improved ODF 1.2 compliance, and better spreadsheet features. However, prior to its finalization, Oracle ceased backing the project and dissolved the remaining development team.

Market share

Determining the market share of OpenOffice.org proves difficult because it is freely distributed through downloads, peer-to-peer sharing, CDs, and inclusion in various Linux distributions. The project endeavored to monitor its usage by analyzing market-share data that included distribution figures, deployment statistics, and survey results.

By July 2010, Valve disclosed that 14.63% of Steam users had OpenOffice.org installed on their systems. A 2010 web analytics report examining over 200,000 users revealed diverse adoption rates: approximately 0.2% in China, around 9% in both the United States and the United Kingdom, and exceeding 20% in countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany.

Although Microsoft Office dominated roughly 95% of the revenue-driven general office suite market as of August 2007, OpenOffice.org along with StarOffice captured between 15% and 20% of the corporate sector by 2004. Research from the University of Colorado in 2010 described OpenOffice.org’s installed base as "irreversible," with prospects for ongoing expansion.

The project announced over 98 million downloads by September 2007 and reached a cumulative total of 300 million downloads by February 2010 with the launch of version 3.2. Within twelve months following its debut, the OpenOffice.org 3 series surpassed one hundred million downloads.

Notable users

Significant adopters of OpenOffice.org included Singapore’s Ministry of Defence and Banco do Brasil. By 2006, it was officially adopted as the office suite for the French Gendarmerie.

In India, several government entities such as Employees' State Insurance, IIT Bombay, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, the Supreme Court, ICICI Bank, and the Allahabad High Court utilized OpenOffice.org alongside Linux for administrative functions.

Municipal governments in Japan transitioned from Microsoft Office to OpenOffice.org in cities including Sumoto (2004), Ninomiya (2006), Aizuwakamatsu (2008; later switching to LibreOffice in 2012), Shikokuchūō (2009), Minoh (2009), Toyokawa, Fukagawa, Katano (2010), and Ryūgasaki (2011). Corporate migrations encompassed Assist (2007; later moving to LibreOffice on Ubuntu in 2011), Sumitomo Electric Industries (2008; transitioned to LibreOffice in 2012), Toho Co., Ltd. (2009), and Shinsei Financial Co., Ltd. (2010). Assist also provided support services for OpenOffice.org deployments.

These implementations were frequently motivated by objectives such as reducing expenses and standardizing IT infrastructure across both governmental and private organizations.

Retail

In July 2007, Everex, a subsidiary of First International Computer and ranked as the ninth-largest PC manufacturer in the U.S., started distributing computers pre-installed with OpenOffice.org version 2.2 through retailers including Wal-Mart, K-mart, and Sam's Club across North America.

Forks and derivative software

Multiple open source and commercial products trace their origins back to OpenOffice.org’s codebase. Key actively maintained derivatives include:

Apache OpenOffice

In June 2011, Oracle transferred ownership of OpenOffice.org’s source code and trademarks to The Apache Software Foundation. The Apache OpenOffice initiative has been primarily driven by IBM, various Linux distributors, and government agencies. IBM hired several former Oracle developers to contribute to its advancement.

To adhere to Apache’s licensing requirements, components incompatible with its policies were either removed or substituted starting from OpenOffice.org version 3.4 beta 1. The inaugural Apache release, OpenOffice 3.4.0, was made available in May 2012.

Later that same year, IBM contributed code from Lotus Symphony—its tailored variant of OpenOffice.org—which was integrated into Apache OpenOffice version 4.0; subsequently, Symphony was discontinued. Following IBM’s departure from active involvement, the project encountered difficulties maintaining a robust pool of contributors.

Since 2015, Apache OpenOffice has struggled to provide prompt security updates. The most recent major feature release was version 4.1 in 2014, with maintenance update 4.1.15 released on December 22, 2023.

In September 2016, discussions emerged about potentially retiring the project; however, no definitive resolution was reached. As of July 2025, Apache OpenOffice continues to be accessible but suffers from multiple unresolved security vulnerabilities.

While the Apache team regards their effort as a direct continuation of OpenOffice.org, others perceive it as a fork or distinct entity due to differences in governance models, licensing frameworks, and development philosophies.

LibreOffice

In 2000, Sun Microsystems initially declared that OpenOffice.org would be governed by an independent foundation, presenting a comprehensive proposal in 2001. Despite repeated appeals to establish this structure, little advancement occurred. On 28 September 2010, due to dissatisfaction with what was seen as neglect by Sun and later Oracle, members of the OpenOffice.org community established The Document Foundation and created a fork named LibreOffice. This initiative integrated enhancements from Go-oo and sought to provide an office suite free from vendor control, supporting ODF without requiring copyright transfers.

Oracle was invited to participate in The Document Foundation and to contribute the OpenOffice.org trademark but instead insisted that council members affiliated with the foundation step down, resulting in Oracle maintaining control over the council.

The majority of Linux distributions swiftly transitioned from OpenOffice.org to LibreOffice, including Oracle Linux 6. LibreOffice quickly gained developer momentum, expanded development activities, and introduced new functionalities, attracting most external contributors from OpenOffice.org. By March 2015, LibreOffice had clearly outpaced Apache OpenOffice in terms of developer engagement.

Collabora Online is a cloud-based iteration of LibreOffice that enables real-time collaborative document editing. Developed by Collabora Productivity, it supports all common document formats and operates both within web browsers and as native clients on Android, Chromebooks, iOS, iPadOS, Linux, macOS, and Windows platforms.

NeoOffice

NeoOffice, a commercial adaptation designed for Mac users, provided a native OS X Aqua interface prior to OpenOffice.org’s availability on the platform. Earlier releases were based on Go-oo, while versions from 3.1.1 through 2015 relied on OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 but incorporated stability improvements sourced from both LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice. Since 2017, NeoOffice has been fully built upon LibreOffice.

Go-oo

The ooo-build patch collection originated at Ximian in 2002 with the goal of simplifying Linux builds and integrating external contributions while following OpenOffice.org’s development without intending to fork. It became the foundation for many Linux distributions’ office suites. Due to diminishing contributions from Sun and concerns about licensing, Novell released ooo-build as Go-oo in 2007. Sun criticized this move as a "hostile and competitive fork," while some advocates of free software expressed worries over the inclusion of Microsoft technologies potentially exposed to patent risks.

Despite these disputes, Go-oo effectively served as the default OpenOffice.org variant across numerous Linux distributions. It fostered external contributions through policies later adopted by LibreOffice. Upon LibreOffice’s creation, Go-oo was discontinued in its favor. Novell also provided a supported OpenOffice Novell edition based on Go-oo.

IBM Lotus Symphony

The Workplace Managed Client within IBM Workplace 2.6 (released on 23 January 2006) incorporated components from OpenOffice.org 1.1.4—the final version released under the SISSL license. This codebase was extracted into an independent application named Lotus Symphony (launched on 30 May 2008), featuring a redesigned user interface built on Eclipse. Symphony 3.0 (issued on 21 October 2010) was restructured atop OpenOffice.org 3.0 with code licensed privately by Sun Microsystems. In 2012, IBM contributed its modifications to the Apache Software Foundation, discontinued Symphony in favor of Apache OpenOffice, and integrated its code into Apache OpenOffice version 4.0.

StarOffice

Sun Microsystems developed the commercial proprietary software StarOffice by building upon OpenOffice.org and integrating additional proprietary features. Following Oracle's acquisition of Sun in January 2010, the product was rebranded as Oracle Open Office. Oracle ceased its development efforts in April 2011.


External links

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