blob: 6d76eac8bd7b91e3fc6f75ab10a3e05798f18524 [file]
---
layout: post
status: PUBLISHED
published: true
title: Not interested
id: 972e7bbd-5563-4d79-b414-f640d395a61b
date: '2013-07-01 13:25:57 -0400'
categories: ooo
tags: []
permalink: OOo/entry/not_interested
---
<div align="center"><a title="After midnight selling extras. There were many young boys selling very late these nights. Washington, D.C, April 1912 by The U.S. National Archives, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/7494391690/"><img width="640" height="461" alt="After midnight selling extras. There were many young boys selling very late these nights. Washington, D.C, April 1912" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7261/7494391690_f6c105235a_z.jpg" /></a></div>
<p>We get many emails, several per week, of individuals and companies wanting to "do business" with us.&nbsp; &nbsp; Some of it is obviously spam, but some of it is quite serious.&nbsp;&nbsp; The proposals do not have bad intentions, though they are often incompatible with our status as a non-profit organization.&nbsp; We try to respond to these notes and in a respectful manner. </p>
<p>In general, if you are offering us money in return for a favor, we're not interested. The Apache OpenOffice project operates as part of the non-profit Apache Software Foundation.&nbsp; We're publishing open source code for the public benefit.&nbsp; We must operate fairly, without giving special advantage (or disadvantage) to any 3rd party.&nbsp; </p>
<p>Some specific things we're not interested in: </p>
<ul>
<li>We're not interested in bundling your application with our install in return for money.&nbsp; But the <a href="http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html">Apache License</a> permits you to make and distribute your own bundle.</li>
<li>We're not interested in endorsing your product.</li>
<li>We're not interested in adding a link to your website in return for you adding a link to ours.</li>
<li>We're not interested in taking your money in return for a special "advisory" role in the project.&nbsp; We're a meritocracy.&nbsp; Membership is not for sale.</li>
</ul>
<p>But make no mistake -- we're not antagonistic to businesses or commercial use of OpenOffice.&nbsp; In fact our license, the permissive Apache License, is one of the most <a href="http://www.openoffice.org/why/why_compliance.html">business-friendly licenses</a> around.&nbsp; We want you to use our code.&nbsp;&nbsp; But we cannot have "partners" in the same way that a for-profit corporation can. </p>
<p>Our lack of commercial entanglements with 3rd parties means that<br />
you can operate commercially without fear that your competitor has a "special<br />
relationship" with the project, giving them an unfair advantage. </p>
<p>On the other hand, we do encourage things like:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.apache.org/foundation/contributing.html#Paypal">Contributions to the Apache Software Foundation</a>, which benefit the ASF as a whole.&nbsp; Dozens of companies that sponsor the ASF are acknowledged on the <a href="https://www.apache.org/foundation/thanks.html">Thanks Page</a>.</li>
<li><a href="https://openoffice.apache.org/contributing-code.html">Contributions of code</a> to the OpenOffice project, that helps us extend its capabilities.</li>
<li><a href="http://openoffice.apache.org/mailing-lists.html#marketing-mailing-list-public">Send us</a> links to articles, news stories, tutorials, extensions, or other materials, related to OpenOffice.&nbsp; If it is good, relevant and non-spammy, then we might link to it.&nbsp; But we're never going to link to something purely for the sake of a link exchange.</li>
<li>If you offer services related to OpenOffice, then we welcome your profile submission for our <a href="http://www.openoffice.org/bizdev/consultants.html">consultants listings</a>.</li>
<li>If you are doing something really interesting related to OpenOffice, maybe we'll interview you for an article on this blog.&nbsp; Stories related to what the broader ecosystem is doing are interesting to our readers. </li>
</ul>