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| <title>Apache OpenOffice - Information about releases that have reached "End-Of-Life" status</title> |
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| <h1>Information about releases that have reached "End-Of-Life" status</h1> |
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| <p> |
| With each new release of Apache OpenOffice, users are strongly encouraged to upgrade, to benefit from new features, bug |
| fixes and security improvements. After a new major release, the Community supports legacy releases for a period of time |
| to allow users to upgrade and migrate. |
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| <p> |
| The following releases are no longer supported by the OpenOffice Community and are declared to be at "End-of-Life" |
| status: |
| |
| <br /><br /> |
| <b>OpenOffice.org 3.3.0 and earlier</b> |
| <br /> |
| It was released in January 2011 and its most recent |
| <a href="http://www.openoffice.org/security/cves/CVE-2012-0037.html">security patch</a> was released by Apache in |
| March 2012. |
| </p> |
| |
| <p> |
| This EOL policy only applies for the version of OpenOffice obtained via the |
| <a href="http://www.openoffice.org/download">OpenOffice download page</a>. Linux distributors and service companies |
| often have their own product lifecycle policies and might support the productivity suite for a shorter or longer period |
| of time. |
| </p> |
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| <h3>Frequently Asked Questions</h3> |
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| <p> |
| <b>Q:</b> What does EOL status mean? Is the software unusable now? |
| <br /><br /> |
| <b>A:</b> The EOL status means that support with patches, bugfixes and security updates is no longer available from the |
| Community. The software may or may not still be usable, and you may still be able to obtain product support from |
| Community members via email, mailing lists and forums. Please take a look at the |
| <a href="http://support.openoffice.org">OpenOffice Support page</a>. |
| </p> |
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| <p> |
| <b>Q:</b> So, can I go on using the old version? |
| <br /><br /> |
| <b>A:</b> Technically, yes. However, due to important bugfixes and security improvements found in newer releases of the |
| software, the Community strongly encourages every user to upgrade to the latest release. |
| </p> |
| |
| <p> |
| <b>Q:</b> I'm a Linux user, and my copy of OpenOffice comes from my distributor's repository. Am I affected? |
| <br /><br /> |
| <b>A:</b> Linux distributors often have their own product lifecycle policy and may support their versions of OpenOffice |
| for a shorter or longer period of time by integrating updates and bugfixes from newer versions (aka "backporting"). |
| Please check with your distributor. |
| </p> |
| |
| <p> |
| <b>Q:</b> Why can't the Community support older releases for a longer period of time? |
| <br /><br /> |
| <b>A:</b> Releasing bugfixes, patches and security improvements for older releases takes a lot of resources. Releasing |
| legacy versions is as much effort as releasing current versions, with localization and QA being involved. As most users |
| upgrade to a new version in a short period of time, and as rollout cycles in companies usually last from 3 to 12 months, |
| the Community needs to concentrate its resources where they are most effective, in new versions. |
| </p> |
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