The OpenOffice.org project is separating itself from database giant Oracle. OpenOffice.org is now called The Document Foundation, the future of which will be determined by a committee of developers and project managers, taking the responsibility for OpenOffice away from a single company. Furthermore, the actual OpenOffice.org suite of programs is getting a temporary name: LibreOffice. Add all that to the fact that OpenOffice was once called OpenSolaris, and we have a serious problem of brand recognition on our hands.
LibreOffice will keep its name until Oracle decides whether it wants to donate the OpenOffice.org brand to the foundation, which in the meantime has invited Oracle to rejoin their new community by applying for membership. Initial supporters already include the Free Software Foundation, Open Source Initiative, Canonical, Red Hat, Novell, the GNOME foundation, and Google.
We can only assume that the forking is happening because OpenOffice's community is not sure how dedicated Oracle will be to the suite's continued development. The Document Foundation also hopes that LibreOffice's independence from Oracle will attract more contributors and lead to an even better product. Oracle became OpenOffice's principal contributor when it acquired Sun Microsystems earlier this year.