Reaction to Apache OpenOffice proposal. The rise of Github. And more.

Apache OpenOffice proposal
# Oracle confirmed that it had proposed that OpenOffice.org become an Apache Incubator project (as initially reported by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols). The project will be backed by IBM, which is providing the staff resources.

# IBM representatives, including Bob Sutor, Ed Brill and Rob Weir discussed the positive aspects of the move while Bradley M Kuhn declared it an ” insidious attack” on the LibreOffice despite noting that the ultimate long-term outcome is likely to be all positive for LibreOffice.

# Meanwhile Jay Lyman offered a perspective from The 451 Group, including disappointment that Oracle didn’t move quicker, while Ian Skerrett discussed why open source an ideology don’t necessarily mix.

# The Document Foundation, meanwhile, indicated that the announcement impact was neutral on the LibreOffice project, but did state that would welcome the reuniting of the OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice projects and was willing to start talking with Apache Software Foundation. ASF president Jim Jagielski discussed the next steps for OpenOffice.org as a potential incubator project. Additionally, The Document Foundation announced LibreOffice 3.4.0.

The best of the rest
# Github is now the most popular open source forge, according to data released by Black Duck Software.

# Pedro Côrte-Real published research that indicates GNU makes up about 8% of GNU/Linux.

# Heroku added Node.js support to the Celadon Cedar release of its PaaS platform.

# Nuxeo updated its Nuxeo Document Management and Nuxeo Enterprise Platform products.

# Andrew Katz asked ‘Why does the UK Government need to own the copyright in software it has developed?’

# O’Reilly Radar published an interview with former White House deputy CTO Andrew McLaughlin on the Civic Commons local government code sharing initiative.

# Open Ocean launched a “start-up pitch” competition for would-be European open source start-ups.

# MapR Technologies announced its intention to contribute some of its Hadoop modifications to the Apache project.

# Matt Asay argued that no one is ‘morally obligated’ to give back to open source.

# Canonical launched its Ubuntu-Ready hardware certification.

# The Mageia community announced the first release of its fork of Mandriva Linux.