LibreOffice Conference 2012 Opening Speech

My opening speech as chairperson of The Document Foundation during the LibreOffice Conference 2012 in Berlin

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear Community:

Welcome to Berlin! Welcome to Germany’s capital city, and welcome to the home of The Document Foundation. A place that, like no other, stands as a symbol for unity. A name that, due to its history, will always be associated with people believing in their freedom and shaping their very own future. Thus, a city that so much stands for what the community has achieved in the past two years.

On the dawn of September 28th, just two years ago, we envisioned the idea of The Document Foundation as a people’s entity with strong, guaranteed and inalienable rights. We altogether created history by changing things where a change was deemed necessary. However, we all had to live with the burden of doubtfulness and the uncertainity of what was to come, of what we were to achieve – looking now what grew out of an idea in just a short glimpse of time, the community can be full of pride.

As of today, LibreOffice is being used by close to 60 million people worldwide. It is the standard free office suite on all major platforms, available in over 100 languages. Large cities and organizations are deploying it very successfully, more and more schools and universities are rolling it out, and there’s not a single month where it is not covered by major media around the globe – because we always have good news to share. The Document Foundation has become a member of leading organizations for free software and open standards, and at the very same time, is widely seen as the leader in its area, built on strong reputation and credibility. Last but not least, the ecosystem is growing rapidly, as more and more enterprises discover the business benefit of truly free software. I would be lying if I said that two years ago, we considered many of these achievements to be realistic - at least not in such a short period of time. Even more proud we can be today, because the outcome is much more positive than we could have ever hoped for at the beginning.

The community has grown rapidly, and we are now a family of thousands of contributors around the globe. All of us not only have colleagues all over the world, but more important, true friends, and I am honoured to be part of this large family. Everyone with their very own story, their very own background, and their very own skills; different ages, cultures and languages, all united by one goal: Providing the best free office suite ever, and giving power to those who contribute by passion. By living our values day by day, we make possible what we never dared to dream of two years ago.

Mentioning all those successes, milestones and major achievements also calls for thanking those who made all of that come true. Thanking you, our fellow community. Without you, the community members and contributors, LibreOffice and The Document Foundation would only be a lifeless envelope. It’s your merit that we stand where we stand today, and without you, our visions for the future would only be a bold thought experiment, not more than just a dream.

Therefore, my sincerest thanks, not only on behalf of The Document Foundation, but also very personally, go to you. To you, our valued community members, our fantastic contributors, and to our friends around the globe. Standing here in Berlin, celebrating the opening of the second LibreOffice Conference, I would like to mention some contributors by name, without whose helping hands this event and the foundation would not have been possible:

the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology, represented by Mr. Sandl, and the Federal Ministry of the Interior, represented by Mr. Batt, whose guests we are this week;
Freies Office Deutschland e.V., for hosting the conference and providing funds;
our sponsors Canonical, Google, SerNet, bitbone, Lanedo, Red Hat and Univention, who kindly sponsored large parts of this event;
the Advisory Board of The Document Foundation, providing valueable input and funding;
the organizational committee, who has put an enormous amount of work to make this event possible, especially Jacqueline Rahemipour, Kathleen Engelhardt, Silke Hildebrandt, Martin Bayer, Holger Böken, Ulf Brekenfelder, Robert Einsle, Gerald Geib, Thomas Krumbein, Andreas Mantke, Volker Merschmann, Stefan Weigel and Alexander Werner;
the Beuth University of Applied Sciences, with Robert Strzebkowski and his team for providing live video coverage from this event;
my dear friend and colleague, Thorsten Behrens, with whom even the most tedious aspects of daily foundation operations are always handled with a smile;
and my dear friend and the foundation’s lawyer, Mike Schinagl, who, in cooperation with the local authorities, has made a legal entity possible that in the beginning was widely seen as impossible; I am proud that he has proven everyone terribly wrong.

“We’ve only just begun.”

Those are not only the words of a 1970’s famous song, but also describes the state we’re in very well. Even though we have achieved so much, we are just at the beginning of the journey. There are so many more years to come that need to be filled with life, so many ideas that are just starting to breathe. I am sure that during this conference, you’ll discover lots of exciting news about future developments and about our visions for the free office suite. I am proud and thankful of being part of such a fantastic community, and I wish all of you a fantastic stay in Berlin.

And now, it is time to celebrate. Dear Community: The following days are your days, they are dedicated to you, to meeting friends and colleagues and to having a good time in Berlin. And last, but most important, to jointly shape the future of free office suites and open standards. To jointly shape our very own future.

So remember: We’ve only just begun.