Apache OpenOffice (formerly OpenOffice.org) is the leading free and open office productivity suite.  We have many millions of users.  In the past two years we've seen over 80 million downloads from our website, and millions more from 3rd party websites. 

Although most users are able to download OpenOffice successfully, we do get occasional requests for a CD.   This is something that we (the Apache Software Foundation) do not currently do.  We make the OpenOffice source code, and installable versions of OpenOffice, available for free download.  But we're not involved in distributing CDs.  However, the Apache License 2.0, like most open source licenses, allows 3rd parties to copy and distribute copies of the software and even to charge for the copies.

So the open question is this:   Would it be beneficial for the Apache OpenOffice project to maintain, as a public service, a list of 3rd party CD distributors, on our website?

Also, it is probably reasonable to ask CD distributors, in return for giving them a listing on our website, to adhere to defined best practices.  An example draft Distributor Best Practices page is on our website.  Is there anything that should be added or removed from that list?

We invite public comments on this topic, as comments to this blog post, or in an email to our public marketing mailing list.  Comments are welcome from anyone, especially users, potential distributors and the wider Apache community.  Please submit comments by January 15th for our consideration.